before installing windows xp pro, how can i find the product key on the cd??

hello, i found a windows xp pro disc in the trash and i do not know the product key. how would i find the product key to the disc??
i went to another website and they told me somehting about to do a SEARCH FOR THE WORD UNATTENDED, but i did that, nothing came up in the search.
thanks,
christina

 

When you buy a piece of software, you don't actually own the software, you own a license which gives you the right to use it. That said, you have found someone else's XP CD, but do not own the license to use it, nor have the product key. XP activates according to hardware, so as to curb pirating. So even if you did get it installed, it would most likely not activate.

I am sorry, but the legal, and only real answer we can give you here is, you gotta buy a license. Its not much cheaper than buying XP as a package, so I'd reccomend just buying XP.

 

Just for reference; the product key is NOT on the CD and therefore you cannot extract the key from the CD. The CD contains an algorithm (or equation) against which the product key that you enter during setup is checked. That's why you can use one XP Home CD to install on several PC's as long as each PC has it's own product key. The key is not unique to the CD, it is unique to the PC. And the algorithm for XP Home is different for the full version versus the upgrade; same for XP Pro... it's probably the same situation for Vista too (or at least similar). I posted a link awhile back that explained all the math behind Windows product keys. If anyone is interested, search thru the forums or post here and I'll try to dig it up again.....

hd2k