Microsoft KB Archive/326904

= You receive a &quot;The product key used to install Windows is invalid&quot; error message =

Article ID: 326904

Article Last Modified on 8/15/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Windows XP Professional
 * Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition

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This article was previously published under Q326904





SYMPTOMS
If you try to install Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1), you may receive the following error message:

The Product Key used to install Windows is invalid. Please contact your system administrator or retailer immediately to obtain a valid Product Key. You may also contact Microsoft Corporation's Anti-Piracy Team by emailing piracy@microsoft.com if you think you have purchased pirated Microsoft software. Please be assured that any personal information you send to the Microsoft Anti-Piracy Team will be kept in strict confidence.



CAUSE
This issue may occur if the product key that you are using to install Windows XP matches a product key that Microsoft has determined to not be valid. These two product keys create a product ID that matches one of the following product IDs (where  is any numeric value):

-640-0000356-23

-640-2001765-23

-640-643718x-23

-641-309376x-23

-642-064580x-23

-642-464364x-23

-643-334701x-23

-644-081772x-23

-644-451265x-23

-644-874896x-23

-644-933704x-23

-644-962396x-23

-645-833254x-23

-645-994962x-23

-646-031843x-23

-646-104081x-23

-646-105103x-23

-647-318838x-23

-647-592029x-23

-647-677834x-23

-648-301691x-23

-648-819992x-23

-649-106765x-23

-649-941392x-23

-650-292312x-23



RESOLUTION
To resolve this problem, first determine the Windows product ID on your computer. To do so, follow these steps:
 * 1) Click Start, right-click My Computer, and then click Properties.
 * 2) On the General tab, under Registered to, note the number that is listed.

If your Windows product ID matches either of the product IDs that are listed in the &quot;Cause&quot; section, you may be a victim of software piracy. To report software piracy, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/Reporting.mspx

If you are a Microsoft volume license customer and you have licenses for Windows XP Professional, perform a clean install of Windows XP on the computer that received the error message by using the Windows XP Professional media and the Volume License Product Key that is provided with your agreement. If you cannot perform a clean install, you must change the product ID.

If you have a valid volume license key but you set up the computer by using an invalid key, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

328874 How to change the volume licensing product key on a Windows XP Service Pack 1-based computer

To purchase a valid retail Windows XP product, visit your local retailer, or visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/products/info/default.aspx?View=22

If you are outside the United States, contact the Microsoft subsidiary for your area. To locate your subsidiary, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://www.microsoft.com/worldwide/

Keywords: kbpubtypekc kbenv kberrmsg kbprb KB326904

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