Windows XP Install w/Product Key - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Engine09 · 05-04-2008, 04:10 PM

Had some problems with my laptop, bought a new hard drive and installed it. Now I need to reinstall Windows XP.

I have the Windows XP sticker on the bottom on my computer with the product key but I do not have the Windows XP cd, no software.

I've been doing some searching but can't find anything really useful that explains how I can obtain or just download Windows XP which I can then activate with my product key.

keratosis · 05-04-2008, 04:16 PM

Go back to the manufacturer of your laptop and request an XP cd.

McG · 05-04-2008, 04:56 PM

as keratosis says...the manufacturer of your laptop should have provided an oem copy...although i know lots of them don't and i don't believe that they are specifically required to.

you could also see if anyone that you know has a disk...since you have another key you won't be using their key for validation, just your own. that should also work although keys can be notoriously tricky and you might have to tell M$ about that. i have never called M$ for that kind of thing but i have heard that you might have to do that.

photon · 05-04-2008, 05:03 PM

If you get a copy of the OEM Windows XP then the key should work. Even a torrent of Windows XP should be fine, as long as it's the OEM version.

Of course that just does Windows, after that you'll need all the laptop specific drivers, and some manufacturers are better than others in making those drivers available for download.

Like McG says, keys are picky and you have to have the right kind of CD to get the key to work.. A CD from the laptop maker is ideal as it will have all the right drivers in place as well, but they often cost $$... last time I had to rebuild a Sony laptop I had to spend $80 getting the restore CD.

Hack&Lube · 05-04-2008, 05:53 PM

Your laptop should have come with a "RESTORE DISK", this is your replacement for an XP CD though it might not say XP on it. The problem is that if you bought a new harddrive you've lost the restore partition that is hidden on your old laptop drive and contains most of the data for the XP disk. That's what you should have done instead of buying a new harddrive. Almost every laptop has a hidden partition that holds a clean copy of windows and all the drivers and programs specifically for that laptop. You are supposed to use the restore disk which reinstalls clean Windows and drivers from that hidden partition.

Either contact your laptop manufacturer or borrow and XP disk from your friend but since it won't be the OEM one from that manufacturer, you'll need to track down drivers for your laptop yourself.

Engine09 · 05-05-2008, 12:55 AM

The hard drive I replaced was also a replacement, so any XP data I originally had is long gone. And I don't even remember if I was given a OEM disc. Either way I don't don't have it anymore.

So my key will work if I dload the same version of XP? I don't mind tracking down all the drivers, I remember doing that once before.

If that fails, I'll call IBM/Lenovo and request a copy of XP. Thanks guys!

Hack&Lube · 05-05-2008, 02:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kryzsky

The hard drive I replaced was also a replacement, so any XP data I originally had is long gone. And I don't even remember if I was given a OEM disc. Either way I don't don't have it anymore.

So my key will work if I dload the same version of XP? I don't mind tracking down all the drivers, I remember doing that once before.

If that fails, I'll call IBM/Lenovo and request a copy of XP. Thanks guys!

The liscense might (I'm pretty sure it should) work if you find another OEM copy of XP Home (I'm guessing you have XP Home and not XP Professional), it won't work on something like corporate XP or XP-64 bit, etc. Doesn't hurt to try.

Bobblehead · 05-05-2008, 08:47 AM

I've called IBM/Lenovo and got disks for my T61. The crappy part is the disks simply create the rescue partition, then trigger the restore with all the glorious "bonus" features.

But it does get you rolling.

They will tell you that if your machine isn't under warranty they may charge you for the disks, but they didn't charge me anything, and they showed up via Purolator 2 days later.

llama64 · 05-05-2008, 09:25 AM

Most vendors these days don't provide discs anymore. They just give you a sticker that says you really should run the backup CD program in Vista to create your own restore CD.

Yeah... cuz Grandma is really going to try doing that.

Pester the crap out of your manufacturer till they finally do their job and give you the CD for the software you bought from them. If you are stern enough with Dell, I know you can get them to send you an actual copy of XP/Vista rather then the restore disc.

Engine09 · 05-05-2008, 11:01 AM

Quote:

The liscense might (I'm pretty sure it should) work if you find another OEM copy of XP Home (I'm guessing you have XP Home and not XP Professional), it won't work on something like corporate XP or XP-64 bit, etc. Doesn't hurt to try.

The sticker on the bottom on my laptop actually says "Windows XP Professional 1".

I'm going to try running a copy of XP Pro and use my product key, I just heard from someone who is going to hook with up with a cd.

photon · 05-05-2008, 11:07 AM

If it's a retail or upgrade version of Windows XP, it won't work. It has to be the OEM version, and even then I've had hit and miss success with using OEM versions and OEM keys.

gottabekd · 05-05-2008, 11:11 AM

I've used OEM keys with a retail CD. It wouldn't activate. I had to call Microsoft for that, and just had to explain that the hard drive died and I'm installing fresh on the same system.

photon · 05-05-2008, 11:40 AM

It won't even install, early in the install process it asks for a key, and the OEM key won't work to get it to continue through the install.

Hack&Lube · 05-05-2008, 06:55 PM

There are custom user-made "editions" of Windows XP discs "out there" that can be switched between OEM/Corporate/Home/Professional/SP1/SP2/Ultimate, etc. etc. at will to get them to install but you'll have to search and torrent them. As you have a legitimate key, that should be fine.

CubicleGeek · 05-07-2008, 11:30 PM

Strange, I recently just restored my girlfriend's laptop using my retail XP pro (well actually it was a custom version of XP pro that I slipstreamed SP2 amongst other patches into) and the key on the bottom and it worked fine. Only problem was the her key was a media center version and when it prompted for disc 2 (which presumably contains the media center extras) I just skipped. This means she lost some of the media center exclusives, but I was never fond of that suite anyways given that there are, IMO, better and free players out there. I did have to go to Toshiba and download and install the drivers manually.

Though I have heard of instances where some keys won't work with some builds of XP, it's definitely worth getting a copy of XP from somewhere and trying with your key. As indicated by Hack&Lube, it isn't really piracy since you have a legit key.

It's worthwhile noting that ALOT of companies no longer provide hard copies of the restore disk. You either can order a hard copy, usually costing around $50 - $100 or you can burn your own. I know some companies such as IBM (Lenovo now), in addition to creating a partition that allows you to restore without a disc will provide tools that allow you to burn your own restore disc. It's prudent to always keep a couple of those around since on total hard disk failure the 2nd partition isn't very useful.

Worse comes to worse if no tool is present and they didn't provide you with a hard copy, create an image of your current windows build and burn out a copy of windows for yourself. There are many tutorials on how to do that online - look up slipstreaming. The only difference in this case is you won't be including any additional patches into your build, which alot of the slipstreaming tutorials cover. You can just skip that step.

Traditional_Ale · 05-08-2008, 09:34 AM

Hey, I just got a PM from you about this, Kryzsky! But I didn't see this thread. WTF?

sclitheroe · 05-08-2008, 10:13 AM

To all the people suggesting torrents - you are absolutely nuts! You have no way of knowing whatsoever if that torrented copy of XP has a keylogger, backdoor, etc, added to it.

Have at it if security isn't important to you, but consider that a compromised operating system on one machine potentially exposes all your other machines too, if you have more than one.

onetwo_threefour · 05-09-2008, 11:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by photon

It won't even install, early in the install process it asks for a key, and the OEM key won't work to get it to continue through the install.

I actually had this problem after a bad BIOS flash and new hard drive.. I caled Microsoft and they verified my OEM key and told me what to enter in order to get a working install. I was quite impressed with the customer service on that. This was maybe 18 months ago, and I was using the XP CD from my laptop because my VAIO desktop didn't come with one and the XP install wouldn't work from the CD even with my original OEM key.

Unfortunately, I now don't even recall where I called specifically to get help, I think it was just a MS support number I found in either the XP CD case or online at Windows support (I think it was the latter, and i think there are instructions somewhere on the support site relating to this type of scenario, otherwise I wouldn't have known to to do that.)

Actually, as I think about it, I'm sure it was an automated process. You called a number, entered your OEM key after answerig some voice prompts about the situation and then it issued a key for you to use. It was pretty cool.