Jake Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 I haven't been around there yet but it seems that my father in law might have screwed his PC up and may need XP reinstalled. He bought the PC from a supermarket IIRC. It already had XP Home installed but he didn't get a Windows CD with it to reinstall XP with if (or rather when) reinstall time came around. What to do? I think I can extract the serial number/license key from the registry OK but how do I find out which type of XP Home it is? (OEM, Std, whatever) How many types are there anyway? Am I likely to be able to get hold of the right version of the XP Home CD to reinstall? How do folks with say Dell PCs get on when they need to reinstall Windows? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffvalenti Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 Jake Once you've extracted the activation key you can install any version of XP home on the machine. You may strike it lucky and the machine will activate over the internet. Failing that just use the telephone a representative option and either an operator or an automated system will talk you through. I know I don't need to tell you this, but for others out there reading this, ;)if you get asked any questions, about how many PCs are running this copy of windows etc.use your common sense in answering them. [rant]As an aside, I hate it when manufacturers don't supply the O/S CD, for the sake of 10p it's pathetic [/rant] PS, if you need a CD, drop me a PM with your address Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 [rant]As an aside, I hate it when manufacturers don't supply the O/S CD, for the sake of 10p it's pathetic [/rant] MS sold licenses to the OEM market which stated you could not supply the software on a restore disk like many used to do. It was cheaper to buy just the license stickers without the media packs, so that's what they did. If you're talking big volumes then it was a good saving. Jake, you're right about the media types and key compatibility. Check the license sticker on the PC (if there) - should say OEM on it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffvalenti Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 MS sold licenses to the OEM market which stated you could not supply the software on a restore disk like many used to do. It was cheaper to buy just the license stickers without the media packs, so that's what they did. If you're talking big volumes then it was a good saving. Yeah, I understand why they did it, (and I was a bit innacurate over the 10p disk ) but surely even for M$ it was a pretty dumb idea supplying the only copy of the O/S on the hard drive, when one of the main reasons to have to do a re-installation is when the hard drive has died Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 Yeah, I understand why they did it, (and I was a bit innacurate over the 10p disk ) but surely even for M$ it was a pretty dumb idea supplying the only copy of the O/S on the hard drive, when one of the main reasons to have to do a re-installation is when the hard drive has died Totally agree. Try supporting that scenario on the end of the line! I've been there when they Fdisked the machine prior to reprep not realising that was their installation media partition they just deleted.... not good. Ahhh the Mitac days.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chewie Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 XP has a System Restore in the eventuality of a balls up situation. Go to control panel and look for System Restore. It's a bit loike Go-Back. It will reset your PC to the last time you saved a registry. This saves having to reformat your disk or reinstall Windows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffvalenti Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 XP has a System Restore in the eventuality of a balls up situation. Go to control panel and look for System Restore. It's a bit loike Go-Back. It will reset your PC to the last time you saved a registry. This saves having to reformat your disk or reinstall Windows. Yeah, if only I work with these damn things everyday, and, I'll agree, sometimes system restore works a treat. Other times when the owner has managed to really screw it up, you're left with little choice but to reformat/reinstall Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Posted January 9, 2007 Author Share Posted January 9, 2007 Thanks for the replies everyone. XP has a System Restore in the eventuality of a balls up situation. Go to control panel and look for System Restore. It's a bit loike Go-Back. It will reset your PC to the last time you saved a registry. This saves having to reformat your disk or reinstall Windows. Actually I think it's System Restore that has caused the problem. Apparently my father in law had some slight problem and somebody told him to do a Sys Restore and it fixed the problem (whatever it was) so since then everytime he's had an issue he goes straight for a System Restore! Anyway I'm going over there shortly to see what's up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
penguin Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 slightly off topic - looking to "evaluate windows server 2003 " on my home machine - anyone know how i can set it up for multiple rdp sessions? (i know the default is 2) ta Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 Not sure if they still call it this in 2003, but you probably need more terminal services client licenses to do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Posted January 9, 2007 Author Share Posted January 9, 2007 Yay! Fixed the FIL's PC. Just needed to reinstall IE7. It was cuasing loads of problems; apps wouldn't run, Help And Support wouldn't start, Search wouldn't start, any website you tried to go to IE came up with "Unable To Load Required Module". Still, it's sorted now. I've told him not to touch System Restore in future. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffvalenti Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 Well done Jake. Another instance of a little knowledge is a dangerous thing (in your FILs case ) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sheefa Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 Think it's now tiem to get rid of IE and install Firefox then Jake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jake Posted January 9, 2007 Author Share Posted January 9, 2007 He's already on FF mate, I got him to start using it ages ago. It was Windows Update that installed IE7 for him. Then when he did a system restore to time before he had IE7 it all went horribly wrong. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chewie Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 Wot about uninstalling FIL and installing MIL? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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