Dell Latitude and product key question.

[de8212]

I've had a dell for several months now and out of curiosity I ran the magic jellbean program to see what the product key was. I found it strange that the # did not match the sticker on the bottom so I tried to change it.
Well, it gives me a "Windows Script Host error: An error has occured. This was probably casued by the keying of an invalid number. Please check it and try again".

First of all, the OS was installed by dell so it is legit. I don't have to change it or anything, just found it strange and was curious why it was different.

 

[jagilbertvt]

Rather than having to input the key in for every pc that Dell ships, they probably use one generic key which is built into the image applied to specific models. Offhand, I'm not sure why trying to update the key would give you that message, but I wouldn't worry too much about it.

 

[de8212]

That's waht I thought Dell did. SO that means it is on multiple pc's??? SO what would stop someone from installing that cd/code on several of their own machines?

Not trying to condone piracy, just got me thinking.
And I'm not about to reinstall just to change the code but it makes me wonder if the code (on the sticker on the bottome of the laptop) will work when I go to reinstall if necessary.

 

[pcgeek11]

If you install from the Dell CD it will not ask for a code. I have an Inspiron 5100 and found the same thing. No problems.

pcgeek11

 

[Ionizer86]

Wow, weird! Even funnier, the Thinkpad R50e that I had came with XP Pro even though it was advertised with home and my COA was for Home. Was that legit?!

 

[pcgeek11]

No actually, IBM just screwed the pooch and installed the wrong option.

pcg11