[jcastillo81]

Hello,

I was recently cleaning out my office and found 2 old XP Pro edition discs as well as the product keys. I remembered that one is from an old laptop that was stolen a few years ago, and the other is from a old and busted dell that no longer works.

Is there a way to reclaim or deactivate the product keys on the old machines so that I may use these discs on other machines?

Thank you,
Jason

[valis]

Certainly. I'd just call Windows (their tech support actually isn't that bad) and explain the situation to them.

[The Hound]

The license for a Windows O/S that ships with a Dell is valid only on the machine it was sold with--Microsoft considers that O/S to be an integral part of that machine.

As for the stolen laptop, even if that one had a retail version of XP, it can only be installed on one machine at a time. To transfer to another, you'd have to be able to guarantee to Microsoft's satisfaction that the installation had been removed/rendered unusable on the stolen laptop.

I think you're out of luck...

[Noyb]

I really doubt it ... They are probably OEM numbers.
Once installed ... They are married to the motherboard in the original Computer they were installed in ...
And cannot be moved to another computer .. for any reason.