Hello, everyone. My ladyfriend has just bought a computer (secondhand). It already has XP Home Edition on it. She has stored quiet a lot of important data on the PC. She wants to buy an XP Home Edition disk to 'do the right thing', as no disk or activation key was passed over to her when she bought the PC. Basically, she's worried that if a new XP Home Edition copy is installed over the existing one, her data will be wiped off the HD. Is there a way of installing the new copy without disturbing/losing files already stored on the PC? Cheers, Dave
Why is she installing windows again? It is possible to keep current files and settings intact by doing a "repair install" of windows, though not all programs will work and may need reinstalling.
Thanks, Addis. So, are you saying that when she gets the new XP disk, she can just do a "repair install", which will not overwrite her saved files? The loss of programs aren't that important to her, as she hasn't anything she can't easily reinstall. I had thought that a "repair install" was the best thing for her to do, but I wasn't sure. If she goes for that, can she just enter her product key and activate the new software? I think she wanted to install Windows again, as the copy she has on the PC at the moment, only has SP1 and she's thinking of buying XP SP2. Dave.
Thats no reason to buy a new copy of windows . You can simply download SP2 from Microsoft's website, or even order a CD with it on if you have a slow internet connection. After all its v. expensive just to update XP! If you do have other reasons for reinstalling then a repair install will retain her data and user accounts flawlessly (as its the same version of windows). However, make sure the new install is kept up to date with automatic updates or manually.
David. she doesn't need to reinstall Windows just to change the product key. She can simply insert her new serial number into her existing Windows installation. I don't have time to go over all the details now, so i've just copied this information from another website! Lets just hope I don't get sued for copyright infringement ---------------- One of the main reasons for changing the Windows XP product key number is if you knowingly or unknowingly install a pirated copy of Windows XP and upon attempting to activate your copy of XP or download updates from the Microsoft download site you are refused either activation or the specific download. Of course this may not be your fault. The copy of Windows XP may have come pre-installed on your pc and the store may have wittingly or unwittingly installed a pirated image of the software on your pc. Either way, eventually, you are going to have to obtain a new product key number to make your copy legal. Once the new product key number is obtained it will be necessary to edit the registry in order to input the new product key. It should be noted that once the new product key has been inserted into the registry you will be required, once again, to Activate the new product coded copy of Windows XP PLEASE NOTE To rectify the problem you will need to edit the registry, therefore, before you proceed, you should ensure that you have backed up the registry either from within regedit itself or by using the third party software called ERUNT. 1/ Click the Start button 2/ From the Start Menu click Run 3/ In the Run dialogue box type: regedit 4/ The Windows Registry window will now open 5/ Navigate to the following registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\Current Version\WPAEvents 6/ In the Right Hand Pane of the registry window Right Click on the OOBETimer value and select Modify 7/ Change at least one of the characters in the Modify dialogue box to either a number between 0 and 9 or a letter between A and F and close the registry 8/ This operation now Deactivates the current product key rendering it invalid To Re-Activate Windows 1/ Click the Start button 2/ From the Start menu click Run 3/ In the Run dialogue box type: C:\windows\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /a and press OK (If your copy of XP is an upgrade from Windows NT/2000 then substitute the above command for the following: C:\winnt\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /a 4/ The Windows Activation Screen will now launch 5/ Select Yes i want to Telephone a Microsoft customer service representative and then click the Next button 6/ Select Change product key option and type in your new Product key number 7/ Click Update and then close the window 8/ On pressing Update the window may return to the previous screen. If it does so, then simply select the Remind Me later option 9/ Now Reboot your system 10/ When your PC has rebooted you will be asked to Re-Activate your copy of xp through the normal activation channel, i.e via the internet.
Thanks, Guys. That's a great help for her. Amongst other things, she wanted to have a legit copy of XP on her machine, and buying a new XP Home Edition disk seemed to be the only way to achieve that. Dave.
Update: Ladyfriend got XP SP2, and guess who she asked to install it for her? Well, all I did was insert the CD and XP asked if I wanted to 'Upgrade' Windows (saying that 'no programs, settings/files would be disturbed'). I elected to do this and the setup process went great until it reached the end of the 'Installing Windows/XP' phase. At that point, the PC went to reboot itself (one of a few during setup), then suddenly the screen when blank, and it stayed that way for 4 minutes before I decided that it wasn't going to boot into Windows! I hit the reset button after taking the CD out and it fully booted into XP! Everything seems to have fully installed and I was able to download the Full Monty of Microsoft updates for her. I ran a PC analysis tool on her PC and the OS shows up as XP SP2 and everything on her PC seems to work. It just puzzled me why the screen went blank during the installation and did not get to the 'Finalizing Installation' stage. I wonder if it was because I was basically updating and not doing a full install. Anyone heard of this happening before? That blank screen gave me a fright! Dave.
You probably experienced one of the many Windows bugs which exist in that Operating System Never mind, at least it's all up and running now!
