Boot CD from OEM Win XP too much to ask?

[Andy]

Every thread, board, forum and site I visit to get information about
creating a bootable CD from WinXP at some point includes the line
'insert to Windows Installation CD'. Those of us in the UK who have
bought a new PC in recent years - WE DON'T HAVE ONE. If you have an
OEM machine, all you get is a Recovery CD which, as you know, wipes
your hard drive and returns it to an 'out of the box' state.

What I need to do is install the Recovery Console because I have a
BSoD (Unmountable Boot Volume) but I don't have a WinXP Installation
CD because I have an OEM version.

Come on Microsoft. We all know that a substantial part of the cost of
a new PC is the Windows license. The necessary files are sitting there
in the i386 directory. Surely you can give us the means of installing
the Recovery Console with what we have - or at least make a download
available.

But short of that - does anyone know where or how I can solve this
problem.

Many thanks, in advance.

Andy

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Andy;
You can install the Recovery Console from these floppies:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310994
Be sure to get the correct set for your version and Service Pack.

Otherwise contact your computer manufacturer, they made the choice based on
their perception of their customers wants and needs.

Also less cost than you may think is for the OS.
That is one of the many reasons you pay less for your OEM.

 

[Guest]

The 'considerable value' that you write about is actually:

For a single OEM Edition of Windows XP Home Aust $ 150
For a single OEM Edition of Windows XP Pro Aust $ 250
For a single Retail Edition of Windows XP Home Aust $ 309
For a single Retail Edition of Windows XP Pro Aust $ 440

Now these prices are based upon a SINGLE purchase: where the OEM builder is
a company with large sales volumes it may be fair to expect that the actual
sales revenue to Microsoft of XP is less than Aust $100. This is becasue the
OEM will repackage XP into a 'Recovery' package and it will also place
further security around the Product such that it would be impossible to
attempt to install it on any other than the PC Make and Model for which the
recovery set was created. SO if one bought a Toshiba Satellite Pro XXXX;
then one couldn't use the recovery set on any other Toshiba product, let
alone attempt to use it on a white box desktop PC.

In fairness then, you can see why, with an OEM edition of XP you have
inherited limited functionality. It generally applies to all OEM builders.

My advice is that you consider the following:
Before you attempt to rebuild; buy XP Pro Upgrade Edition [including SP2]
and have all functionality available
or
after rebuilding your PC, buy a retail USB Hard Drive [Maxtor or Seagate]
and use the Software supplied by them to clone your hard drive.

Clone [make a reliable backup] of your hard drive every time you add new
software or on a reglar basic to ensure backup of all your personal data as
well.

That way, should you ever need to 'rebuild' the PC it is a simple half hour
process of 'restoring' from the external hard drive image.

 

[Kevin]

Is $150.00 Aussie dollars the same as $100.00 US dollars? You can buy an
OEM Windows XP Home Edition CD on Ebay for $100.00 every day of the week. I
have seen them at sites like www.cheapsoftware.com for less than $90.00
dollars US.

The 'considerable value' that you write about is actually:

For a single OEM Edition of Windows XP Home Aust $ 150
For a single OEM Edition of Windows XP Pro Aust $ 250
For a single Retail Edition of Windows XP Home Aust $ 309
For a single Retail Edition of Windows XP Pro Aust $ 440

Now these prices are based upon a SINGLE purchase: where the OEM builder is
a company with large sales volumes it may be fair to expect that the actual
sales revenue to Microsoft of XP is less than Aust $100. This is becasue the
OEM will repackage XP into a 'Recovery' package and it will also place
further security around the Product such that it would be impossible to
attempt to install it on any other than the PC Make and Model for which the
recovery set was created. SO if one bought a Toshiba Satellite Pro XXXX;
then one couldn't use the recovery set on any other Toshiba product, let
alone attempt to use it on a white box desktop PC.

In fairness then, you can see why, with an OEM edition of XP you have
inherited limited functionality. It generally applies to all OEM builders.

My advice is that you consider the following:
Before you attempt to rebuild; buy XP Pro Upgrade Edition [including SP2]
and have all functionality available
or
after rebuilding your PC, buy a retail USB Hard Drive [Maxtor or Seagate]
and use the Software supplied by them to clone your hard drive.

Clone [make a reliable backup] of your hard drive every time you add new
software or on a reglar basic to ensure backup of all your personal data as
well.

That way, should you ever need to 'rebuild' the PC it is a simple half hour
process of 'restoring' from the external hard drive image.

Andy;
You can install the Recovery Console from these floppies:
http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=310994
Be sure to get the correct set for your version and Service Pack.

Otherwise contact your computer manufacturer, they made the choice based on
their perception of their customers wants and needs.

Also less cost than you may think is for the OS.
That is one of the many reasons you pay less for your OEM.

 

[Vic Baron]

Search for slipstream and start following the links. There are several that
have copies of the boot image files. You can use them to create ANY bootable
CD. You do not need to copy the files from a bootable XP disk.