Physical to virtual, Unable to Re-Activate windows since it's Windows XP OEM. Willing to pay, what are my options?

Question

I need to virtualize an IBM Laptop that one of the engineers at my company uses. The hardware is on it's last legs and setting up a new computer from scratch is not an option as it'd be too time consuming to reinstall and reconfigure all the software on it.

So, I converted it using vconverter and upon reboot it prompts me to re-activate windows.

Based on research, I understand I need to pay for a new license key. How do you do this? From research, there are apparently not only OEM locked but BIOS locked copies of windows...

I tried a valid XP key I got from our technet subscription just to see what would happen and it wouldn't work.

So, I'm assuming I have a little more work todo then just buy a new retail version of XP. Can anyone tell me what the process is?

EDIT: I performed a repair install as the accepted answer suggested. This process was very time consuming but it did work. .NET needed to be reinstalled and most of the software had to be reactivated which was a pain.

Solution

You need to buy a full or volume licence version of the same windows product and do a repair install over the top of the oem one. This will then allow you to activate with the new key.

Keys are specific to the version - oem, std, VL, etc. This is why your technet key won't work with the oem install.

Boot from the new install cd and choose the 2nd repair option - http://tweaks.com/windows/36955/how-to-do-a-repair-install-of-xp/

Comments

[MikeAWood]

I've done this (P2V for WinXPPro) with System Center Virtual Machine Manager and not had to reactivate. Which in retrospect, seems curious not that I think about it. Maybe something that MS is doing in System Center's conversion keeps the system from requiring re-activation. There might be a different process that MS allows you to use to accomplish this same task?

[blak3r]

@Mike, that certainly sounds like a better approach. Repairing an installation of windows was very time consuming. If you ever confirm that was the case please post back... I don't have those tools.

[blak3r]

@sysadmin1138: I revised the posting to be less superuser like. I think this is a useful question here. As this is something most sysadmins encounter these days.

[Deb]

@blak3r Unfortunately, the key question here, how to handle the licensing aspects of p2v, is also deemed 'too-localized'. Even though sysadmins deal with this a lot, the procedures vary from locality to locality due to the whims of the companies doing the licensing, and so are generally closed as "Too Localized".

[blak3r]

@sysadmin1138: I can't wrap my head around how this question is Too Localized. Anyone going from a IBM, Dell, etc to virtual is going to encounter this. I don't think the solution is obvious that the fix is you have to reinstall windows. I assumed that this was something that was so common there was an easier way. Consequently, spent a lot of time searching for an answer. I respect that you are trying to improve the signal to noise ratio on ServerFault. But, this isn't noise. If you think it varies too much between mfgs, an explanation of that would make a good answer to this question.

[ewwhite]

@blak3r And here I am, in the same situation today. Windows XP OEM following a P2V... and there's no cleaner solution. This should probably be reopened.

[blak3r]

Who calls people anymore? hehe I'm concerned it's a larger issue also but thought this was a pretty common usecase.

[JamesRyan]

no, a repair install will keep all your settings and programs. Boot off the XP cd and choose the 2nd repair option

[Jonesome Reinstate Monica]

I have tried this , multiple times, and got nowhere.