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

The Product Key used to install Windows is invalid. For example, you might receive the following error message when you install Windows XP SP1 and later versions of Windows XP: If you use a 'leaked' product key (a product key that is known to be available to the public) to deploy Windows XP across multiple computers (a Volume Licensing installation), you might be unable to install Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1) and later versions of Windows XP, or automatically obtain updates from the Windows Update Web site. If the installation media does not match the product key, you receive the following error message: It is necessary so that you can successfully enter the product key. That is, the channel (MSDN, retail, OEM, Volume License, and so on), the SKU (Windows XP Professional, Windows XP Home Edition, and so on), and the language (English, French, and so on) must match between the product key and the media. When you install Windows XP or Windows Server 2003, the media must match the product key. If you try these steps on OEM media or on retail media, you will not change the product key.

The steps in the article are effective only on Volume License media.

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