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Can I use Retail MCE with Dell Key?

post #1 of 8
10/13/06 at 10:22pm
Thread Starter 
I got a Dell laptop and it came with no OS CD. I was wondering if I could use my copy of MCE and when it asks for a key, use the MCE Dell key?
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post #2 of 8
10/13/06 at 10:27pm
Nope. Won't work. Tried that.
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post #3 of 8
10/13/06 at 10:28pm
You probably can't as keys are attached to CD batches. Just call dell and ask for your CDs and you should get them sent to you. Or you can always just use the dell recovery partition. Just press CTRL+F11 right after the inital Dell bios screen finishes and you see the small blue dell toolbar on the top of the screen right before windows starts loading.
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post #4 of 8
10/13/06 at 10:28pm
Thread Starter 
If I use the partiton to reinsall the OS does it reinstall all the bloatware?
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post #5 of 8
10/13/06 at 10:38pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by shoman24v
If I use the partiton to reinsall the OS does it reinstall all the bloatware?

Yes. Use this to get the CDs from Dell. Works great.
http://www.notebookforums.com/thread102715.html
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post #6 of 8
10/13/06 at 10:51pm
The Dell CDs don't need a CD key as they check to see if you have a Dell BIOS then automatically pass if you do (OEM Pre-activation).

Contrary to what WackyT said (which considering how many variations of MS CD/DVDs there are it is quite possible) I have installed using MCE Retail and the Dell XP Pro key to install XP Pro. The MCE disk can install Home, Pro, MCE and tablet depending on the CD key you use, if installing Home or Pro you wont be asked for CD2...

One point to note is with installation the Dell key (rather than the automated BIOS check) from what I remember you will have to activate via telephone as MS 'canceled' (as of early 2005) internet activation using OEM keys.
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post #7 of 8
10/13/06 at 11:02pm
Try it if you want to. I had to change the ExtraData and Pid strings inside the SETUPP.INI file on a Retail disc to get it to work with the Dell MCE 2005 OEM key. And when I did the fresh install, it activated OK over the internet.
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post #8 of 8
10/13/06 at 11:58pm
Thread Starter 
Sounds complicated. I'll just use my XP Pro Dell disk.
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