Can i create a windows xp install disk to repair windows if original was lost and i still have the key?

Question

My dad had a virus crash his computer recently, i took his hard drive out of his computer and did a virus scan in mine, found a bunch of junk and deleted the viruses, put the hard drive back in my dads computer and it starts up but you cant see the programs list and there are some other bugs, i tried to create a bootable cd from a downloaded version of windows xp home that works on this computer but i cant get it to load up on my dads, i tried both an .ISO format with magic iso and a data format using the windows burning program. i took his computer to my house to try and fix it and now the keyboard and mouse will not work when windows starts to load (keyboard and mouse did at his house), only during bios does it work, was wondering if there was a way to get it to load from disc, i already selected the cd rom as first boot priority but i never get an option to load anything from disk. Any help in the matter would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

Provided you are both using the same versions of Windows Xp, i.e Professional or Home. Then you should be able to use your own Windows installation Disks and use his key to reinstall his computers operating system. You should be aware however, that Xp Professional can't be activated using an Xp Home (and the other way around) and OEM keys are not compatible with versions of the installation Cd's bought from the shop.

Also if your installation disc is designed specifically for your computer (as in it's a recovery disk) it probably won't work on your fathers PC at all.

Answer 2

You extract xp Original Key using Belarc Software.It is free download

Answer 3

The problem is that there are more than 10 different versions of windows xp.  You have 64 bit, 2 media centers, home, pro, corporate, and oem/retail versions of each.  A key matches a specific version of windows xp.  So you may have windows xp home on both computers, but if yours is windows xp home retail and his key is for windows xp home oem, the key will not work.  Generally, the version that comes with purchased computers are the oem version.  So if he has xp home, you can pretty much count on his being xp home oem and you can try to find that to reinstall with.

Answer 4

As far as the cd working in yours and not your dad's, sometimes the cd drive does not like a certain type of cd.  You might be able to get it to work by creating another disk again.  Your keyboard and mouse are probably not working because A) they are usb instead of ps/2 port, or B) drivers need reloading.  Go into bios and make sure that usb support is turned on (using ps/2 keyboard, of course) to see if that does the trick.  Otherwise, you need to go to site of manufacturer and download drivers for that model of computer.  Instructions for making bootable cd should be on microsoft site, if not, go to bootdisk.com and check it out.  Michael Stevens Tech is a great site as well that can explain even more in detail.  Good luck.