mates pc- windows xp reinstall help

Chippy_Minton

To show boot.ini, untick 'Hide protected operating system files'.

Or to edit it directly, right-click My Computer - Properties - Advanced tab - Settings (in Startup and Recovery section) - Edit.

sco0ter

theCapt wrote:

Still the best idea is to buy a OEM copy of Win XP (preferable Pro) that has this current Vista promotion where you get a free upgrade to Vista on launch.

And then you would have to reinstall XP before you could UPGRADE it to Vista everythime something goes wrong... From whats been said on the newsgroups Vista will not support the "Insert previous media disk" check.. It will require a full activated XP to upgrade from..

jonnyb

below are contents of my boot.ini. before I make any huge mistakes, which one should I delete ?
I will be making a copy of this file in case it goes tits up.

when I boot up, I cursor down to the 2nd option, and my hard disk only has 1 partition so I'm thinking the 2nd option is the one to leave in place.

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(1)partition(2)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

Chippy_Minton

Yes, in that case leave the 2nd option in place and also make it the default. Your edited boot.ini should read:

[boot loader]
timeout=30
default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS
[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /noexecute=optin /fastdetect

jonnyb

thanks very much, especially chippy.

TheFaqqer

I had the same problem when I reinstalled Win XP on my machine at home from another CD - the versions were different and so it wouldn't accept the product key. I worked for a while with another key which wasn't right, and then found the "Windows Product Key Update Wizard" - I had to google for it to find a download though.

It's a piece of software from Micro$oft that allows you to change the product key on the installation. So, put in one that you know will work (I used one from a "friend"), to get the installation to complete. Then run the tool and type in the product key you actually want to use (the one on his machine). MS verifies it is right, and changes the key on the system.

My machine now has the right product key, and no longer tells me that I'm using an unregistered version.

HTH,

Faqqer