Have laptop with XP CoA, how to get XP install?

[Muse]

I just bought a used laptop without a HD and it's supposed to have a Windows XP CoA. Can I torrent a copy of XP that I can depend on to not be infected by malware?

 

[airdata]

To " Legally " install using that COA, you'd need to use OEM media that came w\ the laptop.

You can often find these on ebay.

Thinking about it logically though, the COA is the license for the software, so I wouldn't logically think it mattered what media was used to install the OS since you have a license for the OS.

 

[bruceb]

This is correct. You just need to match the OS with the Key.
In your case, it needs to be an OEM version, preferably specific
to the Make of laptop you have, such as Dell or HP, etc. If you use
the key on a laptop COA, you will likely need to phone in to activate as
OEMS use an install disk which is preactivated (it checks the BIOS and if
it matches the OS codes no activation is needed)

 

[Muse]

This is correct. You just need to match the OS with the Key.
In your case, it needs to be an OEM version, preferably specific
to the Make of laptop you have, such as Dell or HP, etc. If you use
the key on a laptop COA, you will likely need to phone in to activate as
OEMS use an install disk which is preactivated (it checks the BIOS and if
it matches the OS codes no activation is needed)

The machine is a Lenovo T60 Thinkpad. It was suggested to me at Thinkpad Forums that I post in WTB and get someone to copy their restore disks at a likely cost of ~1/2 the cost of getting them from Lenovo, which would be $55. That would, I suppose, be convenient (I wouldn't have to download drivers and utilities from Lenovo), but I was hoping I could spare myself the expense and just torrent a clean copy of XP. :\

 

[SimMike2]

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=MIGR-62726

You might be able to order a recovery CD.

 

[Steltek]

I just bought a used laptop without a HD and it's supposed to have a Windows XP CoA.

If it has an XP COA, there should be a Windows XP keycode on a sticker on the bottom of the laptop. Before you go spending money and time on locating media, I'd advise making sure that the keycode is actually legible as they sometimes have a habit of wearing off. If it isn't readable, having the media won't do you any good without that keycode.

 

[Engineer]

If you have a full version of XP, you can turn it to OEM for the install.

Full retail (FPP) media can easily be modified to accept OEM product keys. Copy the CD to your hard drive. Locate and open SETUPP.INI (i386 directory) in Notepad. There should be a line similar to:

Pid=76477000

Doesn't matter what the number actually is (it will be different for Home, Professional, and other factors). Just change the last three digits, whatever they are, to "OEM" (without quotes). e.g. Pid=76477OEM

That's it. Save and burn back to CD. Your retail media will now accept OEM product keys (but will no longer accept retail keys).

 

[Muse]

If you have a full version of XP, you can turn it to OEM for the install.

I belong to an organization (200+ volunteers) and I can borrow one most probably and make a copy. What's the difference between a full version and OEM version? How would I make an OEM version from a full version? Would any OEM version work? I presume I can copy and use the copy, as long as my CoA has a readable key.

 

[Steltek]

There is a decent chance any OEM CD ought to work, especially a Lenovo CD.

However, you can manually convert any retail XP CD over to accept OEM install keycodes.

http://www.mydigitallife.info/2009/...etween-retail-oem-and-volume-license-channel/

It mainly involves creating a new CD after editing the "Pid=" line of the file Setupp.ini file located in the i386 folder of the original XP CD. In some cases, as shown in the linked article, you may also have to change the CD volume label. Use nLite to create the new XP CD, and you have a retail XP install CD useable with OEM keycodes. Do note this doesn't affect activation (which is another issue entirely - so long as you have a valid keycode, it should activate), but simply allows you to get through the XP installation to the point where you can activate.

EDIT: In theory, you ought to be able to copy the setup.exe file along with the i386 folder (with altered setupp.ini file) to the hard drive of your laptop and run the installation from there without having to create the CD. Haven't tried it, but there is probably no reason why it shouldn't work. An added upside is that the install will complete far faster than running it from the hard drive rather than from a CD. You may need to download drivers from the Lenovo website, though.

 

[Muse]

EDIT: In theory, you ought to be able to copy the setup.exe file along with the i386 folder (with altered setupp.ini file) to the hard drive of your laptop and run the installation from there without having to create the CD. Haven't tried it, but there is probably no reason why it shouldn't work. An added upside is that the install will complete far faster than running it from the hard drive rather than from a CD. You may need to download drivers from the Lenovo website, though.

Thank you! Reminds me back in 1995 or so I wanted to get my hands on Windows 95, the version that supported 32 bit data transfer to and from the HD, I think they called it Windows 95 OSR 2. It was only available to companies such as Dell or HP, not yet available to the public. Wikipedia says it never was released to the general public. A guy I met online had a T1 connection and he sent me all the CAB files and told me exactly how to install it right from my HD. The installation was extremely fast and the OS worked great. Didn't cost me a cent, either.

 

[Compman55]

Borrow a dell OEM xp cd reflecting the version on your COA. If it is home, borrow home, if professional, borrow professional. Dells are easy to find.

Install, update to SP3. It will tell you to activate. It will then tell you your key is invalid and to enter a new one. Enter the new key on the laptop and it will apporve the new key and its that simple and legal as you are using its key that the manufacture already paid of.

 

[Muse]

Borrow a dell OEM xp cd reflecting the version on your COA. If it is home, borrow home, if professional, borrow professional. Dells are easy to find.

Install, update to SP3. It will tell you to activate. It will then tell you your key is invalid and to enter a new one. Enter the new key on the laptop and it will apporve the new key and its that simple and legal as you are using its key that the manufacture already paid of.

Thanks, sounds very workable. So, the OS says the key is invalid and enter a new one, then you enter the same one and it accepts it?

Over at Thinkpad Forums a moderator said, heck, PM me your address and I'll send you a set of recovery CDs, so I guess I'm getting those. I've never used recovery CDs, so I'll see if it works out.

Edit: I suddenly realized: I have a set of Thinkpad T60 recovery CD's I burned when I first got my T60 (the one I'm typing on!) in November 2006. They were for XP Professional, and I suppose they'll work on the T60 I'm about to get, well, if the CoA is for XP Pro, right? Doh! Like I say, I've never used recovery CD's (but I guess I'm about to).

 

[Compman55]

Thanks, sounds very workable. So, the OS says the key is invalid and enter a new one, then you enter the same one and it accepts it?

Yes and no. Dells CD's all have the same key so windows / microsoft never knows what your real key is on the tower. It does not matter as dell has already paid for X amount of licsenses.

When you install on an IBM / Lenovo, the copy picks up that your bios string does not match a dell system and says the windows version is unauthorized. You then enter your leagal IBM / Lenovo key and you are now genuine & legal.

Its all the key that counts, not the recovery media.

 

[bruceb]

It does not matter if the COA on your Lenovo T60 was for Home or Pro. If you use a Lenovo Recovery CD set for that model, it will install and activate whatever version of XP was on that cd set regardless of what your COA sticker had. It is a Lenovo OEM OS being installed on a Lenovo computer
and will be just fine.

 

[Compman55]

It does not matter if the COA on your Lenovo T60 was for Home or Pro. If you use a Lenovo Recovery CD set for that model, it will install and activate whatever version of XP was on that cd set regardless of what your COA sticker had. It is a Lenovo OEM OS being installed on a Lenovo computer
and will be just fine.

Correct! But it is still not "legal" and is not good when trying to resell. For personal use you should be fine though.

 

[Engineer]

I belong to an organization (200+ volunteers) and I can borrow one most probably and make a copy. What's the difference between a full version and OEM version? How would I make an OEM version from a full version? Would any OEM version work? I presume I can copy and use the copy, as long as my CoA has a readable key.

Not sure if there is a difference between retail and OEM. I quoted Tcsenter (in my original post) on what to change after copying the full retail version off of the CD. Not sure if you need do something other than copy it back (but I suspect that you need to make it bootable though).

 

[Muse]

Not sure if there is a difference between retail and OEM. I quoted Tcsenter (in my original post) on what to change after copying the full retail version off of the CD. Not sure if you need do something other than copy it back (but I suspect that you need to make it bootable though).

Yes, looks like I'm going to be doing this. A guy is going to send me a copy of retail XP and I'll copy it to HD and make the alterations and somehow create a bootable CD with that, maybe with nlite, maybe Nero, don't know. I'm pretty sure you can do it with nlite, I've never used it. Or if I have, it was in passing and an experiment and a few years ago.

I have had no luck restoring a rescue and recovery CD set I made on my first T60 in March 2007, about 4 months after first getting it. I tried restoring it to this "new" T60, very similar model (but not the same, hardware-wise, it's a different CPU and graphics). The restore seems to work OK for the first disk but after that nothing happens. I don't have access to an OEM copy of XP, so I'm going to use a retail copy, that is unless I can figure out how to make the recovery disks work.

 

[Muse]

Here's how I eventually (yesterday) installed XP Pro on the system:

I remembered I had a Rescue and Recovery 7 CD set I made about 4 months after receiving my other Lenovo T60 Thinkpad, the set made in March 2007. It wasn't easy figuring out how to install that on the machine but finally succeeded (I didn't know if the set was the factory default or a backup, and once having chosen backup, it was necessary to blank the HD to restore the factory default. Plus, the HD has to be one big single partition). Lenovo System Update 3.14 seems pretty dodgy in installing updates, bunch of weird stuff going on (wants to install stuff that's already installed), but the important stuff is installed AFAIK, and I'm running a series of Windows Updates now. I haven't been asked to furnish the CoA yet.

A guy at Thinkpad Forums is sending me a CDR of XP Pro retail, which I thought I needed at the time. I may use it one day to reinstall XP on one of the machines if I don't want the default Lenovo factory installation.