Stolen Key

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Guest

I got a machine in today from the local SCORE office (they are a non-profit
division of the Small Business Administration). A local joker tech company
(which is now out of business and the owner in jail) overwrote the existing
legal OEM Windows XP Professional with some pirated copy of Windows.

Now they are having issues and have brought me in on the situation.

The machine will not boot properly, all indications say a repair install
will fix their issues as has many other PCs with the same issues.

My issue lies in the fact that the system will not give the option for a
repair install over the pirated version with their legit OEM XP Pro. They
cannot reinstall fresh because of a proprietary piece of database software
they use that has not been properly backed up an quite some time.

Are they going to have to buy a retail XP Pro to be able to perform this
repair install? (this option really isn't very effective of a fix for them
being non-profit and in such a sparcly populated area.) Is this something
MSPSS would likely have a solution for?

Typically in this situation I'd tell them to go buy a new retail edition to
perform the repair with, but being SCORE has helped me so much in setting up
my business and the fact they are non-profit, I'd like to find the cheapest
fix available to them.

Thanks in advance for any replies or ideas.
 
My issue lies in the fact that the system will not give the option
for a repair install over the pirated version with their legit OEM
XP Pro. They cannot reinstall fresh because of a proprietary
piece of database software they use that has not been properly
backed up an quite some time.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't even attempt a repair install with this puppy!

I would make a backup copy of the drive in question using Ghost.

Then, install a fresh XP copy formatting the drive with their OEM copy.
Using Ghost explorer, extract out the database program. Do they still
have the install discs? You could try re-installing the software and
then reextract the data back out of the Ghost image. Hopefully the
software is smart to pick up the data and heal itself. In fact, if the
installation is MSI based, copying the raw binaries over and then
launching the program may do the trick.

Otherwise, copy the database out and then run it. It may bomb out.
Try using Regmon and Filemon to trace down what it is looking for.

A few months ago I was upgrading a computer in our Quality Control
department. The gentleman had a Windows 95 machine with something
called Advanced Gage Calibration on it. No one had a clue as to the
location of the discs and the software vendor was only available by
voicemail, so I copied the binaries over and one by one, using Filemon
and intuition, I got it working without contacting the vendor or
delaying the upgrade.

Speaking of which, did you try contacting the vendor of the database
software?

Adam
 
In
J.P. Layman said:
I got a machine in today from the local SCORE office (they are a
non-profit division of the Small Business Administration). A local
joker tech company (which is now out of business and the owner in
jail) overwrote the existing legal OEM Windows XP Professional with
some pirated copy of Windows.

Now they are having issues and have brought me in on the situation.

The machine will not boot properly, all indications say a repair
install will fix their issues as has many other PCs with the same
issues.

My issue lies in the fact that the system will not give the option
for a repair install over the pirated version with their legit OEM XP
Pro. They cannot reinstall fresh because of a proprietary piece of
database software they use that has not been properly backed up an
quite some time.

Are they going to have to buy a retail XP Pro to be able to perform
this repair install? (this option really isn't very effective of a
fix for them being non-profit and in such a sparcly populated area.)
Is this something MSPSS would likely have a solution for?

Typically in this situation I'd tell them to go buy a new retail
edition to perform the repair with, but being SCORE has helped me so
much in setting up my business and the fact they are non-profit, I'd
like to find the cheapest fix available to them.

Thanks in advance for any replies or ideas.
Click to expand...

I need to change my XP Product KEY #18 on the FAQ list
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/xpfaq.html#018
--
Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com
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