Will Media Player Classic Work With Media Direct?

Hi,

I ordered a e1705 and it will ship out on may 11. I like to keep my PC's as clean as I can and this is my first notebook. I will do a clean install after I get the XP home cd (I didn't know my retail XP home cd wouldn't work so I didn't buy it for $10, and the dell guy said if I add it to my order I will lose my $850 coupon. So he said to call tech service when I get my laptop and request it.) with the instructions in the sticky. I am going to delete the OS and system restore partitions leaveing only the media direct one. I don't know much about media direct execpt that you can play DVD's listen to music and browse files while the OS isn't booted. My question is can I watch a dvd while not booted into the OS if I don't install Cyberlink power DVD, only having media player classic?

 

To answer your question: Yes.

Regarding your retail version: who told you it won't work with your 1705? You can use any version of XP you want. Your laptop will work just fine if you install your version of XP - just make sure to visit Dell and download all of the necessary drivers/software. Follow SG's install guide and you will be just fine.

 

Two reasons why I thought it wouldn't work.

One is SG's sticky


Why is it so important to get the XP disk from dell?

* You can use your own XP retail disk as long as you have the key to it. Unfortunately, the key located on the bottom of your laptop will not work with a retail XP disk.

>>> I have the key to my XP disk but it's installed on my desktop. Only one key per computer?


The second is that my Xp home disk doen't have SP2 on it and I read somewhere that you need a disk with sp2 or else it wont recognize your pci express slot.

Please correct me if I'm wrong on both counts. I don't know about the pci express thing because my desktop uses a 6800ultra agp, and I might be reading the comment SG wrote wrong.

 

1. You can use your XP on your laptop. You have to use the key that came with your XP disk; the key on the bottom of your laptop won't work with retail versions of XP.

2. You can only use your key on one computer at a time. If you use it on your desktop, you can't use it on your laptop. That would violate the Microsoft EULA. You would have to remove XP from your desktop before using it on your laptop.

3. You can slipstream SP2. Google for XP slipstream and read a tutorial on how to slipstream SP2 into XP.

 

Will the CD key on the bottom of the laptop work with a xp cd that came with someones computer? My g/f's mom got a dell desktop last year and has a disk "not for resale" that came with her computer.

 

Different runs of XP CDs are tied to certain keys. Chances are that your code and her CD will not work together, but you may as well try it... I would just spend the $10 and get the correct disc from Dell - problem solved.