Win XP Pro ISO image.
Around about 2003 I purchased a laptop with XP pro on it and my Daughter has been using it for all these years. I have the key that came with it so I am a legal Win XP Pro user on this laptop. Well now she has had so many virus hits and malware hits and God knows what else that I want to load win xp fresh onto the box and get a clean start. I have all of the drivers so that is covered.
Now all I need is a win xp pro CD..... I dont have the paperwork from where I purchased the laptop originally and as you all know they dont ship the operating system CD with the box.
If you ask me this is stupid. That a legal end user has to figure out how to get what I paid for in the first place but that is just my opinion.
Any pointers ?
Now all I need is a win xp pro CD..... I dont have the paperwork from where I purchased the laptop originally and as you all know they dont ship the operating system CD with the box.
If you ask me this is stupid. That a legal end user has to figure out how to get what I paid for in the first place but that is just my opinion.
Any pointers ?
You can google & find many sources that claim to have the .iso for download but be carefull & scan it for viruses before running it. Have you tried hitting the F11 or F12 key upon boot? If a computer is shipped to the end user without the installation media that usually means there is a seperate partition on the hard drive with the image already on it. Just watch the screen & look for something similair to click here to load factor OS or hit F11 or F12 to get that menu...hope this helps.
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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If you don't have a recovery partition, then an XP Pro disc shouldn't be too hard to track down.
Two things to be aware of:
First, XP Professional and XP Home are not interchangeable in regard to product keys. If you have a Windows Pro installation then you must use a Windows Pro CD, as your product key won't work with XP Home, and vice versa.
Second, as the laptop was bought in 2003, the original XP was probably SP1. Somewhere along the SP2 period Microsoft made some changes to their product key system for Windows XP, and after that the earlier product keys couldn't be used with later CD's.
If you have to use a CD, use an SP1 or early SP2 disc to avoid disappointment...
Two things to be aware of:
First, XP Professional and XP Home are not interchangeable in regard to product keys. If you have a Windows Pro installation then you must use a Windows Pro CD, as your product key won't work with XP Home, and vice versa.
Second, as the laptop was bought in 2003, the original XP was probably SP1. Somewhere along the SP2 period Microsoft made some changes to their product key system for Windows XP, and after that the earlier product keys couldn't be used with later CD's.
If you have to use a CD, use an SP1 or early SP2 disc to avoid disappointment...
Check Amazon. They are selling XP. Have you checked with the manufacturor of the laptop? You should be able to acquire a recovery CD from them.
While the Dell splash screen in displayed during the Press F2 for Setup message, hold down a Ctrl key and press F11.
Then when the blue bar with www.dell.com displays right after that, it will take you to the Dell PC Restore by Symantec screen.
Click Restore. You may need to [Tab] to Restore, and then press [Enter].
Click Confirm on the 'warning - all data will be lost' or [Tab] to Confirm and press [Enter].
The factory image restore typically takes less than 10 minutes.
Then you'll likely need to apply SP3 again, update the drivers to the latest veresions, and connect it to Windows Update to let it get all critical updates.
Then when the blue bar with www.dell.com displays right after that, it will take you to the Dell PC Restore by Symantec screen.
Click Restore. You may need to [Tab] to Restore, and then press [Enter].
Click Confirm on the 'warning - all data will be lost' or [Tab] to Confirm and press [Enter].
The factory image restore typically takes less than 10 minutes.
Then you'll likely need to apply SP3 again, update the drivers to the latest veresions, and connect it to Windows Update to let it get all critical updates.
ASKER
Performing the solution provided by MASQUERAID now. This is going to take a few hours before I know if it is right for my situation. The instructions on howtohaven look to be exactly what I am looking for.
Will update as soon as I know.
Thanks
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by: MASQUERAIDPosted on 2012-04-10 at 11:15:27ID: 37829105
Check for an i386 folder in the root of her laptop
http://www.howtohaven.com/system/createwindowssetupdisk.shtml
Whatever CD you end up with it is essential it matches the current installation otherwise there's a good chance your activation key will not work.
See https://www.experts-exchange.com/OS/Microsoft_Operating_Systems/Windows/XP/A_3218-XP-OEM-and-the-repair-reinstallation-a-cautionary-tale.html
Will update as soon as I know.
Thanks
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by: MASQUERAIDPosted on 2012-04-10 at 11:15:27ID: 37829105
Check for an i386 folder in the root of her laptop
http://www.howtohaven.com/system/createwindowssetupdisk.shtml
Whatever CD you end up with it is essential it matches the current installation otherwise there's a good chance your activation key will not work.
See https://www.experts-exchange.com/OS/Microsoft_Operating_Systems/Windows/XP/A_3218-XP-OEM-and-the-repair-reinstallation-a-cautionary-tale.html
ASKER
Creating the bootable CD went fine using the instructions on howtohaven. I am familiar with doing everything in those instructions except working with IMGBURN but again the instructions were pretty clear.
Made the CD, booted into Win XP Pro, entered my activation key and it worked. So my guess to slipstream SP2 in was a good one.
Updated with SP3 and now 111 security updates are coming in over the wire.
When done I will make a full disk image with Acronis for safe keeping.
Thanks everyone.
Made the CD, booted into Win XP Pro, entered my activation key and it worked. So my guess to slipstream SP2 in was a good one.
Updated with SP3 and now 111 security updates are coming in over the wire.
When done I will make a full disk image with Acronis for safe keeping.
Thanks everyone.
ASKER
Perfect, exactly what my situation needed. Thank You
If you weren't going to use the factory restore image, it would have been the optimum time to swap in a 500GB 2.5'' drive, too.
http://www.microsoft.com/download/en/details.aspx?id=25129
I hope it will work with that key.