Trying to Upgrade from Windows Media

Hello all I am New Laptop.. Trying to upgrade from Windows Media to XP Pro. It is not reading the product Key that I have. I looked up the product key in an unattend file and for some reason it was different than what I have ??? Tried to use that still didn't work ... Am I doing something wrong?
Thanks
Gerb

 

You cannot use the product key from Windows Media Center to install XP Pro. You must use a valid XP Pro key. The reason that you have 2 different keys for Media Center is: most PC manufacturers sell the PC's with Windows pre-loaded using an OEM product key that is different from the key you'll see on the Microsoft Product Key sticker that's on the bottom of the laptop. The key on the sticker is for re-loading Windows. If you use the OEM key to reload Windows, you won't be able to activate and you won't be able to download any updates from Microsoft. And w/o activation, you'll be locked out of your PC in 30 days.

hopperdave2000