Re: How does a pre-loaded customer reload Windows with no CDs

Mick Campbell (TCS) wrote:

Hi all,

Can anyone tell me the official answer to this question please?

I own a computer repair company and find myself in this situation
quite
often. When a user needs to have Windows XP re-installed on a PC
that came with Windows XP pre-loaded, but they no longer have any
restore CDs but still
have their product key. How are they supposed to proceed?

You do like the rest of us techs and have a collection of various XP
install cd's. My tech friend and I must have two dozen various
"flavors" of XP install disks that we've collected over the years.
Every time we get the opportunity (setting up a new computer for a
client for instance), we make a copy of the recovery/install cd if we
don't have that one. It is far more likely that your clients will *not*
have made the recovery set and/or will have lost the original recovery
set than they will have them so you plan for this eventuality.

If we don't have the particular one for the customer's computer, we tell
them their best option is to contact the OEM and pay for recovery disks
because they will come with all the pre-loaded programs. We can even do
this for the client if they wish to pay for the time. If the customer
doesn't want to wait or the recovery disks aren't available from the
OEM, you can install from a generic OEM disk that is the same version
(Home, Pro, MCE). In the latter case, you will need to call MS to
activate so factor that in your time estimate.

The product key is the license, not the physical media.

My understanding is that Vista will require only one install disk that
will cover the various versions, but I expect that each OEM will have
their own flavor so while we perhaps won't need so many cd's, we'll
still need to have more than one.

Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Product Key shows Invalid on clean install
    ... As he does not have the original disks either I am using my XP Home CD ... Do I need the HP OEM version or something? ... without the OEM install disks, or recovery partition, and a dying HDD. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: Can I use Vista Home Premium OEM Licence with full copy?
    ... to do a Windows Repair on my OEM laptop? ... Probably not, as laptops generaly require proprietary drivers specific to the system which are included in the recovery disks, but quite often are not in generic OEM or retail disks. ...
    (microsoft.public.windows.vista.installation_setup)
  • Re: Someone deleted system restore and all XP sytem files
    ... some means of recovery, either a Windows installation disk, recovery ... disks or a hidden recovery partition. ... For OEM contact the OEM vendor for your computer. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: How does a pre-loaded customer reload Windows with no CDs
    ... "flavors" of XP install disks that we've collected over the years. ... have made the recovery set and/or will have lost the original recovery ... OEM, you can install from a generic OEM disk that is the same version ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: Need Recovery Disk?
    ... It is, and this is, of course, the fatal flaw in the recovery partition ... to immediately create restore disks.. ... reproduced the drives in the first place. ... support for a laptop owned by a client, a US citizen who purchased the unit ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)
Loading