Windows Product IDs

How to determine the channel that your copy of Windows Server 2003 was obtained through
	http://support.microsoft.com/kb/889713/

Microsoft uses various Product IDs to identify variants of the Windows platform. A Windows product ID [currently, as of the XP Home/Pro/Server 2003 era] has the following format: xxxxx-yyy-zzzzzzz-zzzzz

If you are going to do a repair install or use someone else's CD with your product key, it is important that you understand the information on this page, especially with regards to matching your current product ID with the one on the CD you are going to use.

Contents

1 'xxxxx' -- the Microsoft Product Code
2 'yyy' -- the Channel ID
3 MPC list - English locale
4 MPC list - other languages
5 Windows XP complete list - English locale
6 Server 2003 MPC list - English locale
7 Notes
8 Retrieving your product ID or MPC
9 Bad Product IDs
10 See also

'xxxxx' -- the Microsoft Product Code

The xxxxx section is the Microsoft Product Code, which in this case describes the platform, build, and version of Windows. Other product IDs with the same format, such as those found in Microsoft Office (and many other Microsoft products), serve the same purpose.

'yyy' -- the Channel ID

This section of the PID describes the channel (OEM, Volume License, Retail, bundle/Not For Resale) a given XP CD/system has come from.

000 : Other (includes some retail, upgrade and evaluation versions)
007 : FIXME : Retail
009 : Not for resale - bundle
011 : Upgrade (XP Home?)
OEM : OEM (This does not specify royalty or normal OEM)
270 : Volume License
296 : MSDN
308/347 : Microsoft Action Pack subscription
335 : Retail
640 through 652 : Volume License (usually generated via 270 CID in setupp.ini)
699 : Volume Windows XP Tablet Edition
071 : FIXME : Unknown.

NOTE: According to DjLizard.net visitor Catalyst, newer discs now check to see if the CD's volume label matches the type of CD you have. So if you make a CD with the wrong volume label, then it still won't work. I haven't been able to confirm this because most of my CDs have a custom label and all of them work fine thus far. Visit TACKtech to see a list of volume labels.

MPC list - English locale

55274 : XP Pro generic OEM
55276 : XP Pro (upgrade)
55276 : XP Home (?) †
55277 : XP Home generic OEM
55285 : XP Pro †
55661 : XP Pro (retail)
76475 : XP Home (upgrade) (?)
76477 : XP Home Royalty OEM ‡
76481 : XP Pro Dell OEM
76487 : XP Media Center Edition 2005
76487 : XP Pro Royalty OEM ‡
76487 : XP Pro volume license (with '640' channel ID)
76500 : XP MCE 2005 (which is XP Pro with no domain capability)
76588 : XP Pro x64 OEM

MPC list - other languages

55372 : XP Home - German (OEM)
55375 : XP Pro - German (VLK)
55677 : XP Home - Dutch
55679 : XP Pro - Dutch
76392 : XP Pro - Danish
76396 : XP Pro (also Home?) - Dutch
76412 : XP Home - French (OEM)
76413 : XP Pro - French (OEM)
76440 : XP Pro - Norwegian (retail)
76460 : XP Home - Spanish (Royalty OEM) ‡
76470 : XP Home - Traditional Chinese (Royalty OEM) ‡

Notes:

† : DjLizard has an English version of XP Home upgrade that uses 55285, and XP Professional Upgrade that uses 55276.
‡ : Royalty OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) means manufacturers that are special to Microsoft's endearing heart. They get their own private key and generated product keys that typically don't require activation (or are different than the product key on the COA sticker affixed to the computer). Certain big OEMs [Dell, Gateway, HP, Compaq, and more] are Royalty OEMs, and the little guys (your local mom + pop store) are obviously not. The mom + pop stores get 55277 for Home and 55285 for Pro. Typically, generic OEM discs (such as 55277 and 55274) will work on these systems, but activation will often fail -- you will have to call Microsoft's activation hotline and speak to a representative in order to activate Windows. This usually only takes a few minutes.

Windows XP complete list - English locale

Edition	Volume Label	File Date	MPC	CID
Windows XP Combo Home/Pro	WXPHFPP_EN	23-08-01 1:00
Windows XP Home Retail	WXHFPP_EN	23-08-01 8:00	55277	000
Windows XP Home Retail SP1	XRMHFPP_EN	29-08-02 8:00	55277	000
Windows XP Home Retail SP1a	X1AHFPP_EN	31-03-03 8:00	55277	000
Windows XP Home Retail SP2	VRMHFPP_EN	4-08-04 8:00	55277	000
Windows XP Home Upgrade	WXHCCP_EN	23-08-01 8:00	55285	000
Windows XP Home Upgrade SP1	XRMHCCP_EN	29-08-02 8:00	55285	000
Windows XP Home Upgrade SP1a	X1AHCCP_EN	31-03-03 8:00	55285	000
Windows XP Home Upgrade SP2	VRMHCCP_EN	4-08-04 8:00	55285	000
Windows XP Home OEM	WXHOEM_EN	23-08-01 8:00	55277	OEM
Windows XP Home OEM SP1	XRMHOEM_EN	29-08-02 8:00	55277	OEM
Windows XP Home OEM SP1a	X1AHOEM_EN	31-03-03 8:00	55277	OEM
Windows XP Home OEM SP2	VRMHOEM_EN	4-08-04 8:00	55277	OEM
Windows XP Home OEM SP2	VRMHOEM_EN	4-08-04 12:00	76477	OEM
Windows XP Home Volume	WXHVOL_EN	23-08-01 8:00	55274	270
Windows XP Home Volume SP1	XRMHVOL_EN	29-08-02 8:00	55274	270
Windows XP Home Volume SP1a	X1AHVOL_EN	31-03-03 8:00	55274	270
Windows XP Home Volume SP2	VRMHVOL_EN	4-08-04 8:00	55274	270

Windows XP Home (SP2) DELL System Install	XP2_PER_ENG
Windows XP Pro (SP2) DELL System Install	XP2_PRO_ENG

Windows XP Pro Retail	WXPFPP_EN	23-08-01 8:00	55274	000
Windows XP Pro Retail SP1	XRMPFPP_EN	29-08-02 8:00	55274	000
Windows XP Pro Retail SP1a	X1APFPP_EN	31-03-03 8:00	55274	000
Windows XP Pro Retail SP2	VRMPFPP_EN	4-08-04 8:00	55274	000
Windows XP Pro Upgrade	WXPCCP_EN	23-08-01 8:00	55276	000
Windows XP Pro Upgrade SP1	XRMPCCP_EN	29-08-02 8:00	55276	000
Windows XP Pro Upgrade SP1a	X1APCCP_EN	31-03-03 8:00	55276	000
Windows XP Pro Academic Upgrade SP1	X1APCCP_EN	31-03-03 23:00	55276	000
Windows XP Pro Upgrade SP2	VRMPCCP_EN	4-08-04 8:00	55276	000
Windows XP Pro Academic Upgrade SP2	VRMPCCP_EN	4-08-04 23:00	76488	000
Windows XP Pro OEM	WXPOEM_EN	23-08-01 8:00	55274	OEM
Windows XP Pro OEM SP1	XRMPOEM_EN	29-08-02 8:00	55274	OEM
Windows XP Pro OEM SP1a	X1APOEM_EN	31-03-03 8:00	55274	OEM
Windows XP Pro OEM SP2	VRMPOEM_EN	4-08-04 8:00	55274	OEM
Windows XP Pro Volume	WXPVOL_EN	23-08-01 8:00	55274	270
Windows XP Pro Volume SP1	XRMPVOL_EN	29-08-02 8:00	55274	270
Windows XP Pro Volume SP1a	X1APVOL_EN	31-03-03 8:00	55274	270
Windows XP Pro Volume SP2	VRMPVOL_EN	4-08-04 8:00	55274	270
Windows XP Pro Tablet PC SP1 Disc 1	XRMPFPP_EN	29-08-02 8:00	55274	000
Windows XP Pro Tablet PC SP1a Disc 1	X1APFPP_EN	31-03-03 8:00	55274	000
Windows XP Pro Tablet PC SP2 Disc 1	VRMPFPP_EN	4-08-04 8:00	55274	000
Windows XP Pro MSDN	WXPFPP_EN	23-08-01 8:00	55274	000
Windows XP Pro MSDN SP1	XRMPFPP_EN	29-08-02 8:00	55274	000
Windows XP Pro MSDN SP1a	X1APFPP_EN	31-03-03 8:00	55274	000
Windows XP Pro MSDN SP2	VRMPFPP_EN	4-08-04 8:00	55274	000
Windows XP Pro Evaluation	WXPEVL_EN

Note: these Channel IDs (CIDs) were taken from i386\SETUPP.INI. Windows Setup may generate a completely different Product ID than you see here; this is soley based on your product key.

Server 2003 MPC list - English locale

69712 : Standard Edition 32-bit retail
69712 : Standard Edition 32-bit volume licensing
69712 : Standard Edition 32-bit OEM
69763 : Standard Edition 32-bit evaluation
69753 : Web Edition 32-bit retail
69753 : Web Edition 32-bit volume licensing
69753 : Web Edition 32-bit OEM
69763 : Web Edition 32-bit evaluation
69713 : Enterprise Edition 32-bit retail
69713 : Enterprise Edition 32-bit volume licensing
69713 : Enterprise Edition 32-bit OEM
69763 : Enterprise Edition 32-bit evaluation
69713 : Enterprise Edition 32-bit checked build
69754 : Datacenter Edition 32-bit retail
69754 : Datacenter Edition 32-bit OEM
69770 : Enterprise Edition 64-bit retail
69770 : Enterprise Edition 64-bit volume licensing
69770 : Enterprise Edition 64-bit OEM
69763 : Enterprise Edition 64-bit evaluation
69770 : Enterprise Edition 64-bit checked build
69769 : Datacenter Edition 64-bit retail
69769 : Datacenter Edition 64-bit OEM
74995 : Small business server
76868 : Unknown Enterprise Edition 64-bit (FIXME)

Notes

If you have to perform a "repair install" (Microsoft calls this an "in-place upgrade", and DjLizard interchangeably calls it an "overlay" or "repair install") then you MUST know these two things:

The MPC of your destination computer, and
the MPC of all of your Windows OEM CDs.

If you don't, then you will not be able to activate Windows properly, or in some cases, get the installation to accept your product key.

The MPC of your CDs can be determined by editing the SETUPP.INI in the i386 directory on your disc. You can (in some cases) simply edit this file, change the PID, and recompile the CD to be able to use whatever key you happen to need.

Retrieving your product ID or MPC

The current MPC for a system can be retrieved by various methods:

If the destination computer's operating system works well enough [even in safe mode], you can get it by right-clicking My Computer, clicking Properties, and reading the long ID number that appears under 'Registered to'.
You can use the command reg query "hklm\software\microsoft\windows nt\currentversion" /v ProductID at a command prompt (Start > Run > cmd.exe).
If the destination computer does not work very well, you can get the ID by attaching the hard drive to a working machine and mounting the appropriate registry hive. Highlight HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE in your local regedit and choose File > Load Hive. Then browse to X:\Windows\System32\config\SOFTWARE (where X:\Windows is the drive letter and path to the Windows installation in question). It will ask you what key to mount; you then give it any name you like, and it will appear under your own HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. Drill-down through Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion in this new key. You will see ProductID on the right. Do not forget to highlight the top key of the mounted hive, and choose File > Unload Hive when you are done.
Finally, you can sometimes find the ID you need if you check for the presence of either X:\i386\setupp.ini (where X: is the system's drive letter) or X:\Windows\i386\setupp.ini (where X:\Windows is the drive letter and path to the Windows installation folder in question).

Once you have the destination ID, it's as simple as inserting your CD that uses the same ID.

Bad Product IDs

As of 2005/10/22, Microsoft states that the following are invalid PIDs:

XXXXX-640-0000356-23XXX
XXXXX-640-2001765-23XXX

The above two product IDs are known as "Devil's Own", and usually have a product key starting with "FCKGW".

XXXXX-640-643718X-23XXX
XXXXX-641-309376X-23XXX
XXXXX-642-064580X-23XXX
XXXXX-642-464364X-23XXX
XXXXX-643-334701X-23XXX
XXXXX-644-081772X-23XXX
XXXXX-644-451265X-23XXX
XXXXX-644-874896X-23XXX
XXXXX-644-933704X-23XXX
XXXXX-644-962396X-23XXX
XXXXX-645-833254X-23XXX
XXXXX-645-994962X-23XXX
XXXXX-646-031843X-23XXX
XXXXX-646-104081X-23XXX
XXXXX-646-105103X-23XXX
XXXXX-647-318838X-23XXX
XXXXX-647-592029X-23XXX
XXXXX-647-677834X-23XXX
XXXXX-648-301691X-23XXX
XXXXX-648-819992X-23XXX
XXXXX-649-106765X-23XXX
XXXXX-649-941392X-23XXX
XXXXX-650-292312X-23XXX

These PIDs are detected when you attempt to install SP1 or 2.

See also

Microsoft KB 328874 - how to change your product key
Microsoft KB 326904 - invalid product IDs
TACKtech TTID 342 - known Service Pack 2 volume labels