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Does anyone know if the serial key for Windows XP is linked o the specific disc?

My problem is this: I have a Windows XPSP2 disc with a valid license and serial key. However, I discovered that the disc itself was damaged. Now, I can borrow a disc from elsewhere; the question is, is it A) possible and B) legal for me to use a new disc with my old serial?

No, it's not linked to the physical disc. You can get a copy of the data anywhere and use it with your valid license key.

Windows disks come in 3 flavours; OEM, Volume Licensed & Retail.

It is a little more complicated than that due to early version of the 64bit platform(s) and the wackness of EU variants.


You need the key type which corresponds to the disk type, ie OEM or retail for an end user.

A) possible

Yes.

B) legal for me to use a new disc with my old serial?

Yes. You can have as many copies of the media as you want. The restriction is on the number of active copies at once.

Note that each 'flavor' is per edition. In XP this was Home, Professional, Media Center and Professional 64 bit (which was basically a rebranded Server 2003 64 bit).

Thanks, everyone!