Confused about OEM XP licensing

[nowwhatnapster]

Here at work we have 3 identical Dell workstations. They all have XP Pro 32-bit COA stickers on them. I also have 3 dell oem xp installation discs with their original packaging. I reloaded one of the workstations the other day (it was running a server OS, lol). I just grabed one of the unopened installation discs and installed.

It validated windows fine, but I am concerned I may have used the installation disc that belongs to one of the other workstations. If I use a program like magic jelly bean keyfinder the CD-key of the machine I just reloaded is identical to one of the other workstations. shouldn't it be different? I know the dell stores the cd-key in the bios. I did not have to enter a cd-key during install.

 

[/usr/home]

What you are seeing is perfectly normal. The disc can see the "key" in BIOS and autoactivates. Dell uses the same "key" for all their OEMs.

 

[nowwhatnapster]

Ok, I guess that makes sense. I went and checked the 3rd machine and yes, it too has the same CD-key. Thanks for the confirmation!