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I was given an old DELL 1050 Inspiron laptop and I didn't have the original XP SP2 CD that came with it and so I just installed with a copy of XP that I had in the house. During install I tried to put in the CD key on the sticker that is on the bottom of the laptop but it wouldn't accept it and so I continued the install using my XP cd key on the install I had. So, now I am installed and updated to SP3 but I am still unable to use the Windows Product Key update tool to change the CD key of the system.

WHy am I not able to do this. Is there a way to figure out why the CD key on the bottom of the laptop wouldn't work? Am I missing something?

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Are you certain that they're both of the same edition (home vs. professional)? – jcrawfordor Jan 26 '11 at 5:59
The Dell is probably using an OEM license. If you tried to install from a retail CD, it won't take it. Does the CD have "FPP" in its name when you view it in explorer? – hyperslug Jan 26 '11 at 6:00
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Your key is probably an OEM SLP key which is unlikely to work with a retail CD or System Builder OEM CD.

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