Re: Where can I get a replacement Window XP Home CD in UK (OEM gon

Tech-Archive recommends: Repair Windows Errors & Optimize Windows Performance

On Tue, 05 Dec 2006 10:10:01 -0800, Sputnik One wrote:



"HeyBub" wrote:

Sputnik One wrote:
I believe
Microsoft have a moral duty to send me a Windows XP CD.


What moral duty? You are not the Microsoft customer, Granville Tech is
(was).

The computer was working fine once upon a time - it is your
responsibility to keep it that way.



That may be so. However, I am bound by the terms of a license to which
Microsoft is a party. Microsoft is rightly trying to protect their
intellectual property by preventing software theft. However, to do so
effectively, they need to keep the public on their side. Providing a copy
of software that I have a legal right to use does not seem an unreasonable
request from me, as an individual consumer, to a mighty corporation.

Incidentally, my computer is still running fine, but I no longer have the
ability to recover from, say, a major disk crash. I had a scare recently
when the registry became corrupted and I couldn't boot the machine.

If I'm reading this right, the installed Windows works but the OEM's
restore CD is BIOS-locked and too picky about the BIOS? If so, you may be
able to use the installed Windows to create a slipstreamed CD that you can
use to reinstall if something happens.

If you're not familiar with it, slipstreaming is a method to create a new
Windows install CD with the latest Service Pack incorporated in the
install. It just so happens that in the process you create a normal
Windows install CD instead of a rescue CD. The process usually requires a
regular XP install CD but some procedures tell you how to do it using the
files already installed on your system.

A google search for "slipstream Windows XP" should turn up some
useful howto's. It's a bit of a messy process if you do it all by hand
but I know there are some freeware programs that automate it. You might
ask in alt.comp.freeware for some recommendations. Be sure to run Belarc
Advisor and save or print its output. You never know what you'll need
later. Among the things it'll list is the current key that Windows was
installed with. That may be the OEM's generic key or it may be the one on
your COA.

Slipstreaming a bios-locked OEM Windows (and without the Windows CD at
that) is a bit of a tricky process. You need to recreate the
OEMBIOS.INF file and something else I forget. The slipstream
sites should have a script that does that. Sometimes neither the OEM's
generic key (which may well be the one your Windows is installed with -
use Belarc Advisor to get the current key) nor your COA key will get it to
go. I don't know where you get it, but I've read that Microsoft has a
generic key you need to put in a file on the CD that works just long
enough to get through the install, then you'll be prompted for your key.
At that point your COA key should work. Some of the slipstreaming sites
have excellent forums where people can help you work through this.

If you can't get that to work and Microsoft won't help you, give Ubuntu
Linux a spin (http://www.ubuntu.com). It doesn't cost anything to try
(they'll even mail you a free CD!) and if it works for you, you'll never
have to put up with Microsoft's crap again!


--
"Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the
exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them."
- Frederick Douglas

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