shadow1100mfp

it's not a recovery disk, it in no way pertains to my laptop. the label says "xp installation disk for distro. with a new pc only"

... another full install? ill try an OEM version (ill assume that i can get one if i search google or something?) when i find out what version i have a key to tomorrow (just to make sure when i look for keys, is there a place you can check on the computer what key is registered? so i can compare it to the p/key sticker on the case?) and, ill try finding the time period thing for p/key expiration, it seems logical that they have to recycle some product keys or else they would keep growing and growing in length

thanks ill check it out tomorrow, i started my not so kosher software an hour ago and its getting good d/l rates (meaning its eating up most of my internet connection at the same time) so i dont want to interrupt it now. just to edit my question: i didnt mean that i wanted to make an exact image of the harddrive with all the settings etc. i meant i wanted a disk that included the o/s install, the programs, and general settings (such as installation files of wireless adapters, monitors, printers, spare storage hard drive sound card video card and dvd burner... all of which will be the same model number and everything.) this way id only have to install new hardware, configure on one pc,and basically optimize (because we all know how optimized windows is at roll out) and "image" the one pc, and then pop in the disk for the others... and be able to create a copy of that disk so that i could use it as a restore disk and include it with each computer (this is only to be used on these computers for now, but i've got my connections like anyone else and i can get my hands on at least 20 more pcs, not including old pcs that the school depart. doesnt need anymore, that aren't up to date as-is but can work very well with minimal money)

it is a good copy of xp, i used it on one of my laptops (the cd came with the laptop). but i put the cd in and it said "repair?" and i said "of course!" ... and here i am, with the same setup i had before. only this time, it fixed everything that went wrong the first time i installed. i am in the process of downloading a ubuntu cd (ubuntu studio, if that makes any difference, its for another computer but it should have all the same setup utilities right?) right now its on NTFS, and ill stay with that. im not going to do anything intense with this computer though until iits been running stable for a week or 2 (like putting all my files on it, setting everything up etc)

i retract my previous statement where i said the only problem left was the activation... it let me reactivate it after i restarted, and now i can't start the computer (it gives me the nltdr cant load dsifji), and i ran bootconfig from the xpdisk, ran bootfix, ran fixmbr and i still can't get on, so im going to have to reinstall i guess... unless theres something else i can do? anyway. im just going to format drive using the xp disk (fat35 file system because it ran fine onthat f/s before) and then reinstall xp, fresh install.

hmm. i guess ill clean out a portion of my garage and setup the three computers plus my spare pc (for looking things up when i get stuck) and just start it all at the same time and start another project while i wait for those to finish...

so im better off sticking with my legal xp unless i feel badass enough to steal the key from a computer not using it? well call me agent bauer... :) being a media center pc though, wont i be better off trying for media center edition? or id need a program compatiable with windows that would record tv (from any video input on the computer).

Its a gray area. Most of the time, when a company/school/etc buys a truck load of new machines they will all come with XP home or Vista Home Basic license as part of the cost. The first thing we do is throw our XP pro image on the machine, which has also been paid for. So, there is an genuine XP home license that will never be used, why not use it? As for where to get XP Pro legally, with money and such trading hands, I have no idea. Ebay? Shops? so the only "instone" legal way to get it is to pay for it, but (with permission) its ok to use the o/s that came on a school/business machine as long as they aren't using that o/s? it sounds a little shady, but even still... like you said, pro versions dont need the activation, (where the product key is used), and i know my school actually put home ed. on the library machines, but they came with pro. what are advantages between the two, really?

will do

im getting yet another couple pcs from a friend this weekend, and each have different harddrive sizes (i think they are 15, 60 and 80 gb) and all are different m/bs, memory amounts (but all can run xp) etc. if i installed XPPro and all the software i wanted on one, imaged it to a dvd, would i be able to put that image on the other 2? the computers aren't exactly new, so itll take a long time to do it all seperatly... but i'd like to get them in good working condition, because a couple of my other friends are looking for a new computer and they would buy one from me (and id be able to make a few bucks to buy a 30inch monitor :)

correct me if im wrong, but isn't this just as illegal as downloading it along with a keygen? (though, my school did just get 100 new pcs, so it would be easy to do. ill try it) where would i get XPPro though (legally)?

But, if it was me I would download an ubuntu CD, and use it to delete the partitions on the disk, then install a copy of XP pro on it. No point keeping crap from an old install on a disc. As for the activation crap, I've never ever had to bother with it. Corporate versions of XP don't require it and I see no good reason to use XP home edition. i agree, i think its just something to get people to spend more money on keys that they really dont need (if you buy software you should be able to use it on all your computers without paying extra). so is there a way to shut off activation notices? because it pops up every couple minutes unless you click ok which adds steps to the startup (iwant it to be as easy as possible to run). im only using xp home because i already have it and i don't want to pay for xppro, and i want it to stay windows (atleast for now). i set the one that didn't end with "noexecute" as default and set the display time to 0, will it use resources if i don't delete the other one?

checked out the second install thismorning, and its the exact same as the first, same options same programms same everything, just a second option nat startup so i think i could get away with editing it... i just checked it out, and this is what it looks like: "[boot loader] timeout=30 default=signature(xxxxxxxx)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS [operating systems] signature(xxxxxxxx)disk(1)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition" /fastdetect /noexecute=optin" what exactly would i delete, if someone could highlight it or just explain? as for h/ds, i plan on adding another 500gb diskx2, for music movies and pictures but they will mirror eachother, and thats plenty of room for me. but with the install of windows, the "activate now" icon and popup keep showing up, when i click on them it says already activated... what do i do abot this? can i reactivate? edit: i fied the double os problem by setting display time to "0" at startup, and for a somewhat slow machine (128mb ram, dinosaur of a m/b and onboard video) it runs pretty smoothly and fast (it installed and ran firefox,internet explorer, itunes,quicktime, limewire, bitcomet, antispyware, antiadware antiviruis, and ccleaner all at once lastnight, while doing windows update. took about an hour to install and run everything, and now it all works great), compared to 3 of my other computers running 256mb ram (and one at 128), much newer m/bs and midrange videocards... but i'll be adding a new m/b in the near future, aong with new memory (2gb at minimum) so the only problem left is the activation thing.... that aside though this should make for the perfect media center pc, thanks for all the help guys =] (ill come back when i get ready to build my computer for college lol)

well right now (after i installed all the programs i want) the hardrive is only 3.x gigs full, so why would i need such a big o/s partition? but when ireinstalled the first time it didn't give me an option to delete any partitions.... i don't mind there being 2 installs on here, if i could just make one like a default o/s and make it boot to that everytime?

don't need it anymore... i decided to take out the 10gb drive (containing ME)and reinstall XP on the 160gb drive. infact, im replying on that computer, with xp on the 160gb drive. there is one problem though.. somehow it installed twice, and when i turn the computer on it asks which o/s i want to boot with, and it lists "windows XP HOME blahblahblah" and "windows XP HOME blahblahblah".... as far as i know, the top one is the only one that works (and is the new one i just installed)... is there an easy way to get rid of the second installation?

just to update the information here: i decided to yank the 10gb disk (ill later wipe it and put some free os on there or splerge a little and put some windows *media center?* os on there, and use it for the basis of my own media center pc). currently, i've tried installing winXP to the 160gb disk, on fat32 it was a nogo. right now its at 93% formating to (forgive me, but the format starts with an n i believe)... then ill install winxp on that... if its still a no go then ill just throw some free os on there and make it work out somehow.

...still.

which tool were you refering to on the second link? there are about 5 there... and also, after i make images of both disks and burn them (i dont have a problem burning to dvd,, but i have to do it on another computer) wont i have to wipe the 160gb drive before i can reinstall? really all i absolutely need to do is make the 160 gb drive work with my computer, and i can use the 10gb drive somewhere else i was just wondering how hard it would be. if i do a clean install of xp on the 160gb disk, will it automatically find drivers for the hardware currently installed? when i put the disk in the cd drive, will it ask which drive i want to install to? (10gb is c, 160 is d, and the partition from the 10 gb shows up as e), or should i disconnect the 10gb altogether while installing...

how would i go about doing that? the most i've ever done with harddrives is copying certain drivers, but i was guided through it (i had to copy usb stick drivers from an ME machine to another ME machine) right now, theres only about 2 gb on the ME harddrive (10gb), so could i save it to cds? or, (i dont have a dvd burner hooked up to this computer yet), could i save the image on another computer on my network and burn it to dvd from there? also, if i have the original cd key but not the disk, i can use any windows xp disk to install as long as i use my original key, right? i know thats a stupid question but i've only ever reinstalled an os twice and that was with an original key and cd.

but won't it be ok to leave it as it is since i won't be running winME after this point (unless i decide to go back, which is unlikely)? really all i want is the WinXP on the computer, but id liek to save winME just in case. and even still, i can access the harddrive and read/write to it when its hooked up as secondary, but as a master it says its missing files... so doesnt that mean it is already compatible?

so i got my hands on a friends old computer for free, and on the 160gb hard drive windows xp is installed. right now i have it hooked up as secondary harddrive on an old computer of mine (i put it in my computer because the parts on the one i got for free would cost too much to upgrade). when i tried hooking it up as the master (and the only harddrive in the computer) it said that it was missing files (files that i am assuming are hardware drivers). now i have my original harddrive hooked up with winME (its only 10gb,which is the reason i want this 160gb hooked up so badly). my main question is: how do i copy all the necessary files over to the harddrive? i know i've done it before, but i forgot how i did it, and when i google it, i only get programs that claim to be able to do everything for me, but to no avail. and, since i know 10gb is more than enough to store all system files, how much trouble would it be to copy the system files from the 160gb drive to a partition on the 10gb drive? the 10 gb drive is already partitioined in 7gb/3gb parts, so if i could move my winME files to the 3gb, hide or lock it (to preserve the old o/s should i ever want to go back to it), and put my winXP on the 7gb partition? i know it may seem confusing, what im asking, but any help would put me ahead of the game. i need to make this media center pc for a christmas present to my dad as a surprise, (last christmas i gave him over 300 dvds and all my itunes collection, which is now 8000+ songs, so i thought id set him up with a nice computer to run and store all that stuff on his big screen tv) and just a quick request, if you know any software that would work well for a media center (like utilities, games, even o/s's, etc), if you could list a few?

is this towards me? because i didn't lie, i did uninstall and reinstall 13 times ( i stopped at 13 because 13 is usually my lucky number). but i did take advice, i took several peoples advice (i may be wrong with the names, but i think wess, maybe vako, maybe moonlit, and someone else offered some advice and i did what they said, all except wess' advice so far, but i havn't goten to it yet, i took them in order of least invasive of the files on my computer) i am curious as to what made you think i lied, because i don't lie, i find liars very cowardly and untrustworthy.

ahh. im used to writing 6 page essays for school, so i expand alot on everything i say.

yes, you can make a total back up of the drive through windows, but i've tried making backups to dvds before on a brand new system (granted it was xp not vista but it should be some what similar), and it took me 12 dvds and it was a fresh hard drive, nothing on it besides what came with it, and its a 160gb drive, of that there was 158 gb free, so i don't see where the 12 dvds worth came from. so unless you want to waste that many dvds and that much time (it took me a couple hours on a high proformance system), id say just partition it and give it as little space as possible, and use the rest for your uu (and, in all honesty, how much of 80 gb are you going to use in 2 months unless you already have a ton of music and pictures you plan on putting on it?)

well theres my problem: haha. i decided to put everything back in the case after i tested it and found this, because its obviously the power supply. what happend was, the power supply has 2 chains of connectors, 4 each and then a mini connector on the end, for 3.5 inch floppy drives or whatever (mine is a 3/5 inch floppy). well, the hard drive is connected at the last accessory plug on the chain (i only use one chain), and then the cable goes further up to the 3.5 inch floppy and plugs in. this length of cable (from the hdd to the floppy) burned up and melted, which explains all the smoke. im actually not at all surprised, since this is right at the front, and this is what i expected happened. (wires burning usually smell the same reguardless of if they are in a car or a computer or even a table saw cord *someone caught it on fire when i had a shop class, yes it was funny but it was also a lesson we all learned: never put down a piece of metal that you got red hot from a band saw (he didnt use lubrication when he cut it). and no it wasn't me*. well, as i said, i have a couple power supplys waiting for me tomorrow morning, and ill just swap them out and i got me a working computer again =]. thanks for all the help everyone, i would have never seen the cables that melted if i didnt take everything out of the case to test it, because they were hidden behind the cages. now, off to build an arcade cab to put this thing to use! (even though its 10:30 and i have to get up at 3am lol.)