Getting second windows XP Pro SP2 OS running on Dell Inspirion 8600

Hi All,
I have a Dell Inspirion 8600, 1GB memo, 100GB disk, Pentium M 2GHz.

I have XP Pro SP2. The Windows product key is on the sticker on the
bottom of the laptop.

I am trying to create a second bootable drive with winXp Pro SP2 on it
to test all things 2005. I don;t want to intall all the 2005 beta
software onto my 'real' OS.

I have a copy of my win xp pro cd on a hard drive and copied it to my
hard drive to install from. When I run the install and am asked for the
product key I type in the product key from the sticker from the botton
of my laptop.

The install CD then tells me this is not a valid product key??

Anybody know why this might be so? How do I install a second partition
with winxpPro using the product key for the first partition? Does it
only work from a bootable CD?

Any tips most appreciated.

Thanks

Peter Nolan

It could be one of two things. Windows Product Keys are fairly easy
to read incorrectly. G's mistaken for numeral 6 and others. So make
sure that you've copied the key segments correctly. Product Keys are
tied to their XP family type. Retail, OEM and VLK. A key from one
will not validate on the other. If you've copied the i386 folder from a
CD, you can start the XP setup using one of the installation startup
modules (WinNT or WinNT32). However, to run WinNT that needs
to be invoked at system boot. The WinNT32 is used to initiate an XP
upgrade/install from within another operating system.
Instead of your current plan - you could Image your system, then try
out your software and once done with testing, restore your "Base"
image.

"Peter Nolan" wrote in message
ups.com...
Hi All,
I have a Dell Inspirion 8600, 1GB memo, 100GB disk, Pentium M 2GHz.

I have XP Pro SP2. The Windows product key is on the sticker on the
bottom of the laptop.

I am trying to create a second bootable drive with winXp Pro SP2 on it
to test all things 2005. I don;t want to intall all the 2005 beta
software onto my 'real' OS.

I have a copy of my win xp pro cd on a hard drive and copied it to my
hard drive to install from. When I run the install and am asked for the
product key I type in the product key from the sticker from the botton
of my laptop.

The install CD then tells me this is not a valid product key??

Anybody know why this might be so? How do I install a second partition
with winxpPro using the product key for the first partition? Does it
only work from a bootable CD?

Any tips most appreciated.

Thanks

Peter Nolan

I have a copy of my win xp pro cd on [another] hard drive and copied it to
my
hard drive to install from. When I run the install and am asked for the
product key I type in the product key from the sticker from the botton
of my laptop.

What is the source of this WinXP Pro CD?
--
~Robear Dyer (PA Bear)
MS MVP-Windows (IE/OE) & Security

Peter Nolan wrote:
Hi All,
I have a Dell Inspirion 8600, 1GB memo, 100GB disk, Pentium M 2GHz.

I have XP Pro SP2. The Windows product key is on the sticker on the
bottom of the laptop.

I am trying to create a second bootable drive with winXp Pro SP2 on it
to test all things 2005. I don;t want to intall all the 2005 beta
software onto my 'real' OS.

I have a copy of my win xp pro cd on a hard drive and copied it to my
hard drive to install from. When I run the install and am asked for the
product key I type in the product key from the sticker from the botton
of my laptop.

The install CD then tells me this is not a valid product key??

Anybody know why this might be so? How do I install a second partition
with winxpPro using the product key for the first partition? Does it
only work from a bootable CD?

Any tips most appreciated.

Thanks

Peter Nolan

Hi Robear,
The CD is the one that came in the box with my laptop....Dell pre-load
the laptops and provide the WinXP Pro CD in the box....or at least they
did with me...

I am guessing that I must use a bootable CD rather than try and install
just from the CD image on my drive.......

I shall see when I get back home next week...

Best Regards
Peter

Hi R. McCarty,
unfortunately I need my laptop every day for work and can't afford to
take chances fiddling with it....A few years ago partition magic
scambled my whole laptop drive and I was up to 4am getting it working
again so I could work the next day....the glamorous life of a 'paid by
the day consultant'!!

I think I'll wait until I have the original CD and try to install it
onto another partition I created...I'm told I can put XP onto a logical
partition as well so I'll try that out as well...

Thanks for the tips though...I have only been on XP for 6 months.....so
I am still finding out things about it...

Best Regards
Peter Nolan
www.peternolan.com

Please include previous message(s) in your replies if you wish further
commentary.

Peter Nolan wrote:
Hi Robear,
The CD is the one that came in the box with my laptop....Dell pre-load
the laptops and provide the WinXP Pro CD in the box....or at least they
did with me...

I am guessing that I must use a bootable CD rather than try and install
just from the CD image on my drive.......

I shall see when I get back home next week...

Best Regards
Peter

Please include previous message(s) in your replies if you wish further commentary.


Hi All,
Just in case it helps anyone else...

It turns out that the CD supplied by DELL can only install a new
instance of XP if the laptop is booted from the CD.....I am re-united
with my original product CD and the install worked fine when I rebooted
from the CD....

Best Regards
Peter Nolan
www.peternolan.com