Windows Product Activation

So, I got my new machine at work today.

Let me just take a moment to digress -- finally! I have been waiting to get a new machine for like, ever. The other two people on my team got new machines last year (like around Octoberish) -- but did I get any love? Not by a long shot. But now I am in possession of a 3Ghz P4 with a cool Gig of ram (up from a PIII 866 that I just got up to 512Mb like, 6 weeks ago). Man, am I ever excited.

It's too bad that Windows XP decided to give me the old "once again".

The problem, in a nutshell, is that this Dell came from the factory with the stock corporate image on it. But for various reasons, I got it into my head that I didn't want said image on my desktop. So, I figured that I could just use my Windows XP CD to perform a fresh install, but use the Product Key that is on my new Dell in order to perform all of the activation procedures that appear to be a "necessary evil" these days.

But of course, Microsoft is on to me. They saw me coming from a country mile. It appears as if Microsoft is mastering several different "Windows XP Professional" CD images, with specific differences between OEM and Retail. So a Retail XP CD won't accept Product Keys that are for the OEM version, and vice-versa.

Luckily for me, I didn't get onto BitTorrent today, and I most-certainly did NOT download a Windows XP "8-in-1" ISO image. Which is all a very good thing, because it means that I won't be wasting my entire day fighting this battle tomorrow...

-Andy.