G
Guest
Is Repair Installation still included as an operating system recovery option
on currently shipped copies of Windows XP Home Edition?
I ask because I just bought a new computer from Gateway and it came with a
preloaded Windows XP Home O/S. But there are several differences between this
Gateway branded OEM version of Windows XP and the Gateway OEM versions of XP
on my other Gateway computer which I purchased before Nov. 2004. One of the
differences is that I cannot get to the screen for a Repair Installation
(non-destructive) with the O/S that came preloaded on my new computer hard
drive. I have spent many hours with Gateway technicians and they have been
unable to help me locate Repair Installation. And there is now a Gateway
Recovery Console which does not include all the normal Windows XP Home
recovery/reinstallation options. Since this is a media-less O/S, there is no
Recovery CD I can use to get to the Repair Installation.
Is Repair Installation a feature that Gateway and perhaps other OEMs have
stripped out of Windows XP, or has Microsoft stripped it out?
I need to know to decide how to get this feature back if it is still
available somewhere, such as through an upgrade purchased directly from
Microsoft. I need the Repair Installation feature because over the years I
have found it to be quite reliable (nothing is perfect, of course) and it
typically saves me about two weeks of work reinstalling my programs and
program settings.
Gateway does not know the answer to my questions about how to get the Repair
Installation. When I call Microsoft they do not want to help me because I
have an OEM version of Windows XP, and they tell me I must contact my
computer manufacturer.
Oh, for the good old days of operating system CDs! It's quite a loss not to
be able to use some features one has counted on for years and which is still
on my other Gateway computers which are running Gateway OEM Windows XP (but
which have recovery CDs).
Does Microsoft allow OEMs to strip out features of Windows XP?
I also notice that the Help and Support answers on my new computer have many
inaccurate statements because they seem to be written assuming that one has
access to a Microsoft Windows XP CD. Somewhere in the process of going
media-less, both Microsoft and OEMs are producing inaccurate information in
Help files.
I don't mind a media-less o/s as long as it has a complete Windows XP system
on it. If a company says it is including Windows XP with one of its
computers, surely a customer can reasonably expect to receive a complete
Windows XP O/S, not an O/S which has missing features and inaccurate Help
file statements.
Thanks for any help you can give to help me understand what happened to
Repair Installation and if I can still get access to the feature somehow,
somewhere.
Thank you.
on currently shipped copies of Windows XP Home Edition?
I ask because I just bought a new computer from Gateway and it came with a
preloaded Windows XP Home O/S. But there are several differences between this
Gateway branded OEM version of Windows XP and the Gateway OEM versions of XP
on my other Gateway computer which I purchased before Nov. 2004. One of the
differences is that I cannot get to the screen for a Repair Installation
(non-destructive) with the O/S that came preloaded on my new computer hard
drive. I have spent many hours with Gateway technicians and they have been
unable to help me locate Repair Installation. And there is now a Gateway
Recovery Console which does not include all the normal Windows XP Home
recovery/reinstallation options. Since this is a media-less O/S, there is no
Recovery CD I can use to get to the Repair Installation.
Is Repair Installation a feature that Gateway and perhaps other OEMs have
stripped out of Windows XP, or has Microsoft stripped it out?
I need to know to decide how to get this feature back if it is still
available somewhere, such as through an upgrade purchased directly from
Microsoft. I need the Repair Installation feature because over the years I
have found it to be quite reliable (nothing is perfect, of course) and it
typically saves me about two weeks of work reinstalling my programs and
program settings.
Gateway does not know the answer to my questions about how to get the Repair
Installation. When I call Microsoft they do not want to help me because I
have an OEM version of Windows XP, and they tell me I must contact my
computer manufacturer.
Oh, for the good old days of operating system CDs! It's quite a loss not to
be able to use some features one has counted on for years and which is still
on my other Gateway computers which are running Gateway OEM Windows XP (but
which have recovery CDs).
Does Microsoft allow OEMs to strip out features of Windows XP?
I also notice that the Help and Support answers on my new computer have many
inaccurate statements because they seem to be written assuming that one has
access to a Microsoft Windows XP CD. Somewhere in the process of going
media-less, both Microsoft and OEMs are producing inaccurate information in
Help files.
I don't mind a media-less o/s as long as it has a complete Windows XP system
on it. If a company says it is including Windows XP with one of its
computers, surely a customer can reasonably expect to receive a complete
Windows XP O/S, not an O/S which has missing features and inaccurate Help
file statements.
Thanks for any help you can give to help me understand what happened to
Repair Installation and if I can still get access to the feature somehow,
somewhere.
Thank you.