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Which CD do i need?

Last response: in Windows XP
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Hello I bought a computer from my company (500 people) which came with a windows XP cd key but no CD.
The tag on the computer says windows XP professional.
In order to reinstall windows do i need an XP professional CD or a corporate CD? I just dont know if the corporate CD keys are different and wouldnt work with an XP professional cd.

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You have one computer with one license key, perfectly legitimate.

You have stated you don't have the physical media to repair/re-install the operating system and seek that media, a CD ROM disk.

You need to determine what version of XP is in the machine...

I use the following method:

The very bottom line of %windir%\System32\eula.txt will tell the XP version.

Paste the following line into Start > Run and click OK...

%windir%\System32\eula.txt

Scroll to the bottom.

Windows XP Home Retail English
EULAID:WX.4_HOM_RTL_EN

Windows XP SP1 Home Retail English
EULAID:XPSP1_RM.1_HOM_RTL_EN

Windows XP SP2 Home Retail English
EULAID:XPSP2_RM.1_HOM_RTL_EN

Windows XP Professional Retail English
EULAID:WX.4_PRO_RTL_EN

Windows XP SP 1 Professional Retail
EULAID:XPSP1_RM.1_PRO_RTL_EN

Windows XP SP 2 Professional Retail
EULAID:XPSP2_RM.0_PRO_RTL_EN

Windows XP Media Center 2005 Retail
EULAID:MCE05_RM.0_PRO_RTL_EN

Windows XP 64-Bit Retail
EULAID:XPSP1_RM.1_P64_RTL_EN

Substitute OEM for RTL for OEM versions.
RTL= Retail

There is bit more information on how to determine the version of a Windows CD HERE, so if you do aquire a CD, you'll know if it is compatible with your computer's install.

chico1st said:
this is a headache but i have hope thank you for your help.


Thanks for the vote,

I hope the headache part isn't that you don't understand my instructions. [:tigsounds:3]

When you click Start, then Run and paste or just type-in the part in red into the box and click Enter, the end-user license agreement will appear. Go to the last line, skipping all the words and paragraphs. The Last line is what you are looking for. It will match one of the lines I have listed. The version of Windows is right above the line you see in the list I made. For example:

If you see:

EULAID:XPSP2_RM.0_PRO_RTL_EN

This will mean you have

Windows XP SP 2 Professional Retail

and an XP, SP2 Retail CD is what you would need.

It all depends of the last line in the End User License Agreement.
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