I received an IBM NetVista from my work as a gift, which runs XP Professional
(1-2 CPU – IBM). This particular PC was used by the company, and I was
instructed to use the Microsoft sysprep utility to set program access and
defaults. Unfortunately, after taking the advise of our computer technician,
when I rebooted the machine and tried to enter the IBM /Microsoft XP
Professional Product Key on the side of the machine, I received an error
stating “You need a valid product key”. This is definitely an IBM machine,
and the Certificate of Authenticity indicates that the Product Key is for an
IBM machine. What can I do?

Contact IBM support and order a new IBM recovery CD
that works with the Product Key originally assigned.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User


"L0C0" wrote:

> I received an IBM NetVista from my work as a gift, which runs XP Professional
> (1-2 CPU – IBM). This particular PC was used by the company, and I was
> instructed to use the Microsoft sysprep utility to set program access and
> defaults. Unfortunately, after taking the advise of our computer technician,
> when I rebooted the machine and tried to enter the IBM /Microsoft XP
> Professional Product Key on the side of the machine, I received an error
> stating “You need a valid product key”. This is definitely an IBM machine,
> and the Certificate of Authenticity indicates that the Product Key is for an
> IBM machine. What can I do?