How to install Linux - But keep Windows key..

[imhungry]

Okay, at the moment I have a Dell 4600 just sitting in the basement gathering dust [literally, it's a dust catcher].
How would I go about installing Linux on my dell, but KEEPING the Windows key / registration? The Dell didn't come with a readable key, or a CD, only the machine with Windows pre-installed.

Specs are
P4 2.66Ghz
512MB / 1GB Ram [depends on how much I find is needed]
80GB IDE HDD
Onboard Video.

This will also be used for HLDS purposes. [PM me if you have any experience with it].

 

[SleepWalkerX]

I think you just have to copy Wpa.dbl and Wpa.bak in your system32 folder, then reformat or whatever, go into save mode, and replace those files. That might still work. I think Everest can retrieve your key, but I'm not sure if it'll retrieve the "correct" key if your pc had windows installed by the oem.

Oh and setting up HLDS is easy and fun in linux. At least it was for me. Read this guide.

Btw, might I recommend something for the setup? Before when I ran my cs server, I ran DSL on a 1 GHz Athlon with 1 Gig of ram. DSL is a very small distro (50 megabytes) so it runs with very light resources. It has the capability to run straight in your memory allowing it to run extremely fast as well as be installed in a special way so everytime you boot up your computer, it'll run from an iso file its originally downloaded in (this is called a frugal install).

So basically, whenever I wanted to upgrade my system I would replace an iso file and I would have a new upgraded version of DSL. If anything happened with my server, none of the files originally shipped with the distribution inside the iso file would corrupt or became permanently affected because it would reload all the contents every time I booted the computer up and the files inside the iso can't be overridden, but I retained the cs data on a seperate partition. And since my entire server was running straight from the ram, it was very fast. Just something to think about. Boy were those fun times.

 

[ForumMaster]

you could also run this tiny program that also let's you change your key. here is the link

 

[jlbenedict]

I think what the OP wants is to not mess up the current install of XP, and still install a Linux system on it.

You are most likely going to have to resize that primary partition. I'm sure Dell just made one primary partition out of that 80GB hard drive and then performed their XP install.

Once you resize it, you'll be able to then create the appropriate partitions for a Linux install.

 

[Brazen]

no, I'm pretty sure he just wants to make sure he has his install key for Windows XP in case he ever wants to re-install it. For now it sounds like the OP is planning to completely wipe Windows off the computer and install Linux, he just doesn't want to wipe the information he needs to reinstall Windows.

 

[P0ldy]

Sounds like that to me too, Brazen. You can get your key via TweakXP (http://www.totalidea.com/content/tweakxp/tweakxp-index.html). It's shareware, but you only need to run the program once. It's visible in one of the first windows (I'm on Linux and can't verify which, sorry).

 

[jlbenedict]

That Magic Jelly Bean Key viewer is pretty spiffy!

:thumbsup:

 

[networkman]

Note that I've not tried this, but I was just wondering if you couldn't use an imaging software like Ghost or TrueImage to take an image of the existing partition, then re-partition the drive so that you can get the partitions you want and then restore the image back to the new partition, which would allow you to put Linux on the 2nd partition. Most images programs will allow for size changes in the imaging process, so I'd think this should work okay. Just a thought.

 

[imhungry]

Thanks a lot P0ldy!

 

[jlbenedict]

Originally posted by: networkman
Note that I've not tried this, but I was just wondering if you couldn't use an imaging software like Ghost or TrueImage to take an image of the existing partition, then re-partition the drive so that you can get the partitions you want and then restore the image back to the new partition, which would allow you to put Linux on the 2nd partition. Most images programs will allow for size changes in the imaging process, so I'd think this should work okay. Just a thought.

Good idea.