Question about installing Windows XP

[dollface007]

I need some help from Weird Harold and all of the other computer experts out there....

So, I recently bought a nice little Dell laptop and Windows XP along with it. Now, I also have a Gateway desktop which has Windows 98 installed. I would like to install XP on my desktop, but the packaging for the software says that i'm to use it ONLY with a Dell computer. Am I to believe this? How do I install XP with this supposedly specialize software?
Thanks to all
D

 

[SweetErika]

I don't know for sure, but I've heard of people having problems with Dell and other brand software due to proprietary characteristics. Your best bet may be buying the XP upgrade. However, I googled 'xp on non-dell' and came up with your question and answers on other forums. Here's what appears to be a good one: http://www.windows-questions.org/ftopic55710.html

 

[dollface007]

Thanks, Erika. The whole thing is really annoying.

 

[SweetErika]

Yes, I'm sure. Hopefully Harold or someone else will come along and give you some better advice though.

 

[SummerMorning]

Why not download a "liberated" copy of Windows XP?

Shouldn't take long with eMule or some kind of BitTorrent protocol.

 

[mood69]

Is it an actuall Dell CD? Or is it a Microsoft CD with a "Only for Dell Computers" Sticker? If it's the latter, it's a normal windows xp cd that can be used to install windows xp on any computer. If it's the proper, you might run into some issues with device drivers and such that dell might have taken off the CD.

I should also tell you that you're not really authorized to install that copy of windows xp on another computer should you install windows xp on that other computer, you will have to activate that copy or it will cease working after 30 days.

Good luck with it in any case.

 

[Weird Harold]

So, I recently bought a nice little Dell laptop and Windows XP along with it. Now, I also have a Gateway desktop which has Windows 98 installed. I would like to install XP on my desktop, but the packaging for the software says that i'm to use it ONLY with a Dell computer. Am I to believe this? How do I install XP with this supposedly specialize software?

You'll likely run into several problems with trying to install that particular copy of Windows XP on a Gateway Desktop PC, but there is no way to know exactly what they are until you try it.

I would make a copy of your existing installation on a separate drive or partition to make recovering to a functional win 98 installation possible and then try to install -- although you'll definitely run into problems with activating it on a computer that is different from the one it was originally activated on because part of the (re)activation process is a record/comparison of the hardware it's being installed on (a checksum value rather than a list, as far as I know.)

Other than the activation problem, you're likely to run into problems installing a version optimized for a laptop on a desktop computer or a version that is proprietary and configured for specific peculiarities in the Dell hardware.

Your best bet is to get a fresh upgrade copy of XP for your desktop PC and leave the Dell disk for the Dell computer.

 

[dollface007]

Thanks everybody! I learned a lot from your advice...like how the Microsoft people are a bunch of bastards. Okay, i knew that before, but it was a good reminder.

Since there's a chance i'll run into problems even if it does eventually work, i'm not going to go through the trouble. I think there's a possibility that I can get a copy of XP from work, and I'm sort of thinking about getting rid of the desktop anyway.

 

[DuplexEmotions]

You can use your CD key, but you need an OEM CD to use it. It's like the standard install CD, but it only works with the CD keys that come with computers. The Dell CD probably won't work. Is it XP Pro or Home? I think I have an OEM Home CD around here somewhere.

 

[mrmgp]

I need some help from Weird Harold and all of the other computer experts out there....

So, I recently bought a nice little Dell laptop and Windows XP along with it. Now, I also have a Gateway desktop which has Windows 98 installed. I would like to install XP on my desktop, but the packaging for the software says that i'm to use it ONLY with a Dell computer. Am I to believe this? How do I install XP with this supposedly specialize software?
Thanks to all
D

More than likely, you have a "quick restore" CD that came with the computer. It's a ghost image of a master hard drive for the particular model of computer you bought. If your computer goes to shit, and nothing seems to be able to fix it, you pop this CD in and restart the computer. You follow a few steps, and the CD transfers all of its information to the hard drive, giving your computer a "fresh from the factory" default setting. These "quick restore" CDs usually read the computers BIOS settings to, in your case, determine if the computer is actually a Dell. If you try to install this disc on a Gateway, more than likely the disc is going to tell you that the computer isn't a Dell, and therefore won't install anything.

My first exposure to a "quick restore" disc was with a Compaq computer I bought in 1999. I once tried the disc on a different computer, and the process stopped after reporting to me that my computer wasn't a Compaq.

Most of the major computer manufacturers nowadays use the "quick restore" disc instead of giving you a Windows CD.

I would buy a Windows XP upgrade disc, or, if you have no qualms about using pirated software, download it from a file sharing service or bittorrent.

 

[Spenser41]

Now adays, the software that you get.. are what they call restore disks. Hardly any computer manufacture sells Windows by it's self anymore. They give you 3 or 4 or more CDs that will do what they call a complete restore that will put all the orginal software and drivers back on your computer, and of course wiping anything you had personally on it. To be honest, most companies do not even give you the disks anymore. They use a use a small section of your hard drive for that and you can only make one copy of that section to create your CDs in case you have to replace your hard drive.
Another thing is, many times the CDs are not made just for a DELL or HP, but it has to be the EXACT model or it will not work either.
Oh and one more thing. Your Gateway desktop may not be able to be upgraded to XP. The best way to know is to go to their website and to see if they have made updated drivers and updated software for XP. XP is not the same as the older version of Windows and is based on the NT structure. If you go to Microsofts web site www.microsoft.com/windowsxp.com there is a link there that will test your computer to see if you can put XP on there. Many of your older softwares will not work on XP, so it is best to check all of this out before you just get a pirated copy of XP or go buy it. It could just really screw up your computer.
By the way, I am a computer tech and own my own computer business.
Hope that clears some of the problems up. And if any of you have gotten a computer in the last year or two and you do not have CDS to restore your software and drivers, READ YOUR MANUALS and it will explain how to create your restore disks. If you don't do that and your hard drive dies, you will either have to buy the CDs from the manufactor (and this I think really sucks) they may not have them available for you anymore and you will have to go out and buy all your software all over again and that could cost you a lot of money. So make your restore CDS TODAY!

 

[dollface007]

Thanks a bunch, Spencer and others! I'm learning a lot...probably more than I wanted to. Eek!

 

[borisk]

Just a little side note for XP ... You can put one copy of XP for home use on multiple computers. Its a PITA but when you activate the 2nd computer you must call microsoft and tell them the activation code and then they may ask if there is more than one computer in the house and just tell them yes and they will help you activate.

Just a FYI,
Boris