xp media center upgrading to xp pro won't take validation key

I am in the middle of upgrading media center sp3 to xp pro on a Tosiba a45 satalite. It is not taking my validation codes... neither the xp pro or the original.
how does one get out the middle of the installation so i can try something else?
thanks for your help

 

Hi and welcome to MG's,
When you say that you are upgrading to xp pro are you doing this via an OS disc ??, are you doing a full format i.e wiping all data and existing OS before installing new OS.

iain.t :major

 

thanks for your response.
The long of it is, I am recovering from a virus attack, used kaspersky and superantispyware, and the install was in pretty bad shape so I wanted to repair windows media edition. I grabbed the xp pro to get rid of the media edition...oops...it was late... so instead of repairing my os, the my registry was wiped when the xp pro set up went. Now I am sitting at the validation stage of the upgrade and the error message says that it is not a valid key code. I have the oem disk that came with the toshiba satelite and an xp pro upgrade. both have valid (i think) codes.
I would like to do a full wipe and fresh install with xp pro, but can't get past the invalid key thing. Can I use my original toshiba code?

thanks

 

Sorry but if the windows key you are trying to use is for Media Edition and you are trying to use it on XP pro it will not work!!! each key is unique to their OS, so you will have to use the key that originally came with OS on the Toshiba with a fresh install of Media Edition, you cannot use the XP key on two active machines, you can buy a key from MS or off ebay!! or a Media Edition OS disc from there also.

Iain.

 

Thanks Iain,
That makes sense. How do I get out of the loop though. If I can get to a command prompt I can format the disk. How does one get to the command prompt at boot up or fool the routine into letting me put a different disk in.

 

Hi,
If you have the Media Edition OS disc you should be able to do a clean install and full format.If your machine is set to boot from disc then you should not have any issues in booting from the ME OS disc, just choose to do a full format not a quick one. use the other machine you have to download the required drivers t a flash drive or cd, if you have trouble finding the drivers let me know the make and model of the machine I will hunt them down for you.

Iain.

 

Thank you. Iain. I have been out of town and just getting back to this. How do I get out of windows pro set up so that I can start over?

 

Don't know if I can help but would like to piggyback on here and seek guidance for issues with MCE install.

iain I quoted your post because I find that the reverse case DOES work. Using XP Pro SP3 to patch/upgrade MCE at some point it requires one to enter the product key: at that point entering [re-entering to be clear] the MCE Product Key will be accepted. I assume the routine is merely to match, but I could be wrong.

Question: have any of you EVER personally done a MCE install from disc media [my set is 3-disc] and had it complete successfully? If so, how did you get past the point where it asks [why?] for an XP SP2 disc, and its only looking for \i386 at the root? I've been through this the third time [diff systems over time] now and never gotten a clean MCE. I give it an XP SP2 copy and it spits it out. I copy the SP2 i386 folder and feed it that and it pukes. I feed it an SP3 disc thinking "bigger the better" and of course it pukes. :cry:cry
Thus, I got a bootable but imcomplete MCE, upgraded it to SP3, and it works pretty well, but I would love to know what the secret is to simply doing what it is supposed to have!!

EDIT: when I say 'works pretty well', that is withOUT the MCE features that make MCE what it is. The only way you would think its MCE would be by checking the Activation credentials, the properties, or seeing my THEME....