I have discs from Dell of Windows XP Pro with SP2 available to install. I have the "downloaded" copy already on my computer. Thinking of reformatting. The discs are already on another computer. Is there a way that I can install on my computer without having to activate on mine and have it update, etc? Help appreciated, thanks.

i doubt it, because from what i can remember about the way activation works on OEM machines, is that it is tied to the bios of that machine. if you tried to use a dell cd on a non dell machine, it would install, but when it checks the bios for whatever is stored there for activation, checksum, etc., it would be different than the dell machine, so it would require you to activate

Are the discs "real ones" or are they restore discs? Because, if they are restore discs, then they will just tell you that it is for a DELL machine only, when you try to install them.

My friend has a Dell and has the discs from Dell. I actually have a Dell. Would that work? I remember reading about Rest program and the thing about changing serial numbers?

if they are the same model, they should

He has a laptop and I have Dimension.

in that case, i doubt it, if you had a dell optiplex gx270 and he had the same, there's no reason why it wouldn't work, identical motherboard therefore identical bios, but yours is a desktop, his is a laptop, different boards, different bioses

i installed Dell oem winxp on an old p2 400 dell desktop without any problems. i think as long as it "sees" the dell bios it will install. activation maybe another problem tho.

Appreciate the replies. Isn't there Reset 5.02 that will work with the activation?

BetaONE does not condone the use of cracks.

the dell system cdrom`s actually check the bios to make sure that it is the corrrect bios, however just because you have a dell machine does not mean that it will work on all dell machines. dell incorperated a series number for each product to avoid piracy. the dell 8300 series desktop will be diferent from the dell 2350 desktop or 8500 insperon laptop.
however, dell allso assigned a product OEM sticker for the os if you had to format the drive and copy the I386 files over to install. however you MUST regester it . The product Id is located on the right side of the dell system.

I would go with a retail copy of xp because dell incorperated their software into the os as well. with a retail copy you will not get anything that is OEM specific.

Just a tech`s 2 cents.