"Recovery CD"

[eyor]

Hmm... I built a new computer and planned to install windows 98 on it, thinking windows 98 came with my old HP. Well, all I can find is an "HP Recovery CD," and not a plain windows cd. I can not boot from this on the new system. Did HP do something to the boot image so that I can't load it on a computer other than the original? Is this standard practice? is there...er...any way around it?
Thanks

 

[Dark4ng3l]

windows in on the recovery cd and the cd wil only work with the HP system(or only the HP cd rom not sure) same thing goes for compaq and ibm(not sure about others tho)

 

[BigToque]

I dont know if this is legal or not, but here goes...

Since you got a copy of Win98 with your HP computer, there was obviously a serial number and licence used to register that copy of Windows 98. Since you legally own a licence to use the Windows 98 software, you could download Windows 98 from some place (Yes I am talking about downloading a pirated copy), and install it using your licence and cd-key.

Why do I not know if this is legal or not is this... Does the licence he has only allow the copy of Windows that comes pre-installed, or does the licence he has allow him to install a copy of Windows 98 regardless of the media it may come from, be it from the Internet, an official MS Win98 cd, or a burnt copy of the Win98 cd.

 

[Russ]

<< Did HP do something to the boot image so that I can't load it on a computer other than the original? >>



Yes, it's called theft prevention.

Stefan,

What you are advocating is illegal whether he has the product ID number or not.

Russ, NCNE

 

[eyor]

I don't think I'll be doing that, paulson. I don't have a burner on this machine anyhow. I do have the windows 98 book, I suppose that has a serial number on it. Perhaps I can borrow win98 and use that serial number. Thanks for the ideas. But does anyone know how the cd knows if it is an HP?
Thanks

 

[compuwiz1]

Where is the HP? If you have it, simply do a drive copy using one of the copy programs that come with harddrives such as Western digital. That means you may have to temporarilly install the loaded HP hard drive into the new system. Once the drive is there, boot to safemode, so the HP drivers dont all load. Now run regedit and find the ENUM key. Delete it...this will cause the OS to forget the previous hardware. Now reboot, and go into device manager and hit refresh. Your hardware should start detecting, installing the drivers, or prompting you for the disks. Once you get that all set up, run the drive copy utility, shut down when done, change the slave drive you copied to back to master. Be sure you go into FDISK, booting from the A:\floppy and check that the drive you are going to use is active. If it does not boot, boot from the floppy again and at the A:\ prompt, chose sys C:
If you can pull this off and you wipe the drive on the HP so you are only using the O/S on one computer, then legally you are in compliance. The drawback is, you will never have a backup for the Win98 install files, but you could create an image using Norton Ghost or a similar program.
Good luck.

 

[eyor]

thanks compu, interesting idea, but I still need this computer, too. As I understand it the drivers would all be wiped out and everything.

 

[Midnight Rambler]

<< But does anyone know how the cd knows if it is an HP? >>

From the BIOS (I think).

 

[eyor]

Thanks midnight... that is what I was thinking

 

[BlackFalcon]

Well, to get all technical about it here is how the license for Win98 works (to my knowledge).
You are allowed ONE computer per license.
You are allowed one backup copy (other that the official Win98 CD). Here I am talking about an actual backup not the &quot;back-ups&quot; that get given to friends or sold.
Therefore, if you need to have both computers running win98 you would have to buy another license or copy of the software to be 100% legal.

 

[eyor]

hmm... maybe it would be more ethical to just pay for another copy of windows. If I got a windows license could I buy a CDR of windows and use it legally? the hdd copying thing might prove to be undesirable, as I was thinking of dual booting linux and windows. I should have a thoroughly hard time trying to work that out. should I buy partition magic or something?

 

[pyr]

ethical? screw that when it comes to MS. they arent ethical making us pay 10x what they should be charging.

 

[eyor]

lol, that was my justification. but it seems I can't even find an unethical way around this