Alright, I have a guy bring me his computer, completely laden with spyware, viruses, and malware. did the best i could to clean em off but after a solid hour and still having popups galore along with a lot of other issues, I decided to reload it. Well, its Windows XP Media Center Edition. I have one of those XP All in one DVD's, which normally ask you for the particular key for the product you're installing. He has a legit copy, the license key is on the box, but as I'm going through the install I keep wondering when its going to ask me for the key.. long and the short.. it never did. It used some embedded key, perhaps its a corporate version and not a OEM or retail, I don't know. Regardless, I cant let him use it like this, even if i could get it to activate, none of his updates would work, and he wouldn't be using his key. how do I change the key to his so the activation will work, and windows updates wont give him grief?
My first attempt was to get one of those key changers, I tried i think three different ones, all of them act like the key is changed and require a reboot, but after coming back up, the key is still the same old one.
My second try was to sysprep the machine, and force it to ask me for a new key, there was no Tools folder on the All in one disc, so i thought worst case i'll just use a windows xp pro disc i had laying around, but I wasn't hopeful. The sysprep worked but when i get to the key stage it tells me its not valid, like i had feared. Perhaps its verifying against what it knows to be correct for the version of windows i used to sysprep.
I'm stuck guys, any thoughts?