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Reinstalling WIndows XP without disk, any ideas? - 8/29/2008 4:57:14 PM
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jmjphe
Posts: 78
Joined: 4/29/2008
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Heres the situation.
A friend sent me a system from across the country. It had a legitmate copy of Windows XP installed, however the install disk wasnt sent. Later the PC crached (mainbaord fried out). Im rebuilding a new system (new: Power supply, mainboard, video card, ram, CPU) these are all great upgrades to what i had. Im using some parts from the prior system, namely the fans, case, dvd drive, and the hard drive which has XP installed.
My question is can i boot up that install of XP and configure it with my new hardware, or do i have to reinstall? If so, is there a way of doing it without the install disk.
Attempts at contacting my friend for the install disk or registration key have been fruitless.
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RE: Reinstalling WIndows XP without disk, any ideas? - 8/30/2008 7:44:12 PM
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MWD
Posts: 163
Joined: 8/23/2006
From: New Hampshire
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When it comes to a PC purchased with a vendor-supplied CD, i.e. an OEM distribution of the operating system, Microsoft considers a motherboard replacement equal to purchasing a brand new computer; therefore the system is no longer licensed, and the existing installation is orphaned. (In a rather gross sense, new CPU means new computer from a licensing perspective, for OEM XP distributions.)
If, on the other hand, the system was originally sold with a full retail (boxed) copy of XP, as opposed to a restore CD -- and that would be a very odd situation -- then you are licensed to do a motherboard swap. But the point is moot, I guess, since the original owner can't be reached.
You may still be able to find full retail copies of XP online.
_____________________________
"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he doesn't exist."
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RE: Reinstalling WIndows XP without disk, any ideas? - 8/31/2008 5:55:52 AM
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InfoCentral
Posts: 158
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quote:
ORIGINAL: MWD
You may still be able to find full retail copies of XP online.
Yep, some places still have copies. I've even seen some places advertise systems that are Vista ready but have the XP downgrade. So I guess there are still a lot of people that don't want Vista and getting a new system downgraded to XP is a selling point. If you still want to get a copy of XP NewEgg still has copies available here.
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RE: Reinstalling WIndows XP without disk, any ideas? - 9/1/2008 3:44:07 AM
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jmjphe
Posts: 78
Joined: 4/29/2008
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thanks everyone for their replys. I actually got XP to boot up just fine with my new system, which was contrary to what i heard.
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RE: Reinstalling WIndows XP without disk, any ideas? - 9/1/2008 10:02:12 AM
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MWD
Posts: 163
Joined: 8/23/2006
From: New Hampshire
Status: offline
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Yeah, but now you're running an unlicensed instance of XP. Apart from the fact that it violates the EULA, it may come back to bite you sometime down the road with Update Manager, especially as Microsoft further fine-tunes its verification code over the next few weeks/months. As you probably know, Microsoft keeps an enormous amount of detail on its servers about every registered copy of XP, and from what I can gather, it has a sort of 1990s client/server feel to it, where the PC, along with registration data stored at Microsoft, "knows" what its original configuration was and may throw a stumbling block out in front of itself should any communication with Microsoft's servers subsequently take place. At that point, I would expect at minimum that Microsoft would then have a timestamped record of an unlicensed copy of XP in use at your IP address.
The short way of saying all this is, "Working doesn't necessarily mean legit."
_____________________________
"The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he doesn't exist."
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