[AtomBomb]

Hi all
When trying to fix a problem it seems that the XP installation disk is a 'must have' and certainly can help in many ways.
I bought a laptop which had XP home preinstalled on it but only got a crappy (OEM) 'Product recovery disk' with it which when used will completely reformat my hard drive and reinstall XP.
Which is one of the last things I would want to do b4 getting a chance to fix the problem myself.

Although it was preinstalled on laptop I do have a genuine copy of xp home and should be entitled to this disk !!??

How can I go about getting my own XP home installation disk so I can use it with the product key on my 'certificate of authenticity' sticker on my laptop.
All I have is my OEM disk and we know the limited options it has (see above).

any help would be appreciated.

Atom

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Unfortunatly many companies sell computers as you say with all the system files hidden on a seperate partition, which the recovery disk then grabs the image file and re formats your computer.

The only way you can get an OEM Windows XP disk is to purchase one, as using another disk with your original licence may not work and is also breaking the Microsoft Copyright Agreement.

OEM disks are legally only sold along with parts or a part or a new computer, the generally cost from £60-£70 depending on supplier.

What is wrong with your computer?

[johnthunder]

Unfortunatly many companies sell computers as you say with all the system files hidden on a seperate partition, which the recovery disk then grabs the image file and re formats your computer.

The only way you can get an OEM Windows XP disk is to purchase one, as using another disk with your original licence may not work and is also breaking the Microsoft Copyright Agreement.

OEM disks are legally only sold along with parts or a part or a new computer, the generally cost from £60-£70 depending on supplier.

What is wrong with your computer?

[AtomBomb]

There is nothing wrong with my computer: not now anyways because in the absense of my own XP home installation disk (to try the recovery console methods) I had to do a 'complete reformatting restore to factory settings annoying installation.
Thankfully I had most stuff backed up so it was more annoying than anything having to reinstall all my programs again.

It is the last time I buy a preinstalled version of anything.

Why should I have to buy anything else to get a genuine XP home installation CD when I should be entitled to one when I bought my toshiba laptop.

What is the point of having a 'CoA' sticker with a product key on it if I have nothing else i.e the original installation disk.

Please correct me if I am wrong or have misunderstood anything. (more than likely!!)

[GrantG]

[removed, not helpful]

Edited by admin, 20 October 2006 - 11:35 PM.

[fleamailman]

since this is a laptop and the parts are not going to change the easiest thing would be to first restore to a clean factory state, tweak out the bundleware and ghost it saving a copy of the ghost elsewhere, add programs that you like and ghost again so you have one copy of factory state minus bundleware and one copy with programs(because better programs come along) which is the one you can use basecamp should you wish to avoid rather than cure problems

even if you did find that this license key worked on another XPcd, which for reasons given above, it won't, you would still need to find the driversof yourlaptop, and the programs later, hence my suggesting ghosting here

Edited by fleamailman, 18 October 2006 - 09:45 AM.

[diggeryo]

I had the same problem some months ago with a laptop I had bought. I had just bought it, but it wouldn't let me delete all the pre-installed stuff. And the reinstall partition that came with it would have just put all the pre-installed stuff back on.

According to a question I posted here, I could use a regular XP CD that was borrowed from a friend as long as it was the same version. (ie. Home, Professional, Media Center, etc.). I did just that, used the product key that came with my laptop, and have been running bundleware-free since then.

I don't think I did anything illegal...I have installed all Windows updates included Genuine Advantage and have gotten no messages that there's something wrong with my copy of XP.

Here is the post in question: http://www.geekstogo...s...=122742&hl=

Hoep this helps...

mike.

Edited by diggeryo, 18 October 2006 - 10:51 AM.

[fleamailman]

yes but one checks the provizo first

[Neil Jones]

The only way you can get an OEM Windows XP disk is to purchase one, as using another disk with your original licence may not work and is also breaking the Microsoft Copyright Agreement.

OEM disks are legally only sold along with parts or a part or a new computer, the generally cost from £60-£70 depending on supplier.

Major OEMs do not usually supply the XP CDs with their computers, this has been the case for a few years now and also was the case since well before XP came out. The Windows on the system is installed with a volume licence key, which is why it never matches with the sticker on the bottom/side of the computer.

There is no way for anybody to know what type of disk you install XP from, and there is nothing to stop the OP from borrowing a CD from a friend and using the key on the side/bottom of the computer to install and activate it with.

Please be advised that it is only a Microsoft stipulation that the XP CDs go out with a product sticker on them; there is no requirement to provide the end-user with an actual XP CD, in fact this is usually actively discouraged in favour of "Recovery/Master CDs" that make copious checks to ensure they don't run on systems they're not supposed to.

Edited by Neil Jones, 18 October 2006 - 04:41 PM.

[-OCM770-]

Windows should also let you create one set of recovery CD's (usually 6) on CD-R's but those will also reinstall windows, clean with preinstalled crap. You could, as said above use an OEM CD (bought) with your product key, thats legal, you can not download a copy of xp even though you've got a license, that is considered illegal nad will not be supported by GeeksToGo.

-OCM770-

[GrantG]

OCM770: How do you create the recovery disks you just mentioned? My recovery disk is so badly scratched that it's not even useful as a frisbee these days, I'm continually having to rely on friends to borrow the xp recovery disk from. I wasn't aware I could create my own recovery disk, legally..

[-OCM770-]

I'm not sure about this but i think it depends on the machine manufacturer whats yours? Cause i'm sure compaq and HP offer it, and i knew sony used to do it, not sure if it does today though, tell me your machine brand and i'll find out.


-OCM770-

[GrantG]

Currently using a Fujitsu-Siemens TB-Bird with an Asus motherboard.

[AtomBomb]

I have a Toshiba laptop

[-OCM770-]

I'll find out


-OCM770-

[-OCM770-]

Dude, i am SO sorry it took me that long, i had some trouble with my connection and could only connect momentarily. Anway, that i know of, neither toshiba nor Fujitsu offer it, but this guide: http://www.nu2.nu/bootcd/wxp/

can really help you out, use the i386 folder from C:\WINDOWS\ and i HIGHLY recommend you slipstream SP2 that way the slipstream will create the files setup.exe, readme.htm and others that are on XP CD's. Slipstream even if you are already running SP2, you'll nedd some files it creates anyway BEFORE THE LAST STEP create a file called autorun.inf in the files directory, tell me when you get to this step and i will post what to put in the file, do not do the last step without posting here first. My CD drive aint working well, need to reboot....


-OCM770-