I read something in another post and thought I should ask my question in a seperate thread...

I recently installed Windows XP Pro, which I legitimately received from a relative's workplace; the installation cd had never been used before. However, to my dismay, the serial key was not where it should be, but rather it said "THe manufacturer has taken the authentification key off and has probably attached it to the computer it came with." Rats.I have to admit, I was a bit angry so I hopped on my fav p2p and downloaded one. Now everythings done and I need to activate XP Pro.

My question is this: What is the activation key I need to call in with based on? Is it just hardware, or is it my downloaded serial key? I dont have SP1, by the way. So will I be able to activate Windows??


And no, Im not encouraging anyone to do what I did.