The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Can XP sys restore disks be used on another PC?

    Discussion in 'HP' started by waverider969, Feb 22, 2007.

  1. waverider969

    waverider969 Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    4
    Messages:
    203
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    I made restore DVDs for my XP Media Center dv6000t. I later had to return it and ended up with a dv6000t with Vista. Is there anyway I can use these disks to load XP Media Center on a desktop I have?
     
    waverider969, Feb 22, 2007
    #1
  2. Greg

    Greg Notebook Nobel Laureate

    Reputations:
    7,857
    Messages:
    16,212
    Likes Received:
    58
    Trophy Points:
    466
    Not legally as per the OEM agreement, and you returned the computer which means you returned/refused the license. Not to mention those discs check to make sure you aren't trying to install it on some other machine.
     
    Greg, Feb 22, 2007
    #2
  3. fxrron

    fxrron Notebook Geek

    Reputations:
    -2
    Messages:
    85
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    15
    Nope The drivers are specific for the hardware that is on the computer.
     
    fxrron, Feb 22, 2007
    #3
  4. 4cefed4

    4cefed4 Notebook Evangelist

    Reputations:
    43
    Messages:
    397
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    31
    He has the same notebook with the same hardware, so that's not really a factor here. I think there is something built in that looks at the MAC address of the computer prior to installing. It's like when you add an additional hard drive to a PC and windows asks you for a new product registration code since too significant of a hardware change was made from the original configuration.
     
    4cefed4, Feb 22, 2007
    #4
  5. cyberdeskj

    cyberdeskj Notebook Enthusiast

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    15
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    hey, u should give it a try, and let us know how it turns out. i have a feeling that it might work. this is why, and maybe i'm way off..

    i think i heard that when hp/dell/etc. mass installs windows onto their computers, they don't go through and individually register with the product ID shown on each individual laptop sticker, but use like a mass license to do so. if that's the case, then perhaps the unique product ID code found on your old lappy hasn't been locked down, and the xp restore disk should work on ur computer (assuming u still have the product ID).

    i'm in a very similar situation. i ordered a compaq v3000z in mid-january (which had xp), and returned it for an exchange because there was some abnormal noise issues. however, by the time i returned it for the exhange, this time a v3000t, only vista machines were being offered, and i wasn't too happy about that. but i HAD backed up the restore partition, and had saved the product ID code anticipating that this might happen, and so if i'm not happy with vista, i'm hopefully going back to xp. incidentally, my computer is one of the ones stuck in indianapolis on clearance delay http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=105821&page=2.

    good luck waverider, and i'd definitely be interested in how it turns out.

    peace
     
    cyberdeskj, Feb 22, 2007
    #5