Creating a copy of pre installed XP PRO OS Legally

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Guest

Hi
I'm going to purchase a new laptop, however, the OS, XP pro is factory
installed. They do not offer a recovery disc so how do I handle this
situation, i.e., how do I burn a copy of the OS to a CD legally? Thanks for
your help.
 
They should offer you either a recovery disk or a full product CD. If they
do not then I would go elsewhere to buy your PC.

JS
 
The manu is obliged under its MS Licence to provide a means of recovering
sys to origonal as supplied state
This may be by means of Recovery cd's or a hidden recovery partition
If you Laptop has none of these go elsewhere
 
JS said:
They should offer you either a recovery disk or a full product CD. If
they do not then I would go elsewhere to buy your PC.
Click to expand...

OEM vendors are required by their agreement with Microsoft to give you a
means of reinstalling, should it be necessary. They can do this in one of
three ways:



1. An OEM copy of Windows

2. A restore CD

3. A hidden partition on your drive, with restore information.



If you don't have 1 or 2, you should have 3, but you should contact your
vendor to find out.



Personally, I find both 2 and 3 unacceptable, and would never choose to buy
a computer that came with an operating system unless I got a complete
generic installation CD for that operating system.
 
A recovery CD will put your PC back to the to way it was when you first
received it, it will (should) have all the necessary drivers for your
motherboard, video card, sound card, nic, etc. It should also included any
special application (diagnostics) and may also included any free
applications that came with your PC.

A Windows CD may not include the specific driver for your motherboard and
may not have the latest or only included generic drivers for video, etc.

JS
 
Can one create a recovery disc using the OS (in this case XP pro) when one
receives the laptop?
 
If all you get is a "hidden recovery partition" then I would buy a good
image backup software application.
Why, cause if your hard drives fails then that hidden partition may well be
un-accessible and you are left with nothing.

Image backup software make sense in even if you have a full product CD as
you would not want to lose any important applications and data files.

JS
 
Recovery CD: Customized for the particular computer it was supplied on. It
knows all about that computer and what is in it. Considered an OEM CD.
Drivers included will be only for that specific computer.
The CD cannot be used, often physically, not just legally, on any other
computerexcept possibly another of the exact same brand and mfg date. When
that computer dies, so does the operating system.

Full Product CD: Is the full windows operating system, virgin, and not tied
to any specific computer. It can easily be installed onto any other
windows-capable computer without problem, so when the computer dies, it can
be reused on the next new computer. Usually there are a wider collection of
drivers than with an OEM CD.

Among most technohpobes the Retail (Full Product) version is the preferred
one to buy though it may cost a few dollars more, where Restore CDs have
their prices buried (hidden) in the cost of the product. Makes upgrading to
a newer computer much easier and saves having to pay for the operating
system over again.

For the less savvy and experienced user, the OEM Restore CD is often the
better choice for ease of use reasons. Not all computers come with a
Restore CD: Instead it's on a hidden system partition on the hard disk.
That's a BAD deal because if the hard drive goes, so does the Restore
ability.

HTH,

Pop`
 
JS said:
A recovery CD will put your PC back to the to way it was when you
first received it, it will (should) have all the necessary drivers
for your motherboard, video card, sound card, nic, etc. It should
also included any special application (diagnostics) and may also
included any free applications that came with your PC.

A Windows CD may not include the specific driver for your motherboard
and may not have the latest or only included generic drivers for
video, etc.
JS
Click to expand...

The motherboard itself isn't what requires drivers; peripherals ON the
motherboard do, such as chip set, video, etc., and most of these are
included in versions generic enough to get the system up and running so the
drivers may be updated. Besides, any drivers on any CD are usually obsolete
by the time the system is sold; sucks, but ... .

Pop`
 
Not really. But, if one had the right software, they -could- create an
image of the hard drive and store it away to be used AS a Restore CD of
sorts. It would accomplish putting the system back to the same state as the
time/date it was imaged, which is the basic target operation. Plus, images
can make further images whenever needed, so one can put the machine back to
any point where they made the image.

Imaging software has come down considerably in price lately. Ghost
(Symantec, used to be PowerQuest), Acronis True Image and a couple others, I
think BootitNG, all seem to have good reputations. I use Ghost ten right
now, and it's never let me down whatever version I was using. BootitNG
used to have a freebie but they all have time trial software last I knew, 15
or 30 days.

HTH
Pop`
 
firewire said:
What is the difference between a generic installation CD and an oem
product?
Click to expand...


The licensing rules.

It has very significant limitations over the retail version, as follows:

1. Its license ties it permanently to the first computer it's installed on.
It can never legally be moved to another computer, sold, or given away.


2. It can only do a clean installation, not an upgrade.


3. Microsoft provides no support for OEM versions. You can't call them with
a problem, but instead have to get any needed support from your OEM; that
support may range anywhere between good and non-existent. Or you can get
support elsewhere, such as in these newsgroups.
 
Can one create a recovery disc using the OS (in this case XP pro) when one
receives the laptop?
Click to expand...

I would ask the OEM this question. They would be able to tell you if there
is a utility included to create a hard copy of the recovery program or not.
 
Full Product would just be the version of XP that you bought. Recovery CD/DVD sets include all the garbage that OEM's put on pre-built systems.

HP and Compaq both include a utility that will allow you to burn ONE backup DVD/CD set. They also include a hidden recovery partition that's usable as long as your hard disk doesn't die.
 
The recovery files are most likely on a hidden partition of your hard drive,
if they don't give you the disk.

I wouldn't buy a computer without the CD, and I'd rather purchase a
barebones system (box only, and no operating system) and do it myself with
an off the shelf retail copy of Windows.
 
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