I have an official copy of XP Pro SP1 but have managed to damage the disk (silly i know). I now need to do a fresh install of XP on my PC. Can I use my friends XP Pro SP2 disk and just pop in my serial number? Does the fact that my copy is SP1 and his is SP2 make any difference? Thanks Colin

Yes, no and maybe. Depends a bit on his disk, if a retail disk then it would work for sure, some oem disks are difficult to impossible. Get magicjellybean to find your key to start. In any case you should update to sp2 unless you have some business reason and your system is behind a very secure firewall or better yet not connected to the web. I read it wrong and answer it wrong too. So get off my case you peanut.

I think his disk is a dell oem one, came with his laptop. Any thoughts on if this would work?

No, it probably won't work. How badly is the WinXP CD damaged? You MAY be able to burn a copy that might work. If you attempt this set the burner software to verify. You have the right idea about using any CD. However as jefro points out the type of WinXP does make a difference. If you do find someone with the same version (flavor) of WinXP burn yourself a copy using CDR media and then install using the burned copy to verify it is good.

Will give the burning a try. I do know the IT guy at my work looks after a large number of XP Pro Sp2 disks (company back ups) these are all retail. If i can borrow one from him (buy him a beer) do you think that would be compatable with my serial?

DELL OEM XP CD's do not require a Key Code, they rely on a BIOS Code to Authenticate. It is termed SLP see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System...

Your work probably either uses volume licensing or buys OEM computers that come with the OS pre-installed. If either of these is the case then the CD won't work.