Windows Installation CD / Restore CD from OEM

[Lenard Gunda]

Hi!

We bought a notebook not too long ago for my girlfriend, which was equipped
with Windows XP Home edition. No CDs came with the notebook - there were
restore CDs, stored on the hard drive. A very disgusting way to do things,
in my opinion. Anyway.

She has the certificate of authenticity sticker on the bottom of the
notebook, with of course a CD-KEY, so there should be no problem
(theoretically) to install XP Home freshly on it, from an installation
media, not using the restore CDs. However ...

.... where could we get installation CDs? If I have a valid Windows XP
license, is it legal or illegal (sadly I am afraid it's illegal :-( ) to
download a CD image from .. err .. somewhere? Or make a copy of someone
else's Windows XP Home cd? Are there any other ways to get an original
installation CD? Is the OEM required to provide it, if we ask?

Thanks for any replies

-Lenard

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

The Product Key affixed to your notebook will only work
with the restore method recommended by the notebook
manufacturer. You'll have to contact the notebook
manufacturer and inquire about the availability of Restore
CDs for you specific notebook model. The Product Key
cannot be used with any other type of Windows XP CD.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User

Be Smart! Protect your PC!
http://www.microsoft.com/security/protect/

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

| Hi!
|
| We bought a notebook not too long ago for my girlfriend, which was equipped
| with Windows XP Home edition. No CDs came with the notebook - there were
| restore CDs, stored on the hard drive. A very disgusting way to do things,
| in my opinion. Anyway.
|
| She has the certificate of authenticity sticker on the bottom of the
| notebook, with of course a CD-KEY, so there should be no problem
| (theoretically) to install XP Home freshly on it, from an installation
| media, not using the restore CDs. However ...
|
| ... where could we get installation CDs? If I have a valid Windows XP
| license, is it legal or illegal (sadly I am afraid it's illegal :-( ) to
| download a CD image from .. err .. somewhere? Or make a copy of someone
| else's Windows XP Home cd? Are there any other ways to get an original
| installation CD? Is the OEM required to provide it, if we ask?
|
| Thanks for any replies
|
| -Lenard

 

[Lenard Gunda]

The restore method doesn't even ask for a CD-KEY. And it didn't even ask for
one when the OS was setup (on first boot, it setupped itself from the
restore methods as well). Nor did it require activation, like my normal
Windows XP Pro version.

The sticker looks like a Windows XP Home OEM sticker (which is similar to my
XP Pro OEM sticker), that's why I thought an OEM version installation CD (if
the CD itself differs at all from the shelf-version) would solve the
problem.Although it's interesting what you write, and I do have to admit, I
don't really know these restore CD things, I tried to keep myself away from
them (prefer setting up things myself).

And by the way, we'd like the original installation CD, not restore CDs.
While the restore CDs were stored on the HD, it still allowed burning them
to normal CDs, so now they are on real CDs. But I have to note again, it
seems like bad practice, to store them on HD, where they also take up space,
and probably a regular user is not even aware of these things.

-Lenard

 

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

If you want to have a true installation CD, in addition to the
restoration method provided by the laptop's manufacturer, and said
manufacturer declines to provide one, it's quite simple, really. Just
go buy another copy.

Bruce Chambers
--
Help us help you:



You can have peace. Or you can have freedom. Don't ever count on
having both at once. - RAH

 

[Lenard Gunda]

But can you buy CDs without the license? No need to buy another license ...
and I would imagine in such a case the base CD to cost only a little ...

-Lenard