XP license question

  • Thread starter Thread starter harry
  • Start date Start date
H

harry

I have just purchased a pre-built (not really relevant but it's an Acer
SA60) & it comes with win xp home pre-installed.

The trouble is that I may HAVE (please don't ask why!) to replace it with
Win 2000, but as the system is not supplied with the original xp cd's how in
the future can I not only reinstall XP but use the same license key?

Can't be the only person in this predicament - can I?

thanks

harry
 
I would recommend purchasing a new hard drive
and install Windows 2000 on it.

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User
Microsoft Community Newsgroups
news://msnews.microsoft.com/

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

:

| I have just purchased a pre-built (not really relevant but it's an Acer
| SA60) & it comes with win xp home pre-installed.
|
| The trouble is that I may HAVE (please don't ask why!) to replace it with
| Win 2000, but as the system is not supplied with the original xp cd's how in
| the future can I not only reinstall XP but use the same license key?
|
| Can't be the only person in this predicament - can I?
|
| thanks
|
| harry
 
harry said:
I have just purchased a pre-built (not really relevant but it's an Acer
SA60) & it comes with win xp home pre-installed.

The trouble is that I may HAVE (please don't ask why!) to replace it with
Win 2000, but as the system is not supplied with the original xp cd's how
in
the future can I not only reinstall XP but use the same license key?

Can't be the only person in this predicament - can I?

thanks

harry
Click to expand...

Just make an image of it with something like Ghost or pick up a spare disk
and clone the XP disk with Ghost before you install W2K.
 
harry said:
I have just purchased a pre-built (not really relevant but it's an Acer
SA60) & it comes with win xp home pre-installed.

The trouble is that I may HAVE (please don't ask why!) to replace it with
Win 2000, but as the system is not supplied with the original xp cd's how in
the future can I not only reinstall XP but use the same license key?

Can't be the only person in this predicament - can I?

thanks

harry
Click to expand...

In accordance with their OEM license from Microsoft Acer must provide
a method by which the operating system can be restored to the "as it
left the factory" state.

The most common method of doing this is to include a disk image of the
factory-fresh Windows install on a hidden partition on the hard drive
plus a recovery utility that will copy this image to the boot
partition.

Check your Acer documentation for "system recovery" or similar words.

The suggestion to replace the entire hard drive may be the quickest
and simplest way of doing this. Small capacity laptop drives are
available at very reasonable prices from a variety of sources.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP (1997 - 2006)
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"Anyone who thinks that they are too small to make a difference
has never been in bed with a mosquito."
 
Ron Martell said:
In accordance with their OEM license from Microsoft Acer must provide
a method by which the operating system can be restored to the "as it
left the factory" state.

The most common method of doing this is to include a disk image of the
factory-fresh Windows install on a hidden partition on the hard drive
plus a recovery utility that will copy this image to the boot
partition.

Check your Acer documentation for "system recovery" or similar words.

The suggestion to replace the entire hard drive may be the quickest
and simplest way of doing this. Small capacity laptop drives are
available at very reasonable prices from a variety of sources.

Good luck

Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Click to expand...

Another advantage to using a second drive to install win2k is
that you now have a way back if there is a problem AND
if all works well, it the first drive makes a good emergency
spare drive if you want to look at it that way. I would
consider using a utility like BING
http://www.terabyteinc.com/bootitng.html to image the drive
or partition etc as needed so you also have an image you
can reload if need be (be aware as Ron mentioned there is
often a "hidden partition" that can cause a problem if you
miss it -- the boot number changes in boot.ini if you restore
a OS partition that had a hidden partition in front of it and
you didn't restore that)

mikey
 
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