Reloading Widows XP

[dickbelle]

I bought a used laptop with XP Pro. Works great, but I finally figured out
why I can't do Windows updates past SP2 - my Windows is probably not genuine.
I went and got a brand new copy of XP and want to install. Do I have to
totally wipe out the HD and do a clean install and all the backing up and
reloading of software, or is it possible to load my new copy of XP right over
the old, and update that way?

 

[Shenan Stanley]

I bought a used laptop with XP Pro. Works great, but I finally
figured out why I can't do Windows updates past SP2 - my Windows is
probably not genuine. I went and got a brand new copy of XP and
want to install. Do I have to totally wipe out the HD and do a
clean install and all the backing up and reloading of software, or
is it possible to load my new copy of XP right over the old, and
update that way?

Used machine with a now discovered non-legitimate copy of Windows XP and you
*don't want* to erase it?

Who knows what else the last owner left there...?!

 

[JS]

The info below should do the trick, no reinstall required.

Windows Product Key Update Tool Instructions:
http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/se...en&sGuid=a3555d7f-0af6-4a55-be08-d019c5f022bf

JS

 

[JS]

Good point!

JS

Used machine with a now discovered non-legitimate copy of Windows XP and
you *don't want* to erase it?

Who knows what else the last owner left there...?!

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

I bought a used laptop with XP Pro. Works great, but I finally figured out
why I can't do Windows updates past SP2 - my Windows is probably not genuine.
I went and got a brand new copy of XP and want to install. Do I have to
totally wipe out the HD and do a clean install and all the backing up and
reloading of software, or is it possible to load my new copy of XP right over
the old, and update that way?

Do you *have to* "totally wipe out the HD and do a clean install and
all the backing up and reloading of software"? No.

But you certainly *should*, whether or not you have a genuine copy of
Windows.

If I acquired a used computer, the first thing I would do with it
would be to reinstall the operating system cleanly. You have no idea
how the computer has been maintained, what has been installed
incorrectly, what is missing, what viruses and spyware there may be,
etc. I wouldn't want to live with somebody else's mistakes and
problems, possibility of kiddy porn, etc., and I wouldn't recommend
that anyone else do either.