Vendor limited my ability to use XP, did not provide XP CD

  • Thread starter Thread starter Caroline
  • Start date Start date
C

Caroline

Learned an expensive lesson with a laptop, preinstalled
with XP Pro. Vendor disabled the ability to partition the
c: drive, among other limitations, and did not provide a
CD of the operating system.

Basically, my bottom-line recovery option is to revert to
the factory image, with all the original settings, useless
& unwanted "bonus" software, etc. - on a machine that's
almost 2 years old.

Is there anything I can do to gain control over my
operating system? I want to use my computer as I see fit.
I feel that I paid for the license to use XP, and as long
as I am using it properly I don't understand why the
computer vendor has the right to disable its features on a
whim. I want to make my own choices. I am out of warranty
so that isn't a concern.

Sorry about the snappish tone but I am writing after an
extremely frustrating discourse with various levels of
vendor's helpdesk system. The thought of going back to the
original image - 20 months of careful housekeeping and
cleanup, weeding out the garbage installed by vendor and
its "strategic partners", diligent updating, and judicious
tweaking, all going down the tubes - makes me want to curl
up in the corner and whimper.

Thank you.
 
Caroline;
Your options are limited to whatever procedure the OEM has for the
system.
Many OEMs chose this less expensive method of recovery.
Also, the cost savings was also passed on the buyers.
Usually these systems are at least slightly less expensive than other
equivalent systems.

If you do need to reload, see this link for a method to save your
settings:
http://aumha.org/win5/a/fast.htm

If you want full control, you probably need to buy Windows XP at the
retail price.
 
Thank you, I will look at the information you sent about
saving the settings.

My laptop is a major brand from an industry leader, not a
niche manufacturer. Microsoft and the vendor may have
saved money, but they didn't pass it on to me. I actually
had to add $100 to upgrade to the Pro version of the OS,
because the base configuration only included the Home
version. I made a mistake, which I'm now paying for, by
simply assuming - without verifying in advance - that the
CD would be supplied.

Besides the functionality, I'm just nostalgic for Win 98,
because years of vigilant administration so it would stay
in tip-top shape eventually made me appreciate it just for
its own sake. I am not a "gamer" or a coder or an IT
person, just a writer who uses a computer as her main
working tool, and I wanted to learn as much as I could
about the engine running under the hood. Win 98 generously
accommodated that desire for knowledge, and Win XP - as
installed on my system - thwarts it, and all for the lack
of a CD.

Anyway, thanks for the help and the link for saving the
settings. My data is properly backed up, but it would be
nice to restore my updated settings more easily. I just
wish I could partition the drive and use it more
efficiently.
 
Caroline, Microsoft makes it very difficult for a vendor to "do the right
thing" without having to pay a substantial amount of $$$ for licensing fees
per unit sold. Basically we're limited to either a "recovery CD" (setting
the machine back to factory state) or an operating system CD. We can't do
both without paying for two licenses in many cases. Some of this has to do
with piracy issues as well. I used to develop the "preinstalled OS" CDs for
a major PC company and made senior management aware many times of other
reasons to include both (when the OS calls for the XP CD to be inserted to
load drivers from \i386 for example - we're told put \i386 on the hard drive
of the shipped computer and hope the customer doesn't delete it). I actually
did win the battle for NT4 but management had to jump through hoops with MS
to rewrite contracts and royalty agreements. I think in the end the
customer was more satisfied but it wasn't an easy process for the OEM....
most OEMs will take the easy route because of this and just do what MS tells
them they can do.
 
Back
Top