A
Altlinker
My Dell laptop’s motherboard went dead. I copied an image of the disk to
another PC. I was able to boot, but not to activate my Windows XP
installation.
How can I get access to my working environment again (meaning not just the
data, but the installed programs and their settings)? Any help would be
greatly appreciated.
(posted on both MS and Dell support forums)
(MS- and Dell-specific questions, see below, after the details)
DETAILS:
Two weeks ago, my company-owned Dell Latitude D400 laptop started giving
error messages. After losing a lot of time and some money (third-party
replacement disk and memory ordered), I concluded that the motherboard was
likely damaged - and that I would not invest more time and money into a five
year old engine. I was able to connect the disk to another PC and to get a
complete image of my XP installation (with Acronis True Image 11 Home).
A friend lent me a PC, with a damaged XP home system (CDs missing), that I
replaced with my XP image. I was able to boot, but unfortunately could not
get past the activation screen. At the end of the activation-by-phone
procedure (not toll-free at all, by the way), a human operator from Microsoft
explained to me that a Dell OEM XP Pro could not be installed on another
machine, and that I would have to get a new license.
While this was quite unpleasant news, I suppose that’s a consequence of
MS’s drive against piracy - meaning honest customers cannot count on
flexibility from them. However, since MS stopped selling XP, asking me to buy
a new license appears somewhat disturbing - I didn’t ask the operator,
because it took me some time to swallow that OEM license statement. And even
if I could find a forgotten XP Pro at some computer shop, it is not clear to
me that an activation of the old system with a new license will be accepted
by MS.
So, what can I do? Buy a new laptop, of course. But until I finish selecting
that one and get it delivered, I need to work in my usual environment to be
fully productive. What options do I have to get the image of my XP
installation running on another PC?
Then, ideally, when starting to work with a new laptop, I would like to
install a dual-boot system. The idea would be to build up a new Vista working
environment from scratch, while being able to use my old XP working
environment for several months at least. The latter would be useful because
it takes some time to reinstall the dozens of programs I do use on a more or
less regular basis, and because I might give up using some of these, and thus
need to retrieve and export the data.
(1) MS-SPECIFIC QUESTION:
(1.1) How can I get to run the image of my old Dell-OEM-XP on another PC? If
I need a new XP license for this, where can I get it from?
(1.2) Which XP exactly would I need? A Pro like the one I have? Does Service
pack level matter? Does language matter?
(1.3) Will it be sufficient that I enter the new Product key during the
activation procedure?
(2) DELL-SPECIFIC QUESTION:
(2.1) If I come to buy a new Dell Laptop (Latitude E4300/4200 are likely
choices for me, just waiting for some reviews), what will be the options to
get my XP image running? With the intent of installing a dual-boot system,
should I order a laptop with the XP downgrade option or simply a Vista, and
use a separately purchased XP license (see above)?
(2.2) What is the Dell policy concerning XP drivers? Are they available to
all purchasers or only to those that order the XP downgrade option?
another PC. I was able to boot, but not to activate my Windows XP
installation.
How can I get access to my working environment again (meaning not just the
data, but the installed programs and their settings)? Any help would be
greatly appreciated.
(posted on both MS and Dell support forums)
(MS- and Dell-specific questions, see below, after the details)
DETAILS:
Two weeks ago, my company-owned Dell Latitude D400 laptop started giving
error messages. After losing a lot of time and some money (third-party
replacement disk and memory ordered), I concluded that the motherboard was
likely damaged - and that I would not invest more time and money into a five
year old engine. I was able to connect the disk to another PC and to get a
complete image of my XP installation (with Acronis True Image 11 Home).
A friend lent me a PC, with a damaged XP home system (CDs missing), that I
replaced with my XP image. I was able to boot, but unfortunately could not
get past the activation screen. At the end of the activation-by-phone
procedure (not toll-free at all, by the way), a human operator from Microsoft
explained to me that a Dell OEM XP Pro could not be installed on another
machine, and that I would have to get a new license.
While this was quite unpleasant news, I suppose that’s a consequence of
MS’s drive against piracy - meaning honest customers cannot count on
flexibility from them. However, since MS stopped selling XP, asking me to buy
a new license appears somewhat disturbing - I didn’t ask the operator,
because it took me some time to swallow that OEM license statement. And even
if I could find a forgotten XP Pro at some computer shop, it is not clear to
me that an activation of the old system with a new license will be accepted
by MS.
So, what can I do? Buy a new laptop, of course. But until I finish selecting
that one and get it delivered, I need to work in my usual environment to be
fully productive. What options do I have to get the image of my XP
installation running on another PC?
Then, ideally, when starting to work with a new laptop, I would like to
install a dual-boot system. The idea would be to build up a new Vista working
environment from scratch, while being able to use my old XP working
environment for several months at least. The latter would be useful because
it takes some time to reinstall the dozens of programs I do use on a more or
less regular basis, and because I might give up using some of these, and thus
need to retrieve and export the data.
(1) MS-SPECIFIC QUESTION:
(1.1) How can I get to run the image of my old Dell-OEM-XP on another PC? If
I need a new XP license for this, where can I get it from?
(1.2) Which XP exactly would I need? A Pro like the one I have? Does Service
pack level matter? Does language matter?
(1.3) Will it be sufficient that I enter the new Product key during the
activation procedure?
(2) DELL-SPECIFIC QUESTION:
(2.1) If I come to buy a new Dell Laptop (Latitude E4300/4200 are likely
choices for me, just waiting for some reviews), what will be the options to
get my XP image running? With the intent of installing a dual-boot system,
should I order a laptop with the XP downgrade option or simply a Vista, and
use a separately purchased XP license (see above)?
(2.2) What is the Dell policy concerning XP drivers? Are they available to
all purchasers or only to those that order the XP downgrade option?