P
Pheasant Plucker®
I recently had to fit a new HDD to a PC and reinstall XP Pro,Office and all
custom applications on a business critical PC.
Their original retail XP Pro CD was corrupt however and the computer had to
be back in the office after the weekend.
I had an OEM XP Pro (shrink-wrapped, not manufacturer branded) that I had
previously installed on another new HDD on a test machine.
I formatted the existing installation and installed on the office PC.
Despite my honesty with Microsoft and a week with Tech Support I was unable
to activate the OEM version using the Product Key that came on the OEM COA.
This leaves me with a copy of XP Pro that I paid for that is as much use as
a chocolate teapot as not only will it not activate it on the office PC but
as I have formatted my test PC I am not able to activate it on that machine
either.
Microsoft have sent a replacement retail XP Pro CD but to save 2 days of
work over another weekend I need to know if it is possible to install the
replacement retail OS over the top of the installed OEM version without
upsetting the installed applications - some of which are bespoke and require
a time consuming setup procedure including return to the office of a dozen
iPAQ's to resynch with a custom application.
To say that I am upset would be an understatement - I always use original,
licensed software and encourage others to do the same.
In fact since my involvement with this particular Company I have actively
encouraged them to purchase original software for other computers (OS,
Office & applications) - imagine my frustration when I was unable to
activate a legitimate copy of XP Pro...
As I am unable to charge labour installing a second time I am hoping that
there is some way I will be able to overwrite the OEM OS with the retail
version.
Anyone?
custom applications on a business critical PC.
Their original retail XP Pro CD was corrupt however and the computer had to
be back in the office after the weekend.
I had an OEM XP Pro (shrink-wrapped, not manufacturer branded) that I had
previously installed on another new HDD on a test machine.
I formatted the existing installation and installed on the office PC.
Despite my honesty with Microsoft and a week with Tech Support I was unable
to activate the OEM version using the Product Key that came on the OEM COA.
This leaves me with a copy of XP Pro that I paid for that is as much use as
a chocolate teapot as not only will it not activate it on the office PC but
as I have formatted my test PC I am not able to activate it on that machine
either.
Microsoft have sent a replacement retail XP Pro CD but to save 2 days of
work over another weekend I need to know if it is possible to install the
replacement retail OS over the top of the installed OEM version without
upsetting the installed applications - some of which are bespoke and require
a time consuming setup procedure including return to the office of a dozen
iPAQ's to resynch with a custom application.
To say that I am upset would be an understatement - I always use original,
licensed software and encourage others to do the same.
In fact since my involvement with this particular Company I have actively
encouraged them to purchase original software for other computers (OS,
Office & applications) - imagine my frustration when I was unable to
activate a legitimate copy of XP Pro...
As I am unable to charge labour installing a second time I am hoping that
there is some way I will be able to overwrite the OEM OS with the retail
version.
Anyone?