Win XP Pro product key

Hi Guys,
My son has a laptop with XP Pro installed but it came already installed so therefore no disc!How do I find his product key etc? It desperately needs to be re-formatted,but how do we go about re-installing XP Pro,I have my disc but don't know if it can be done with it?Also the activation etc has me puzzled.
Mine is an OEM copy so need some help and info on what to do here please?

 

Didn't the laptop come with some CDs? If so, is one of them a "Recovery" or "Restore" disk?

Some computers come with a recovery CD that requires you to reformat/reinstall, losing all your data (Compaq). Others come with a recovery CD which gives you choices...reformat/reinstall or just reinstall (Dell). Either way, your laptop should have a CD with the operating system on it and there should be instructions in the manual on using it.

Oh, yeah...the product key on my XP computer is found by right clicking My computer and going to Properties. It's listed on the General tab under the "Registered Owner" name.

 

The Product key for Windows XP is not the same as the ID key. You can find the Product key by downloading this great utility.
AIDA32 - Enterprise System. Download here:
http://www.aida32.hu/aida-download.php?bit=32

This utilitity will tell you just about everything you want to know about your computer.

 

Thank you for the info guys,I forgot about aida which I have on mine...duh,and no it didn't come with any CD's at all,he bought it at a swap meet and didn't think to ask.So guess we'll go from here.
Once again many thanks

 

surfinmac--can you tell us a little more about--AIDA 32-and what you use it for.
Paul

 

Dear Paul,
aida 32 is an utility which tells you what is in or or on your computer,ie what processor and any software that's installed .It's really great if you want to know what exactly is going on with your computer.
Hope this helps,download it from the link and try it!
regards

 

Thanks Tric,
I did download it and it does show one heck of a lot of info.
I wish I knew what all of it means--someday maybe.
With this fantastic board I learn a little everyday
Thanks again to everyone.
Paul

 

Exellent utility! I just DL'ed it and uninstalled Belarc Advisor.

Thanks for the link.