System Locked Pre-Installation?

[qwerty12345]

I have an OEM pre-installed Windows XP. Apparently there are two different types; essentially the Retail version, that monitors hardware changes for activation purposes, and then SLP, which is apparently locked to the BIOS, so that you can't install it on any other machine (or change the motherboard), but you can change as much hardware as you like, enable/disable hardware and install and remove drivers with impunity.

How do I find out which version of Windows XP I have?

I know it is OEM because that is in the ID. I have read that if you have a file called oembios and no "Activate Windows" in the start menu, that is SLP, but I have both. I also have the wpa files and XPInfo shows seven ticks.

These are quite ambiguous ways to find out. What is the official way to determine what type of installation you have?

Thankyou.

 

[qwerty12345]

Anyone?

I suppose nothing's simple with Microsoft.

 

[aford10]

No OEM install can be transferred from the original system (motherboard). With any OEM (SLP or not) system, you can still swap out RAM, video cards, PSU, optical drives, sound cards...etc.

 

[tigsounds]

To find your installed XP version, read the very last line of the eula.txt found in the windows system32 folder.

 

[qwerty12345]

To find your installed XP version, read the very last line of the eula.txt found in the windows system32 folder.

Thankyou, but what does the code mean?

I'm sure HOM means Home and EN means English, but it doesn't say anything about SLP (or what would the alternative be?)

 

[tigsounds]

The very bottom line of %windir%\System32\eula.txt will tell the XP version.

(%windir% is usually drive C׃\Windows).

Windows XP Home Retail English
EULAID:WX.4_HOM_RTL_EN

Windows XP SP1 Home Retail English
EULAID:XPSP1_RM.1_HOM_RTL_EN

Windows XP SP2 Home Retail English
EULAID:XPSP2_RM.1_HOM_RTL_EN

Windows XP Professional Retail English
EULAID:WX.4_PRO_RTL_EN

Windows XP SP 1 Professional Retail English
EULAID:XPSP1_RM.1_PRO_RTL_EN

Windows XP SP 2 Professional Retail English
EULAID:XPSP2_RM.0_PRO_RTL_EN

Windows XP Media Center 2005 Retail English
EULAID:MCE05_RM.0_PRO_RTL_EN

Windows XP 64-Bit Retail English
EULAID:XPSP1_RM.1_P64_RTL_EN

Substitute OEM for RTL for OEM versions.
RTL= Retail

%windir%\system32\prodspec.ini

Scrolling down towards the bottom of %windir%\system32\prodspec.ini has...
[Product Specification]
Product=Windows XP Professional
or
[Product Specification]
Product=Windows XP Home Edition
etc.
---------

As near as I can tell Windows 2000 and up, you can check this key...
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Updates\%OS%

For Windows NT, 2000, XP and later versions of Windows.

This key...
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion
Value Name: BuildLab
Value Name: CSDVersion
Value Name: DigitalProductId
Value Name: CurrentBuildNumber
Value Name: CurrentVersion
Value Name: ProductId
Value Name: ProductName


If you have a Windows XP CD and need to know the version prior to installing, read the CD Volume Label:

Look HERE

 

[qwerty12345]

Nothing mentions the "licensing type" (I don't know what else to call it).

Or am I missing something? Yes, it's XP Home OEM with SP3, but is it SLP or not?

 

[tigsounds]

Get THIS and run it.

Look up under Product ID Type for the install type under the Windows tab.
Non-slp oem reads as 3-OEM System builders while slp is 2-OEM-SLP.

This is getting a bit grey, so if a moderator wishes to elaborate more fine, but I stop here.

 

[Flying-Q]

This seems rather odd.

My eula's last line is

EULAID:XPSP1_RM.1_PRO_OEM_EN

and I'm now on my 3rd motherboard, 2nd set of ram, 2nd gfx, 4th HDD etc. etc. Only the processor is from the original build.

Also interesting is the eula has not been changed with the upgrade to sp2 and sp3.

Q

 

[tigsounds]

@Flying-Q

That's why I said at the bottom of the list ...

Substitute OEM for RTL for OEM versions.
RTL= Retail

You originally installed XP Pro, SP1, OEM, English

 

[qwerty12345]

Get THIS and run it.

That's a link directly to an exe. I can't find a page explaining what it is, or what it does.

 

[tigsounds]

OOps... The save dialog box in Firefox informs that it comes from download.microsoft.com.

It is the Genuine Advantage Diagnostic tool.

I didn't look to see if IE shows the source. My bad.

The actual page that contains the download link is at: http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/selfhelp/ServiceRequest.aspx?displaylang=en
Or if that link doesn't work, it is also HERE.

You would be using the tool just to extract information, not to prepare a trouble report.


(I wouldn't link to anything bad, as that gets a person a long vacation from here.)

 

[qwerty12345]

Fantastic, thank you Tigsounds. That tool has finally given me the information I needed. What a pain in the... neck that was to find.

Good work digging that one up (or did you know of it beforehand?)

(I wouldn't link to anything bad, as that gets a person a long vacation from here.)

Well you were linking to Microsoft software. 😛

 

[tigsounds]

Good work digging that one up (or did you know of it beforehand?)


Well you were linking to Microsoft software. 😛

Yup, it's a true "Catch 22" ain't it??? So far, the Mods have looked the other way.

I had that info for awhile. I scour M$ for useful stuff and sometimes actually find some.

HP has some really good info buried away in their web pages, weird things to fix a HP but work in any XP machine.