XP Question

[Disco_Bison]

Hey Guys, quick question or two

 

As the title says, I have an old desktop that I want to reformat as I'm giving it to a friend. As it was bought from PC World, it never came with a Windows XP disk, but it does have the product code sticker on it.

 

My new desktop came with an XP CD, so would I be able to reformat the old computer using the new disk with the old product code or would Microsoft throw a benny and invalidate one or both copies of XP?

 

If I can reformat, is it just a case of sticking the disk in and choosing from an option or so I set the bios to boot from CD and do it that way. If I can't mix old code and new disk, is my only way around this shelling out for a new copy of XP?

[Anne1599968726]

Interesting. They should have given you recovery CDs with the machine - are you sure you don't have em?

[Disco_Bison]

The recovery DVD I made won't work because there was a new motherboard put in about a year ago. It doesn't like it, it keeps on telling me that the recovery DVD is for a different model of HP PC

[The Geoff]

I'll probably get yelled at for this...

 

 

You might want to think about Ubuntu (a version of Linux). Free to download, (usually) easy to install, no weird product activation codes etc etc. Plus it's damn near impossible to get a virus, and it's great for older machines as it doesn't tie up as many resources (I can edit video on a £130 machine).

 

As far as I know, you could use your XP disc from the new machine, but to stay within the rules you'd have to wipe it from the new machine first. The "standard" rules are that you can only install on one machine at a time, but you also get versions where you can install on up to 5 at a time, or something similar. Might be worth checking the T&C on the licence.

[Disco_Bison]

I did think about Linux, but it's not for me so I don't know how well they'll be able to use it

[Disco_Bison]

Edit, I'm going to try Ubuntu and see how I get on with it. Once I've burnt the ISO onto a CD, do I just boot from CD to install it because for some reason I'm not able to boot from CD at the moment - it just seems to skip that even though I've got it set to not boot from the HDD in the BIOS at all.

 

If I do an install through Windows into a partition, I suppose I could then delete the other partition with Windows in it and go that way, could I?

[The Geoff]

Yup, it should just boot from CD (it'll be slow, as it runs entirely from the CD until you hit the install button). It may well be that the image didn't burn properly, so it might be worth trying again...this seems to be a particularly tricky stage. Burn it as slowly as possible, and try not to jump around next to the machine as it's burning

 

Yup, you can have two partitions, one for each OS. Ubuntu comes with "Grub", which should let you pick which OS you boot into.

[marman]

Geoff are you on commission

[Sir]

Hey Guys, quick question or two

 

As the title says, I have an old desktop that I want to reformat as I'm giving it to a friend. As it was bought from PC World, it never came with a Windows XP disk, but it does have the product code sticker on it.

 

My new desktop came with an XP CD, so would I be able to reformat the old computer using the new disk with the old product code or would Microsoft throw a benny and invalidate one or both copies of XP?

 

If I can reformat, is it just a case of sticking the disk in and choosing from an option or so I set the bios to boot from CD and do it that way. If I can't mix old code and new disk, is my only way around this shelling out for a new copy of XP?

 

Disc is basically a copy so no individual codes or such. Install using the code on the side of the box will be fine.

[Mechhead]

not to be pickie, but if you have it set not to boot from the HDD at all, the machine would not load at all, does it load into XP?

 

have you set your primary boot option to CD-rom (i assume you have done this)

 

check your burnt image on another PC if you can, and make sure your cd/dvd reader drive is detected/configured in the bios correctly, this might be causing your issue, if its not detecting the drive.

 

you xp disc may not transfer from machine to machine, as its not that kind of disc, they are coded to only work on ceratin machines as they are recovery disc.

 

I would go down the linux route first as well. I like linux. I am currently dual booted with Suse and XP on my work machine.

 

xp is over rated

 

laterdays

 

step

 

 

 

Edit, I'm going to try Ubuntu and see how I get on with it. Once I've burnt the ISO onto a CD, do I just boot from CD to install it because for some reason I'm not able to boot from CD at the moment - it just seems to skip that even though I've got it set to not boot from the HDD in the BIOS at all.

 

[Disco_Bison]

I decided to jump in with both feet and I'm installing Ubuntu at the moment and removing the XP partition completely.

 

It's only an old computer so if it all goes tits up I'm not too fussed, but here's hoping. You guys might get a few more questions in the next couple of days

[eifion]

It should work, the code on the sicker on the machine is proof that you have bought a license to run XP, it doesn't matter what installation media you use to get the files on the PC.

 

And even if the activation doesn't work automatically all you have to do is phone microsoft and tell them you are installing it on a new machine and have removed it from the old machine in accordance with the EULA and they will give you the activation code over the phone.

[lazarus]

As far as I know, you could use your XP disc from the new machine, but to stay within the rules you'd have to wipe it from the new machine first. The "standard" rules are that you can only install on one machine at a time, but you also get versions where you can install on up to 5 at a time, or something similar. Might be worth checking the T&C on the licence.

 

not quite, the disk is just a media pack the bit you pay the bigger money is the licence (the sticker on the pc). now here's where it gets a bit confusing, there are oem versions of xp that are issues to individual manufacturers that are not ment to be installed on any other make of pc, and they will ask you what pc it is if you ever have to phone up to activate it (possibly what DB has, though technicaly probably already voided by using a different mother board in it), there is a retail version (comes in a nice box and can be installed on to any hardware you like but only once per licence held) and then there is the volume licence version(you need to talk straight to microsoft for the licencing on this one but it does have the added bonus that you don't need to activate it). the keys and install media between the volume licence and retail/oem are not interchangable.

and heres the next fun bit, as microsoft released the various major service packs and slip streamed them on to the install disks, you needed to have a licence key that matched that batch of disks. for example you couldn't install from an xp service pack 2 disk and use the licence key from an original non service packed version, it just wouldn't be recognised.

[-Olly-]

go with ubuntu

 

so much better than windows

[eifion]

go with ubuntu

 

so much better than windows

 

So when I open my prezzies on Xmas morning and someone's bought be Crysis for the PC I can run over to my ubuntu box and play it then?

[The Geoff]

With WINE installed (free), yes.

 

 

 

 

 

Caution: Subject to maybe not. WINE is good, but doesn't cover everything. Your processor will have to be up to it. And your graphics card. But it still might not work. Good grief, what do you expect, it's free. Ingrate.

[Disco_Bison]

And it's time for my first question: I'm trying to install my wireless network dongle and when I try to boot the CD it tells me I have no application suitable for automatic installation available for that kind of file, an .exe file.

 

Any thoughts? I obviously have access to the internet from my other computers so I can download anything and stick it on a CD to get it to the new machine

[The Geoff]

From the sound of it the dongle has an inbuilt driver for Windows - .exe files are Windows only, so Linux is finding the software and going "What? This isn't mine?"

 

Ubuntu had issues with wireless dongles at 6.04, but that's apparently been improved now. I'm on an ethernet connection, which is plug-n-play, so I can't be much more help. Google "Ubuntu forum" and you'll find a wealth of information though

[lazarus]

Caution: Subject to maybe not. WINE is good, but doesn't cover everything. Your processor will have to be up to it. And your graphics card. But it still might not work. Good grief, what do you expect, it's free.

 

So what your saying is you get what you pay for

[The Geoff]

Yup, and in "stuff per pound" Linux beats M$ by.....well.....infinity

 

Once you've got a Linux installation that you like, and learn a bit about it, you can customise anything. The whole source code is open.

[Lem]

go with ubuntu

 

so much better than windows

 

So when I open my prezzies on Xmas morning and someone's bought be Crysis for the PC I can run over to my ubuntu box and play it then?

 

 

I had a smart-alec reply on hand , but the real answer is.. Not just yet unfortunately. You can play most PC games using in Ubuntu using a program called Cedega. Crysis isn't supported yet.