I am installing for the first time and am getting a "The product ID you entered is not valid" when I'm attempting the XP install. I'm unfamiliar with the rules on XP. I have a legitimate license for Parallels as well as a legitimate license for XP, though the XP is used on 2 Dell computers (both purchased about 5 years ago). I'm fine with UN-Licensing one of the Dells if that's what I need to do, though I could be doing something else wrong as I'm not too in tune with the pc side of the computer world (clearly). Do I need to call Microsoft and if so, what am I telling them? Thanks, Luke
Try to use Custom mode installation and enter key during Windows installation, if it still fails, I suppose you need to call Microsoft
I did the custom instal and yes, it did get the OS installed, but it would not run until I activated it (with Product Key) and again the product key did not work. Then I thought I could get past this by migrating the OS using Transporter. Transporter was awesome and it migrated my system just as it was on the Dell, but again I could not get into the OS without activating and again my activation # would not work. After calling Dell it was determined that my Product Key was only good on a Dell computer (in theory only on the machine it was purchased with, but I'm pretty sure it's more about being a Dell computer than about it being the exact computer that the software was purchased with because I've used the software on a different Dell). I purchased XP Pro and hoped that I would be able to use the Product Key to activate the migrated operating system, but no such luck. I now have a new XP Pro virtual machine which is working fine. I had hoped to archive and instal, but because I cannot get past the log in page of the migrated operating system I can't get to the XP instal disc. Is it possible to migrate my old operating system into my fresh XP virtual machine? Thanks, Luke
An XP license is valid for exactly one computer. Each computer has to have it's own license. Further, the license that comes with a Dell computer is an OEM license and is permanently locked to the first machine that it is installed on. Only retail XP licenses can be moved to a new computer if the first computer is scrapped.
I made one last effort to migrate the Dell. I used my new retail XP disc in the Dell (archive and instal) thinking that this would change the activation. Once up nd running I tried to migrate, but the Transporter said I was not choosing the active volume and I couldn't get the migration to happen. I had little in regards to personal settings and softwre on the Dell, so I gave up and did fresh instal of XP to the vitual machine in Paralells and being that I'm doing this just to run Quickbooks it's probably best I keep the XP OS as simple as possible. One thing I learned is that if I were to buy another Dell (or any PC), I woud not buy the OS from the pc manufacturer as you have more options by having a retail box of the OS. Thanks for the help,Luke
