Karl said:
I had to install a new hard drive and am wondering if I can use my
copy of Office XP Pro as an operating system (when it prompts me to
install an O/S)?
Sorry, but you seem to be badly confused here.
You can't "use" something as an operating system. It's either an operating
system or it isn't. And Office XP is not an operating system at all; it's a
suite of application programs, incorporating a word processor (Word), a
spreadsheet program (Excel), a database program (Access), and so on.
Do not be confused by the fact that Office XP and Windows XP both have "XP"
in their names. The two are entirely unrelated, and the "XP" is in their
names solely for marketing purposes. Windows XP is the current version of
Windows (soon to be the previous version, when Vista comes out on January
30), and Office XP is the next to current version of Office (Office 2003 is
the current version, and that too will very soon be replaced by Office
2007).
Or do I have to have Windows XP installed for Office XP Pro to
"piggy-back" off of Windows XP?
It's not a matter of piggybacking. You have to have an operating sytem
installed to do anything at all, and if you want to use Office XP, you have
to have an operating system that it's compatible with. That can be Windows
98, Windows 98SE, Windows Me, Windows 2000, Windows NT, Windows XP, or
(presumably) Windows Vista. Office XP can also run under Linux.
My old hard drive had Windows XP on it (internally), so I don't have
the Windows XP disk(s).
Contact your computer vendor and see if they can help. However you are very
likely out of luck, and will have to buy a new copy of Windows. This is one
of the main reasons why I would never personally choose to buy a computer
with a copy of Windows preinstalled unless it also came with a complete
installation CD of Windows.
