Windows XP massively overpriced

Amanda

I need to reinstall windows XP on a new computer. I no longer have my old computer or Windows XP disc, but it came with XP pro when new.

Looking at the price of XP, which is now an out-of-date operating system since Vista came along, I find the price incredible!

I am not prepared to pay many hundreds of pounds for an operating system. Imagine if PDas or mobile phones came without the basic operating system to run them on, it wouldn't work!

Can anybody suggest a cheap way to obtain a genuine, patchable copy of XP pro?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Balls_Of_Steel

Amanda wrote: »

I need to reinstall windows XP on a new computer. I no longer have my old computer or Windows XP disc, but it came with XP pro when new.

Looking at the price of XP, which is now an out-of-date operating system since Vista came along, I find the price incredible!

I am not prepared to pay many hundreds of pounds for an operating system. Imagine if PDas or mobile phones came without the basic operating system to run them on, it wouldn't work!

Can anybody suggest a cheap way to obtain a genuine, patchable copy of XP pro?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Try fleabay

GreenNotM

Where are the original XP disks for the "new" PC ( driver disks too )?
Does the PC have a COA on the case ?
Why the re-installation - have you already formatted the disk and lost your old XP partition ?
Does the PC have a recovery partition ?
or Disk creation partition ?
What is the new PC make and model ?

Linux ?

ormus

ebay for XP or w2k even cheaper.
or linux ubuntu OS for free.

nej

XP Pro or XP Home? XP Pro always was much more expensive. If you don't have your PC on a domain (i.e. it's just a home PC) you probably don't need Pro.

Try looking for an XP Home OEM disk. They are _supposed_ to be for sale with new PCs only, but you can often buy them if you look around and they are much cheaper (albeit with licensing restrictions on moving them to new computers).

SandLake

First thing you need to do is get your exisitng windows key, there are a couple of utilities that can do this for you, RockXP or Magic Jelly Bean Finder.

Then buy from Ebay a copy of Windows XP either home or Pro whichever one you are currently using. The good thing for you is that you don't require a licence key and that will make it much cheaper, I would say you could get it for around a tenner

Then just use the new disk with your existing key. Strictly speaking this may be illegal but I can't see what is wrong with it, all you want do is use your exisitng PC as a Windows XP PC, you already have a working licence and will continue to do so, all you need is the actual disk.

fwor

Thanks for that, SandLake. I wish I'd known about that a few weeks ago when trying to re-install XP - quite legally - for a friend following a hard disk failure (it failed gracefully enough to get all his data off before it died completely).

SandLake wrote: »

Strictly speaking this may be illegal

Just a minor correction here - I think you mean "strictly speaking this may be in violation of Microsoft's licence agreement". Perhaps someone with legal knowledge can correct me here, but I don't think the two are the same.

nej

SandLake wrote: »

First thing you need to do is get your exisitng windows key, there are a couple of utilities that can do this for you, RockXP or Magic Jelly Bean Finder.

Then buy from Ebay a copy of Windows XP either home or Pro whichever one you are currently using. The good thing for you is that you don't require a licence key and that will make it much cheaper, I would say you could get it for around a tenner

Then just use the new disk with your existing key. Strictly speaking this may be illegal but I can't see what is wrong with it, all you want do is use your exisitng PC as a Windows XP PC, you already have a working licence and will continue to do so, all you need is the actual disk.

Good idea, but you have to make sure to get the right disk. I.e. if it is an OEM key then a retail disk won't work. I discovered this the hard way, assuming I could use my retail install disk with my father-in-law's key on his new PC. Didn't work (and of course it only tells you right at the end when Windows is basically installed, making you waste an hour of your life).

There is a workaround, but it's a nightmare and involves creating a new CD from the old CD, changing a couple of files and other bits and pieces. It did work, though, but much easier to get hold of the right disk in the first place!

Little_John

A few things don't add up.

reinstall windows XP on a new computer where is the disk for the new computer? I know some don't ship with disks but they have a restore partition or an application that allows you to make a set of restore disks.

Not having the old disk for the old computer is irelevent if the PC came with windows preinstalled it is an OEM copy and not transferable on to another machine. There are a few legal ways of installing windows XP on this machine, it came with XP and you have a licence for xp on that machine then where are the disk? contact the supplier of the pc and ask them for the disk. If the machine currently has windows Vista Ultimate or Business then you can make use of downgrade rights to install XP on it useing any working key and the vista licence.

Any other reason like, I used to have XP on my old machine and I don't like Vista home or home premium Im going to use my old OEM cd and key and install it on here. Is illegal and is software piracy. You need to buy a new licence either retail which is what I expect you have been looking at or buy another OEM licence with a qualifying peice of hardware and installing that.

sidthesexist

can get a copy of windows xp from just under £58 here http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=OS-001-MS&groupid=33&catid=20&subcat=

and xp isnt really out of date at the moment as Vista doesn't really offer anything more than xp

aardvarkuk

I have on a number of occasions given a copy of XP to people to reinstall the OS because they have fitted a new HDD and lost the restore partition in the process, but they only get the disk if they have a COA and after install just call MS product activation and answer the questions and voila they give you a new serial to input, and a MS rep said to me this is perfectly legal as the license is already paid for.