yup. what those guys said.
if you really need to install it, and worth the risk of it saying that you need a serial number later, then install it. Its possible it will promt for the serial at some time, and then if the disc has the serial it will work.
it will clear the systek and re install OS. drivers may or may not work.....
drivers can be downloaded or installed en masse with a driver CD , forgot what its called at the moment..
there are driver cds and with a web connect that finds the right drivers and auto installs them. these driver things are super useful
Math Geek :
the only concern may be drivers. many of the dell disks were specific to the pc it came with. when used, it would set everything up and not require separate driver installs. it'll still install xp no problem but may not have drivers needed on a different system. so you will need to track down the needed drivers ahead of time so they are ready for install once xp is up and running.
i remember using these disks on systems that were not even dell brand. so they are standard xp install disks just with a custom driver installer matching the model it came with. think i still have one of those in a box somewhere as well.