That IS what I'm saying - I can't be any clearer.

I had [have] copies of WinME, Win98se and WinNT4 and they come with keys (that work).

On entering other keys that I know work with other [respective] versions of each,
they simply do not work.

Why is this, if, as you two keep saying, XP can use *any* valid key for any
[sub-version] copy of Windows?

==

Cheers, Tim Meddick, Peckham, London. :-)




"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote in message
...
In message , Tim Meddick
writes:
(To others who generously thought I meant something else - I didn't - sorry)

Well, I tried entering a valid key into (all non-OEM) copies of Win98,
WinME and WinNT4 and none of those ever worked!!

In what sense was it "a valid key"? For what? (Though I do remember - a _long_ time
ago - finding that a key from one Microsoft product worked with another: I think
that might have been Windows 95 and Office 95. But as I say, that was a long time
ago. Almost certainly not now.)

What makes XP so different that it will accept unique keys from any similar XP
version?
[]
I think what Ken and I mean is this: the CDs are not made individually - they're
mass-produced, much like audio CDs. (For a long time I've wondered why they _don't_
make a CD with a tiny writable part, but they don't.) [XP isn't different in this
respect.] If you were to obtain two CDs for the same product - two retail copies of
XP, 98, Office, or probably even Vista or 7 - then as long as they were _exactly_
the same product (Home or Pro, retail or OEM, if OEM for the same batch of
hardware), then the same key would work with both - until you went online to
register the second one, at least. But it _would_ get you through the installation
process.
--
J. P. Gilliver. 27 years experience in the electronics industry - seeking
employment (also computer, tester, trainer ...); email for details: CV at
http://www.soft255.demon.co.uk/CV2010-3.tif (2-sheet TIFF)!

War is God's way of teaching Americans geography. -Ambrose Bierce, writer
(1842-1914)