Second han laptop XP Question

[pilgrim72]

Hi there,

My mother-in-law (shudder) has bought a refurb HP with XP Pro istalled. It has the COA on the bottom and is activated, but has no reinstall disk and hasno partition image to reinstall from. I've seen on anothe thread there is the possibility of installing from another disk with xp pro on it, but my two questions are:

Can I install from a retail disk if he cos is oem, and vice versa, and is there any way of finding out which type of coa it is? Also, is it wrong to download an image of the .iso for Win XP Pro if we do have the COA for it? Should I be trying to go about this a different way?

Yes, I did ask her to check for this kind of thing before buying anything, but she is the mother-in-law...

:wink:

Thanks everyone.

[InFiNiTy]

JUst use a retail disk

and use the key from it
itll be fine :D

[pilgrim72]

Yes... that would be nice if we had one... She's a bit of a scrimper you see so can't/won't buy one. She doesnt really understand the situation...

Above questions still stand, but I am very grateful for your input, mate.

Thanks!

[Baggpuss]

Any XP disk will do

[pilgrim72]

Hi bagpuss - what, even an XP Home disc (this is probably a stupid question), I can get one of those easily - I have one!

:)

[Andrew Moore]

If its xp pro you will have to use a pro disc. Its not like vista where you can install any version from one disc.


Andy

[blondeandy]

If its xp pro you will have to use a pro disc. Its not like vista where you can install any version from one disc.


Andy

Exactly Micrsoft hadnt made their pre install environment that easy with xp so you had to use the right disk and put the key in before you install :(