create a set of drivers for quick change

  • Thread starter Thread starter Doug
  • Start date Start date
D

Doug

Hi,

I am looking to upgrade from xp home to xp pro and may require a rebuild of
my pc for some reasons.

I no longer have the drivers for my pc on disks (due to break in and theft
of all software - notebook was locked to desktop so they couldn't get that).
Is there any way to locate and copy all the loaded drivers that I currently
have- say video card, network, sound, infared, etc so I don't have to go
back to each manufacture websites for a search? Can I copy a particular
part of my hdd to CD and simply push the xp pro set up to look there for the
drivers?

Any help appreciated.

Doug
 
Upgrading from Home to Pro will not result in a loss of drivers, the upgrade
will keep them and use them. That is because drivers provided for video etc
are all XP compatible - not Home or Pro compatible.
 
Thanks Jerry,

But I also lost my XP upgrade disks and the original disks with this
machine. So I have ordered a new copy of XP pro SP2 that is a full version
(ie does not require previous installations). Will this simply upgrade or
will it overwrite? I have heard of other ppl having to completely
re-install their apps with the full version of XP pro over the home version.
Does this sound true- or is this something that you have done before.

What I would like as well, is to be able to rebuild my machine, if I ever
have to with the drivers handy. I do some application development work on
this machine and sometimes things go wrong and disturb the OS.

Cheers

Doug
 
In
Doug said:
But I also lost my XP upgrade disks and the original disks with
this
machine. So I have ordered a new copy of XP pro SP2 that is a
full
version (ie does not require previous installations). Will
this
simply upgrade or will it overwrite?
Click to expand...


Your choice. It will do either.

But be sure it's truly a Full retail version. The OEM version,
which many people confuse with the Full version, will do *only* a
clean installation, not an upgrade.

By the way, note that an Upgrade version also does *not* require
a previous installation. The requirement to use an upgrade
version is to *own* a previous qualifying version's installation
CD, not to have it installed. When setup doesn't find a previous
qualifying version installed, it will prompt you to insert its CD
as proof of ownership. Just insert the previous version's CD, and
follow the prompts. Everything proceeds quite normally and quite
legitimately.

If you qulaify to use the Upgrade version, you may want to cancel
your order and get it instead, since it's considerably cheaper
than the Full version. Even if you don't own a previous
qualifying version, and you want to do a clean installation you
might want to consider buying an inexpensive used copy so you
could use the Upgrade.

I have heard of other ppl
having to completely re-install their apps with the full
version of
XP pro over the home version.
Click to expand...


No this isn't correct. If that happened to them, they either did
something wrong, or got some every unusual error.

By definition, an "upgrade" (as opposed to a clean installation)
means that all data, programs, etc. are kept intact.

However there are no guarantees that it always works perfectly.
However unlikely, it's always possible that something might go
wrong. For that reason it's prudent to be sure you have a backup
of anything you can't afford to lose before beginning.
 
In
Doug said:
Thanks for your advice Ken,
Click to expand...


You're welcome.

How can i be sure that it is not an oem
version?
Click to expand...


Where did you order it from? If it's a web site, give us a link
so we can look at it.

Also how much did you pay for it? There's a big difference
between the price of an OEM version and the Full version.
 
Back
Top