Anyone got a WinXP HE install disk that I can borrow for a day. Prefer with SP3. I do NOT want to pirate anything. I have an old HP laptop and the Windows is corrupted beyond hope. I have a legal license and legal Product Install code. I just need the disk. I've downloaded a couple versions but they don't pass the MS hash verification test so I'm scared they've been loaded up with virus and other trash. That scares me to death. Please, no local pirated copies. John in Valencia, N.O.
John, Have you tried pressing the 'F11' key to activate the hidden recovery process? Most HP based models have this feature unless you already wiped out the first partition by manually installing windows? You can also save the SWSETUP folder which contains all drivers and applications by booting up with a ubuntu cd... Ninja
This laptop belonged to the American husband of a friend of my wife. He died. She had problems with it, my guess is a dozen different malware because she says the husband was really into porn. She took it to a shop that wiped the HDD and loaded one of the pirated XP versions with pirated MS Office and a dozen other things. Without all the custom drivers it never worked well. So she gave it to my wife who is sure I can fix it. RIGHT!!! I'm trying to get it legal. I tried installing Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. Live CD mode worked great but when I partitioned the HDD and tried to install it, it failed. That was only for testing the hardware since my wife wants XP anyway. I downloaded a torrent ISO I found for XP Home Edition but it refused the product code meaning it was probably a "full" edition and my code is for an OEM edition. So I found where I can download all the drivers from the HP website. There is a sticker on the unit with the installation product code so if I can just find an XP Home Edition OEM install CD I should be able to get it working. That's the problem.
The catch is with Windows XP that the key you have is also tied to a certain batch release and if you don't use the exact batch it will say the key is invalid. For XP HE there is likely dozens of different batch releases. However a pirated version doesn't have that issue as generally such is removed if it had. I have 2 original XP genuine copies of windows and 1 of them I have 2 disks for. Both are XP Pro and SP2 but the cd-key for one disk doesn't work for the 2nd disk. Funny bit is I also had a pirated Win xp disk and it worked for both keys (go figure).
John, send me a PM with your full address for delivery. I will send you a HP XP Home media which should resolve your issue. Also send me your model or product number listed on the bottom of the unit and I will also send you the related drivers although you can download them yourself. Earlwin.
i would suggest windows xp sp3. just download it in some torrent sites(not promoting piracy here),extratorrent.com would be nice. there's a alot of windows xp sp3 with keys in that site. before you install the OS, go the bios and change the harddisk mode to IDE mode (if the laptop was originally VISTA/7 OS, the mode is AHCI). save changes and install xp and PRAY. this method works with my friends acer machine, it was originally vista. we tried to install xp and failed. we asked support to the acer site and it suggested us to change the HDD mode in bios into IDE mode, and it worked.
