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What is the difference between OEM & Retail XP?

I

imported_hopeless

Senior member
I have 1 retail xp home. I have an older pc I've been thinking about trying to set back up and buy home oem for it. But I would like to know if it's any different.

As it has sp2 built in, and my retail disk just is sp1, would my retail licence/activation code work with an oem disk?
 
I'd recommend the search function, but unfortunately it's mostly broken on this forum.

The only difference between an OEM copy of XP and a retail copy is the license agreement. OEM licenses cannot be transferred to a new PC; if you install it on PC, it is "married" to that PC for life. Retail licenses can be transferred to any number of PCs (at least with XP, Vista is another story), as long as the license is used on only one PC at a time.

Your OEM license key will not work with the retail disc and vice versa.

If all you're worried about is the included service pack, there are easy-to-use tools out there to "slipstream" service packs onto your install discs. There's a good guide available here. You can easily upgrade your SP1 retail disc to an SP2 retail disc. Just remember that with any license, you can only use it on one PC at a time.
 
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