I bought a new Compaq PC a few weeks ago with XP Pro preinstalled (OEM
version, with a Product Key sticker on the case). Of course, no XP
Setup CD came with the machine, but I did burn Recovery CDs using the
supplied utility.

My problem is this: If I ever want to perform a clean reinstall of XP
on this machine, I strongly prefer *not* to use the Recovery CDs as
they will reinstall all the extraneous third-party junk (demos, AOL
signup, etc.) that was also preinstalled, and which took me nearly two
days to clean out of my system.

Fortunately, the Recovery CDs do not appear to be "image" backups.
The first, in fact, looks very similar to the XP Pro CD I use on my
office machine -- that is, it contains the \i386 directory structure.
Could I create a bootable CD that contains the licensed OEM version of
XP contained on this Recovery CD so it accepts my product key?

I have seen procedures for making a bootable CD with SP1
"slipstreamed", using a regular XP CD, and this seems pretty
straightforward. But in my case, I need to create the XP CD "image" on
my hard drive from my Recovery CD, and want to ensure I copy all the
right directories/files (preferably including any OEM-supplied
drivers, and excluding any scripts that launch the "junkware"
installs). If anyone can provide any instructions/guidance, or point
me to a web site that will help, I would *greatly* appreciate it!

(Sorry for the length of this post, but this is an important issue to
me and I wanted to describe it accurately.)

Greg Swift

No. Your Compaq issued Product Key will only
work with your Compaq issued Recovery CD.

--
Nicholas

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

<Greg Swift> wrote in message:
news:(E-Mail Removed)...

| I bought a new Compaq PC a few weeks ago with XP Pro preinstalled (OEM
| version, with a Product Key sticker on the case). Of course, no XP
| Setup CD came with the machine, but I did burn Recovery CDs using the
| supplied utility.
|
| My problem is this: If I ever want to perform a clean reinstall of XP
| on this machine, I strongly prefer *not* to use the Recovery CDs as
| they will reinstall all the extraneous third-party junk (demos, AOL
| signup, etc.) that was also preinstalled, and which took me nearly two
| days to clean out of my system.
|
| Fortunately, the Recovery CDs do not appear to be "image" backups.
| The first, in fact, looks very similar to the XP Pro CD I use on my
| office machine -- that is, it contains the \i386 directory structure.
| Could I create a bootable CD that contains the licensed OEM version of
| XP contained on this Recovery CD so it accepts my product key?
|
| I have seen procedures for making a bootable CD with SP1
| "slipstreamed", using a regular XP CD, and this seems pretty
| straightforward. But in my case, I need to create the XP CD "image" on
| my hard drive from my Recovery CD, and want to ensure I copy all the
| right directories/files (preferably including any OEM-supplied
| drivers, and excluding any scripts that launch the "junkware"
| installs). If anyone can provide any instructions/guidance, or point
| me to a web site that will help, I would *greatly* appreciate it!
|
| (Sorry for the length of this post, but this is an important issue to
| me and I wanted to describe it accurately.)
|
| Greg Swift
|
|

If I were to make a Windows XP CD that contained a "duplicate" of the
OEM version of XP on the Recovery CD (as I was hoping to do), I do not
understand why the Product Key would not work. Can you enlighten me?

Greg


On Tue, 30 Sep 2003 19:34:40 -0500, "Nicholas"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>No. Your Compaq issued Product Key will only
>work with your Compaq issued Recovery CD.