[Zoom7000]

I have a private job to do for a friend who needs his PC rebuilt. Of course, as is always the case, he has lost all his CDs. I have to rebuilD 2 machines:

PC - Sony VAIO PCV-6603 (AIO)
Windows XP Home Sony (According to the CoA)

Laptop - Lenovo 3000 C200
Windows XP Professional Lenovo (According to the CoA)

Now, my question is, if I download some retail XP Home/Professional Disks from Technet and edit the setupp.ini file as detailed in this guide, will I have any issues with the Product Key or Activation?

[RabbieBurns]

Home OEM can only be activated over the telephone nowadays, pro should still activate online OK

[richard_s]

Originally Posted by Zoom7000

I have a private job to do for a friend who needs his PC rebuilt. Of course, as is always the case, he has lost all his CDs. I have to rebuilD 2 machines:

PC - Sony VAIO PCV-6603 (AIO)
Windows XP Home Sony (According to the CoA)

Laptop - Lenovo 3000 C200
Windows XP Professional Lenovo (According to the CoA)

Now, my question is, if I download some retail XP Home/Professional Disks from Technet and edit the setupp.ini file as detailed in this guide, will I have any issues with the Product Key or Activation?

As long as you have the product key you can use the relevant windows cd to do the reinstallation. You cannot use a VL disc for this as the licence key will not be recognised.

With regards to activation both Home and Professional versions of XP can be activated over the internet still. I have just done this with a new build for a customer this morning. The only time you would have to phone through activation is if there is either a problem with the activation servers or the product key has been activated too many times.

[TwoZeroAlpha]

Originally Posted by RabbieBurns

Home OEM can only be activated over the telephone nowadays, pro should still activate online OK

Nope, activated a Home Xp install over the internet last night. No problems. I've phoned a few times too if the computer was not networked. It's all good still.