It is by design...  Certain numbers and letters that are easily confused,  or hard to
recognize in a printed or verbal form are NOT used when MS makes the Install KEYs
for WinXP.  It is to eliminate problems in manually talking the 50 or so characters
back and fourth over the phone if you happen to require the assistance of an actual
human being on the MS end. (It makes it easier for the users too...  Mostly...)

                                        Rick Glazier
bcc: [log in to unmask]
From: "Bill Stephen" <[log in to unmask]>
> I sold a fellow a new pc and he called back to say that his keyboard would not work
> when he tried to enter the windows (xp) key at first boot.
snipped:
> Then I finally discover that he was entering
> a serial number and not the windows key.These numbers and letters are not in the
> key.Why and how would a keyboard be set at first boot to skip certain keys.
>Yes they are not required for the key to be entered but why and how would they not respond???
> Mostly just curious.

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