Different types of windows xp

Year later, we are running updates and got the darn MS warning that license may be pirated. My problem is, that no matter what key I put in, it says invalid key! How can we tell throught registry or any other way, what OS is running SO we can add the appropriate key. It says My Computer propertes.

I have a similar but different problem. Windows asked me to activate — no problem. No CD, so I was going to create one using the I directory and various online information.

I have an Office Pro CD and a key, but no documentation of the license type, date purchased, etc. Does anyone know how to find out the license type with Windows Vista Ultimate?. I ran the WGA diagnostics, and it showed up as 5 — Retail. Hi, I bougt a IBM thinkpad at a gov. All I had was a oem dell xp pro disc, I used that and it installed and during the install it went to ibm and got all the drivers for touch pad and such and all seems to work fine.

My question is, is there any advantage to have used the ibm disc? Not sure how to tell as there are no problem devices and all seems fine but if there is an advantage to using the ibm disc I would like to reinstal with the ibm disc if I could find one. Yes, you can make a new XP disc that can be used to reinstall that system. Step 2: extract the boot image from the CD or download a new one search the net for instructions or a copy.

They need to be compressed; makecab. Note: only three are needed, but I got tired of remembering which three. Step 4: open setupp. Step 5: burn the new CD. It should be identical except for those 5 files. A lot of sites all over the net have you making a LOT more changes than these. Many of them are convenient but these are the bare minimum required to make this work.

Step 3 ties the install to the hardware which is what makes this legal and allows it to pass WGA. Step 4 tells the install to accept OEM keys instead of retail ones.

Your information is very generic and not specific at all if one is attempting to buy XP on eBay. There must be something about the key itself that identifies the version and you ignore that completely. Granto, noone is going to show you the key over E-Bay. They would just copy and paste that and never buy the product.

Instead, you have to use the COA key located as a sticker on the outside of the computer. It will work like OEM Product key that must be activated. The 1st time, it should work online. Erik has raised a topic which has puzzled me for ages. Why does Jelly Bean sometimes reveal the same product key as is on the COA and sometimes something which is completely different?

Well, the generic key worked but not my key generated by Jelly Bean — even when I tried to change the key using various methods! Will try to activate over the phone with MS later but it looks like we may have to upgrade to Windows 7 before the 30 Day Activation period runs out.

However, the OS on the computer itself is Windows XP Home, which seems to suggest that at some stage, there has been a reinstall, but not as per the License sticker. Despite the latter, everything seems to be working correctly, and Windows updates are occurring perfectly OK, but is there any simple way for me to change from the Home version to the Pro version, especially as the laptop does have a License key for XP Pro?

However the update will involve a compltete re-install of the operating system so you should ensure you have all data and programs backed up before you attempt it. If windows updates are still working correctly and you dont need any of the active directory and advanced networking features pro offers you probably dont unless your on a domain network then I would just leave it as is.

If your windows updates suddenly start informing you your software might be pirated then its time for the change over. Am I missing something? What if a person does not have the sticker any more but the license key is valid and validated by Microsoft as legal and one writes down the key but has no one of determining what version it is,, OEM or Retail or which ever??? This happened to me with one of our clients, he does not know where the license key sticker is but the key installed on the system is valid and is the system, its not a cracked version, its all legal, I extracted the key from the registry and now I am struggling to repair the installation.

Is there anyway of checking with the key which version it is?? Thanks in advance. Great Site! Not quite what you asked for but maybe close enough? When we buy OS for our business environment, we will typically choose Professional or the Enterprise edition if we were a large business. When we purchase the operating system, we specify whether we want the bit version x86 or the bit version x64 or IA The version we choose depends on our hardware.

The bit version can run on either bit or bit processors. However, when running the bit version of Windows, we are limited to the capabilities of that bit operating system.

One of the biggest limitation of the bit operating system is that it can only address up to 4 GB of memory. With bit operating system, we also have to have bit drivers, and we can only run bit applications. So for example, if we only have bit drivers for our hardware, or if we only have bit version of some important application, we will have to use the bit operating system in order to use those.

We may have a computer with a bit processor, but in this case we will choose the bit operating system, and use the bit drivers to run some hardware. A bit operating system cannot run a bit application. The bit version of the operating system can only be installed on a bit processor. The bit operating system and processor do not have the 4 GB memory limitation, so if we want to use more than 4 GB of memory, we should choose the bit operating system.

The bit operating system also requires bit drivers. This is where compatibility might be an issue, because we might find that hardware that we currently have does not have the corresponding bit drivers. Because of that we might not be able to use some older hardware devices in our bit configuration. A bit operating system can run both bit or bit applications.

When upgrading to the new Windows version we have to be sure that our hardware supports the new operating system. We should obtain the latest driver for all hardware. If we will use bit OS, we have to get bit drivers before installation to ensure that devices are compatible with bit operating systems.

If we are installing a new version of Windows on an existing computer, the best way to ensure compatibility is to run the Upgrade Advisor tool for the target operating system version. The latest service pack is always a superset of the previous one, which means that one can only install one service pack at a time. But a user with the most basic Window XP version that came without a service pack is required to install service pack 1 and service pack 2 before installing service pack 3.

Skip to content. Related Posts. Types Of Java Software. Types Of Media Art. Types Of Software Attacks. In Microsoft released Windows 2. This version added desktop icons, keyboard shortcuts and improved graphics support. Windows 3. Microsoft released Windows 3. Windows 95 was released in and was a major upgrade to the Windows operating system. This OS was a significant advancement over its precursor, Windows 3.

In addition to sporting a new user interface, Windows 95 also included a number of important internal improvements. Perhaps most important, it supported bit applications, which meant that applications written specifically for this operating system would run much faster. This resulted in the removal of many of the old DOS limitations, such as K of main memory and 8-character filenames.

Other important features in this operating system were the ability to automatically detect and configure installed hardware Plug-and-Play. A version of the Windows operating system. Windows NT New Technology was a bit operating system that supported preemptive multitasking.

Its most visible feature, though, was the Active Desktop, which integrated the Web browser Internet Explorer with the operating system.

Microsoft released four versions of Windows Professional for business desktop and laptop systems ; Server both a Web server and an office server ; Advanced Server for line-of-business applications ; and Datacenter Server for high-traffic computer networks.

Windows XP was released in Along with a redesigned look and feel to the user interface, the new operating system was built on the Windows kernel, giving the user a more stable and reliable environment than previous versions of Windows. Windows XP came in two versions, Home and Professional. Microsoft focused on mobility for both editions and including plug-and-play features for connecting to wireless networks.

The operating system also utilized the Windows Vista offered an advancement in reliability, security, ease of deployment, performance and manageability over Windows XP.