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Free educational versions of XP, or retail??

W

walkure

Senior member
Many universities (including mine) are part of a program called the MSDN Academic Alliance which allows students and faculty to download many Microsoft products for free (research/non-commericial use as governed by the license agreement).

One is able to download the Win XP Pro (w/SP 2) ISO image file and then burn it to CDR, and use that CDR to install the OS on a new computer. That is my plan. However they say that it is only valid for 1 installation (i.e. you are not even supposed to be able to reinstall it if something goes wrong). I guess you can contact them for additional product keys and such that will allow you to do that, but it seems like a bother. Still beats paying over $200* for the full version though, right??

So anyway I'm wondering if there are any really good deals on say OEM Win XP? I saw it listed on a couple sites but you have to buy it together with certain hardware.


* I'm currently running Win98 which came with my OLD Compaq Presario (still chugging along but hopefully I can get my new system built within a couple weeks). Am I eligible for buy the "Upgrade" WinXP for much cheaper?


EDIT: typo
 
If you cannot reinstall it, perhaps you can burn an image of your hard drive to a CD-R after installing XP. If you ever need to reinstall, just restore that image from the CDR to your hard disk. Programs such as Norton Ghost can do this.
 
Yes, you can buy an upgrade CD (for less $$). Early on in the installation process, it will prompt you to insert your previous Windows CD so that the system can verify your eligibility to upgrade (you have to 'prove' you owned Windows before). Then a click or two later it'll prompt you to put your new XP CD back in and continue with the installation. The process is very simple. 🙂

BTW, you should also be able to get an "education version" of Windows XP at your school's bookstore. And you can get an education version UPGRADE CD for that matter, which should save you even more moolah. 😀 I did that a few years ago when I bought an education version upgrade CD of Windows 2000 Professional to upgrade from Windows 98. Worked like a charm, all legal and such, and I think it cost me around $110ish if memory serves. And there's no single-use limitation or anything, plus I can use Microsoft tech support if I want (which you can't do if you buy OEM Windows). 🙂

Hope this helps.

Ken
 
Thank you very much Ken... I would have to dig out my old CDs that came with my Presario. You know how it's impolite to ask elderly folk how old they are? Same with my Presario -- yeah it's that old and cranky 🙂

Anyway I think Windows just is on some sort of Compaq restore CD or something. I'm assuming that will still work.

I am probably going to download the FREE version from MSDNAA and if I later run into any problems, I'll go with the education version or an OEM.

P.S. I want to play with Linux too... I'm sure there are a thousand FAQ's on dual-booting and such, so I'll have to start reading them!
 
Actually, the upgrade may not work with just a restore CD. I'm not 100% sure on that, but I doubt if it would. Maybe someone else can chime in with an absolute answer on that.

You have nothing to lose, in the meantime, with just doing the free MSDNAA thing. 🙂
 
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