XP Professional install software - without licence

aishkrishnan

Hi

I purchased XP Professional a few years ago, and now I need to reinstall it on my computer (PC got corrupted beyond restore and Ive decided to format HDD and start afresh). However, it appears my XP Install CD is scratched and therefore not readable.

Can anyone tell me where I can get the XP Professional installable - is there some site I can download it from? I assume I can still use my licence key as it belongs to me!

Many thanks
Aish.

alanwjones

Hi and WELCOME TO THE FORUM, If you have the Coa (licence) you can download xp pro from the web, be carefull re viruses on download sites, Ask around if any friends neighbours have a copy you can borrow.
Alan.

gaz_jones

As Alanwjones said if you own a licence for it you can just download an xp torrent etc.... try torrentz.com.

ONLY use torrents if you own the licence though. Otherwise it is theft.



PS. Alan, nice name

Strider590

You brought XP pro? if so then you'll need the Retail version and not the OEM or VLK version. The license key will not work on he wrong version, so make sure which it is that you need.

chunter

Shame Microsoft won't acknowledge this actually happens and let people download the legitimate virus-free package from their website without the key.

But hey, then Microsoft would have to live in the real world and that wouldn't suit at all.

[Deleted User]

chunter wrote: »

Shame Microsoft won't acknowledge this actually happens and let people download the legitimate virus-free package from their website without the key.

You can if you have a Technet Plus or MSDN subscription..

Strider590

They allow you purchase a replacement disk at a small price, but it should be a free download in my opinion.

DatabaseError

If you struggle let me know, I have a technet copy of XP pro with SP3 which I can burn to a disk and send, I'd just ask for you to cover costs (and I wouldn't be providing a key!)

Marty_J

Strider590 wrote: »

They allow you purchase a replacement disk at a small price, but it should be a free download in my opinion.

Downloads might be free to you, but they aren't to the people providing the download.

If just 1,000 people download a replacement copy of Windows XP every day, that's something like 18 TB of bandwidth a month. If 1,000 people downloaded a new copy of Windows Vista every day, that would be closer to 120 TB. Those numbers of downloads are pretty conservative, so it all adds up to a lot of bandwidth (potentially in the 1,000s of TB every month) that someone has to pay for.

It's nice that Microsoft will replace the media for a small fee to cover their costs; they certainly don't have a moral obligation to offer free replacements.

prowla

You should be able to download a genuine image via a torrent site.
Given that you've got a licence, there isn't anything wrong with that.
(And the bandwidth for the download is generally paid for, so it is effectively free.)

andy2004

Marty_J wrote: »

Downloads might be free to you, but they aren't to the people providing the download.

If just 1,000 people download a replacement copy of Windows XP every day, that's something like 18 TB of bandwidth a month. If 1,000 people downloaded a new copy of Windows Vista every day, that would be closer to 120 TB. Those numbers of downloads are pretty conservative, so it all adds up to a lot of bandwidth (potentially in the 1,000s of TB every month) that someone has to pay for.

It's nice that Microsoft will replace the media for a small fee to cover their costs; they certainly don't have a moral obligation to offer free replacements.

And how much have Microsoft made in the past year in profits. Have you seen bill gates homes. I say homes as his got 3 in the same plot. And your gonna to say they cant afford to allow people to download for free, cost of cd for xp, erm 10p maybe, cost of delivery, depends where to, packaging used. add on £2
erm, £2.10 on how many people would request it, lets be generous 4million, thats
£8.4million, out of how much profit.