Must vendors provide the XP CD with pre-installed PCs?

[M$]

Does any one know if it is legal for a PC vendor to sell a PC with XP
installed and not provide the media? The question is in reference to all XP
version including OEM, Retails, Pro, etc.

 

[pjp]

You'll see that a lot, especially with the "name" brands, e.g. HP etc.

Usually what they've done is some "bs" like

a) having a folder on the hard disk containing what one might need (poor
choice)
b) having some "special" hidden partition on the hard disk along with some
means of 'activating" said partition to restore the OS.(not much better)

Note - all these "special recovery" methods basically destroy any data
already on the hard disk, e.g. they treat the hard disk as empty when used.
Also note that if the hard disk goes belly up, you no longer even have an OS
to install..

Basically people are idiots for putting up with it. I don't know how many
people I've convinced to simply return (or not to buy in the first place)
their newly bought pc solely because the vendor didn't supply a REAL
physical cd to use.

 

[M$]

Thanks for the reply.

I accidentally posted this here; should have been in XP.General forum.

 

[Chris H.]

You'll probably get an earful over there, especially with the "name" you've
chosen for posting. Some companies now are not even shipping the
recovery or restore CD/DVD sets, but instead have instructions how to burn
your own backup set. Years ago, some of the companies did the same thing
when we had standard floppies (not the big ones, fortunately) and it was a
real pain to come up with 143 floppies to back up your system.
--
Chris H.
Microsoft Windows MVP
Tablet Creations - http://nicecreations.us/
Associate Expert
Expert Zone -

 

[Chuck]

To add insult to injury, several companies have included a "recovery" CD set
that does not match the factory HD load.
This can cause all sortsd of strange problems.

 

[Yves Leclerc]

Even worst, some companies have to "gall" to not ship you the Recovery CD.
You have to "buy" it from them after you get the system.