installing XP Pro

[Fraser]

The seller said it would work. I still feel that it will.

I was looking back at the messages and there is quite a few clues about the IDE controller driver problem that no one put together. I said I had a controller card in the first post. Then there was the FLTMGR.SYS message. Then I said the message is different when I moved the IDE cables to the MB. Then I said I was getting some files corrupted. Still noone said anything and I identified the problem myself.

There has been a few mi****s including memory, W2000 corrupt, spyware, XP firewall.

Some useful advice included uninstalling system protection and anti-virus before installing and using F8 to get the blue screen.

[NooNoo]

The seller sold a pup. You didn't buy an upgrade licence. You bought Dell media only, you can't buy a dell COA legally without buying a dell machine.

Go and get an xp upgrade disk from a reputable retailer.. and you will need XP Pro upgrade to upgrade from 2k.

[Fraser]

Its legal now in Germany to sell OEM software. If you live in another country you can have it sent from Germany.

Do you know how to do a repair installation?

It might be necessary to downgrade to SP2. Could I install SP2 then SP3 then uninstall SP3? SP3 is installed at the moment without an uninstallation ability.

[NooNoo]

It is legal to sell OEM software with the appropriate hardware not just in Germany but everywhere.

You bought a dell recovery disk. Under the terms of the licence you have not bought anything else. You certainly haven't bought a licence.


You need xp pro to upgrade 2k and the legal (and cheapest) way is for you to buy an upgrade disk. If you are a student you can buy the academic upgrade cheaper than the standard one. Amazon are about the cheapest.

[Fraser]

Wikipedia says that OEM software can be sold alone from Germany.

The disk is a full license that doesn't require W2000. The fact that I upgraded from W2000 is irrelevant legally.

I read somewhere that I could boot from my disk and do a repair installation and then I would have SP2. I'll do that then get my product key sorted then upgrade to SP3 and any further updates.

[NooNoo]

Either way, you have a Dell CD, which is made for Dells, it has Dell drivers and it is OEM so it doesn't do upgrades anyway. OEM disks are for clean installs only.

[Fraser]

Some people have installed from a Dell CD on other computers and got the product key entered. I might try a fresh installation just to test it.

If I buy a OEM product that isn't for a particular manufacturer then its key should work? I must have installed from the retail product CD or I wouldn't have had the option to upgrade.

[NooNoo]

OEM cds do not allow upgrade from previous operating system installations. If you use an oem key on a retail cd, it will not work.

[Fraser]

It looks like I'll have to get the retail version.

[NooNoo]

Out of interest, how much did you pay for this German version?

[Fraser]

About £44. Thats much less than £95 that can be paid online to Microsoft.

[NooNoo]

True, but how many hours have you invested in this "cheap" version?

The biggest problem you have is insisting on upgrading rather than doing a clean install.

[Fraser]

Reinstalling all my software and getting all the settings done would have been far more work. I would still have had the big problem with the IDE controller driver. The problem with system protection programs might have happened as well.