Upgrading Windows XP OEM without disc

[dfcook]

Hi,

I have an HP machine that we bought approximately 3 years ago. It came
installed with Windows XP Home OEM and a recovery partition on the
Hard Drive but no XP disc. I'd now like to upgrade my motherboard and
processor but realise that this could cause issues with my OEM
license. Is it possible to keep my existing installation and upgrade
these component, I don't mind purchasing additional software/licenses
just don't want to have to reinstall Windows from scratch.

Thanks,
Dan

 

[Malke]

Hi,

I have an HP machine that we bought approximately 3 years ago. It came
installed with Windows XP Home OEM and a recovery partition on the
Hard Drive but no XP disc. I'd now like to upgrade my motherboard and
processor but realise that this could cause issues with my OEM
license. Is it possible to keep my existing installation and upgrade
these component, I don't mind purchasing additional software/licenses
just don't want to have to reinstall Windows from scratch.

No, you won't be able to do this. All EULA considerations aside,
changing the motherboard and processor require at the very least a
Repair Install (unless you are replacing them with the exact same models
and you aren't). A Repair Install requires that you have a real XP
install cd, which you don't. The HP recovery process is an image of the
system as it came from the factory - with the original hardware. In some
instances, the hardware differences will be too great and you'll need to
do a clean install.

What might work would be to make your hardware changes and then try a
Repair Install with a full OEM install disk (an HP one would be best).
Since most end users don't have a collection of various XP install disks
around you might want to check with a local computer professional. This
will not be a BigStoreUSA type of place. If the Repair Install doesn't
work, you'll need to clean-install Windows.

In any case, make sure you have all your data backed up first because
Stuff Happens.

http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm - Repair Install
How-To
http://michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html - Clean Install How-To
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page2.html#Reinstalling_Windows -
What you will need on-hand


Malke

 

[Daniel Cook]

Thanks for the reply. What I do have is an OEM disc that came with my
laptop, from what you're saying there's a chance that this might be OK for a
Repair Install?

One last question, if I buy a retail Vista upgrade package and upgrade my
OEM Windows first will this leave me with a "full" Vista install which will
allow me to change hardware as I like?

Thanks again,
Dan

 

[Malke]

Thanks for the reply. What I do have is an OEM disc that came with my
laptop, from what you're saying there's a chance that this might be OK for a
Repair Install?

One last question, if I buy a retail Vista upgrade package and upgrade my
OEM Windows first will this leave me with a "full" Vista install which will
allow me to change hardware as I like?

If your OEM disk is actually a real operating system install disk and
not a restore image, that might work. I have not seen any HP's that come
with anything but restore disks (images) but that doesn't mean you don't
have one. You can check by putting it in the drive and looking at the
contents - or check with HP.

I would suggest you thoroughly research whether your computer will run
Vista and if there are drivers that support the new operating system.
You would find this out by going to HP's tech support site for your
specific model machine. If there is no Vista support, don't upgrade.

I can't answer your last question regarding Vista. AFAIK, Vista has the
same requirements for activation as XP does. If you change your
hardware, you may need to reactivate - either on the Internet or by
telephone.


Malke

 

[Rock]

One last question, if I buy a retail Vista upgrade package and upgrade my
OEM Windows first will this leave me with a "full" Vista install which
will allow me to change hardware as I like?

Yes you can upgrade XP OEM to Vista with an upgrade version. After that you
can change the hardware on the same computer. It will activate either on
the internet or if not, then by phone. The upgrade Vista version can be
moved to a new computer, but there needs to be a qualifying OS on the new
computer to use that Vista upgrade version, and the OEM version can't be
used for that. The XP OEM version is tied to the first computer on which
it's installed, so it can't be moved. If you get a different qualifying OS,
then the Vista upgrade could be moved to a different computer.

There are Vista newsgroups for Vista questions. One such is
microsoft.public.windows.vista.general.