Please help - Need to get rid of non genuine Vista?

[Don Burnette]

I had built a computer for my fiancé a few months ago, and had installed a
legit retail copy of XP Home.

Since then, we have gotten married, and we just brought her computer over
from the house she used to live in.
There were some young folks living in the house, renting from her.
Evidently, they had installed some version of Vista, I discovered on booting
it up. It states" this copy of windows is not genuine", and that activation
has expired.

I just want to get rid of whatever they installed, and get XP Home back on
this system.

Will I run into any issues, booting up with the legit XP Home cd, and doing
a clean install of Home? Will this completely rid the system of whatever
version of Vista that has been installed?

Thanks for any tips,

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

All you need to do is perform a clean install of Windows XP Home Edition.

Clean Install Windows XP
http://www.michaelstevenstech.com/cleanxpinstall.html


--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Shell/User
Microsoft Community Newsgroups
news://msnews.microsoft.com/

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

| I had built a computer for my fiancé a few months ago, and had installed a
| legit retail copy of XP Home.
|
| Since then, we have gotten married, and we just brought her computer over
| from the house she used to live in.
| There were some young folks living in the house, renting from her.
| Evidently, they had installed some version of Vista, I discovered on booting
| it up. It states" this copy of windows is not genuine", and that activation
| has expired.
|
| I just want to get rid of whatever they installed, and get XP Home back on
| this system.
|
| Will I run into any issues, booting up with the legit XP Home cd, and doing
| a clean install of Home? Will this completely rid the system of whatever
| version of Vista that has been installed?
|
| Thanks for any tips,
|
|
|
| --
| Don

 

[Tom Porterfield]

I had built a computer for my fiancé a few months ago, and had installed a
legit retail copy of XP Home.

Since then, we have gotten married, and we just brought her computer over
from the house she used to live in.
There were some young folks living in the house, renting from her.
Evidently, they had installed some version of Vista, I discovered on
booting it up. It states" this copy of windows is not genuine", and that
activation has expired.

I just want to get rid of whatever they installed, and get XP Home back on
this system.

Will I run into any issues, booting up with the legit XP Home cd, and
doing a clean install of Home? Will this completely rid the system of
whatever version of Vista that has been installed?

Should be no problem. As you say, boot from a legit XP Home CD and choose
the option to do a new install. Format any/all existing partitions and then
install XP Home. That will completely remove the Vista install, and
anything else they may have put on the PC, and leave you with a new, clean,
legit install of XP Home.

 

[Don Burnette]

Ok, thanks Carey. Oh the fun!

 

[Don Burnette]

Should be no problem. As you say, boot from a legit XP Home CD and choose
the option to do a new install. Format any/all existing partitions and
then install XP Home. That will completely remove the Vista install, and
anything else they may have put on the PC, and leave you with a new,
clean, legit install of XP Home.

Thanks Tom, I am beginning the process now!

The Vista that was installed, says Vista Ultimate, build 6000. Says it is
not a genuine copy, and prompts for activation.
Have no idea how they got ahold of it...

From what I understand, they had gotten the system infested with spyware ,
( even though I had anti spyware programs installed )then I guess thought
they could solve the problem by installing this version of Vista.

Anyways, back to legit XP Home it goes!

 

[Mario Rosario \(info\)]

Sure, but his memory will be scarred for life. He'll need an additional fix,
maybe a stiff drink will work.

 

[Spanky McFly]

They say that man isn't complete until he is married.... Then he is
finished!

 

[Don Burnette]

Well, it ain't my first, but it sure is my luckiest! I am truly a lucky guy,
she is wonderful.

 

[Guest]

Also, it could be a legitimate version that they did not activate. Just a
thought for the people who see the glass as "half full".

And while I am more interested in the computer you built, congrats on the
marriage!

 

[Don Burnette]

Thanks!

I have successfully reformatted and clean installed XP Home. Just finished
grabbing the 66 critical updates since SP2 - whew...

 

[Tom Porterfield]

Thanks!

I have successfully reformatted and clean installed XP Home. Just finished
grabbing the 66 critical updates since SP2 - whew...

Once those are installed, reboot and check Windows Update again. Sometimes
there are updates for the updates.

 

[Don Burnette]

Once those are installed, reboot and check Windows Update again.
Sometimes there are updates for the updates.

Yes, thanks, I have already found that out!

Got em all now though by golly...

The clean install, with a reformat, of XP Home, worked great in getting rid
of whatever Vista was installed.

Thanks again to all for the help.