OEM XP Professional on Laptop

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bill Jones
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Bill Jones

Hi All, I just purchased a Thinkpad R series that came
with XP Pro already installed. It's also got the license
sticker on the bottom so I'm sure it's legal. Since this
is the first time I have purchased my own laptop outside
my company I carefully read through the MS License
agreement......ugh!!

Anyhow it did not come with a OS CD. The license says that
if the computer does not come with the cd I can make ONE
backup copy of the software, does anyone know how to do
that? Which files are necessary to reinstall at a later
date and how do I find out what the key is/was? It seems
to have xxxx-OEM-xxx-xxx-xxx in the My Computer
properties >Registration info.
Is that my key if I need to reinstall?

I've been putting off installing my Photoshop and other
apps untill I can get a OS backup or copy. I'll go buy an
upgrade if I must (already own NT4.0and Windows 98 CD's)so
I can upgrade legally.
 
You can make a backup if they include the software. you should a restore
CD, or Window XP Disc, and you have a hidden partition on your system with
the Restore CD files on it. contact IBM to see which you have if you dont
know. If you have a Restore Disc you can not make it into a Windows XP CD.
you can if you wish make a backup copy of that itself.
 
Bill Jones said:
Hi All, I just purchased a Thinkpad R series that came
with XP Pro already installed. It's also got the license
sticker on the bottom so I'm sure it's legal. Since this
is the first time I have purchased my own laptop outside
my company I carefully read through the MS License
agreement......ugh!!

Anyhow it did not come with a OS CD. The license says that
if the computer does not come with the cd I can make ONE
backup copy of the software, does anyone know how to do
that? Which files are necessary to reinstall at a later
date and how do I find out what the key is/was? It seems
to have xxxx-OEM-xxx-xxx-xxx in the My Computer
Is that my key if I need to reinstall?

I've been putting off installing my Photoshop and other
apps untill I can get a OS backup or copy. I'll go buy an
upgrade if I must (already own NT4.0and Windows 98 CD's)so
I can upgrade legally.

If your ThinkPad is similar to my daughter's ThinkPad R31 which also
came with XP Pro then it has a hidden partition on the hard drive
which contains a disk image of Windows XP as it was at the factory.
Pressing F11 during startup will launch the recovery process which
will use the disk image to over-write the current Windows, wiping out
everything in the process.

I believe that it is possible to copy the contents of the recovery
partition to a CD but I have not yet attempted to do so as I have
spare XP Pro license I could put on that machine if necessary.

The key you need to reinstall is the 25 character (5 segments of 5)
Product Key that printed on the sticker on the bottom of the machine.

Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."
 
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