Is this legal?

Okay assume you just purchased a notebook with a version of windows on it. Now most, if not all, notebook manufacturers nowadays ship their notebooks with either a restore partition or a restore disc. They do no specifically give you a separate disc with windows on it and another with applications and drivers. One manufacturer that provides the user with separate windows and drivers discs is HP/Compaq. Usually located on the bottom of the notebook is a windows oem sticker with key.

Notebook manufacturers tend to include lots of bloatware in their systems. This Toshiba notebook that I had just purchased for example has Wild Tangent ('legal' spyware/adware) installed on it. Wildtangent was easy enough to remove, but the programs that require it are not. In fact, there is a program on my system that Toshiba has seemingly integrated into the MCE interface that I cannot remove.

Now that in mind, if you wanted to perform a clean install, would it be okay for you to borrow a windows disc from a friend or download it from somewhere and use that (using the key from the bottom of the notebook) to perform a clean install? Drivers aren't much of an issue as they can be found from the chipset manufacturers' websites.

 

As long as you aren't trying to install Windows XP Pro with a Windows XP Home disc, there's no legal issues. The program license isn't tied to the media (I'd make a copy of the install disc if I were you), it's tied to the magic numbers on the sticker on your laptop. Make sure you use the same Windows key and you should be fine, and be able to reactivate windows and everything. Good luck!

 

It will likely not even work unless you get an OEM Windows CD because the key on the bottom of your laptop is an OEM key (there is a difference!)

However, you ain't screwed My friends have tried it (the prog.), but I haven't myself, they claim that nLite can pretty much 'make' a new ISO of your Windows and removes Windows Components. Well, regardless I think you might be able to just make a 'new' ISO of your Windows without removing the components. Give it a go and see how it goes

 

Yea. nLite can do that but you must modify setupp.ini before burning the new disc. Reason is that the type of key that it accepts is "encoded" in that file. Do a search on google for info on how to change it to accept oem keys for installation. No guarantees that is going to work though.

 

That will be OK. The CD key will be your problem. If you have MCE you cannot use that with XP-Pro or another windows OS (obvious). But you could always look up the key. Half the programs I have are cracked or patched but don't tell anyone its OK. As many people before me have said "I wont tell if you don't tell"

 

You might run into issues if you borrow, say, a Dell CD and try to install it on a non-Dell system. I use Dell as an example because I know that their CDs don't install on other systems. I don't know if other manufacturer's do that as well. I know last year's Toshiba's came with an image you could burn to reformat, but then again, Toshiba uses Ghost, so you don't have a choice but to take all their crap with their image.

 

Please keep discussion/mention of illegal copies of software out of the Forums. While we understand that illegal copies will float around regardless of the best efforts put forth by the software companies, NBR does not endorse it in any way.

Thank you.

 

.... i was talking about my.... Brother yea... sorry

 

I'm sure I can find a WinXP MCE OEM CD (teh acronyms!!) somewhere. If worse comes to worse, I can go buy one from Fry's or something.

 

An MCE CD does not exist AFAIK. It is a version of XP that is only available along side a pre-built PC. You might be able to make one (which is legal if you own the computer and the copy of MCE and don't share it), and without the crapware to boot. Look up Microsoft's discussions on slipstreaming drivers into an XP install (along the lines of if you have a SATA computer but not the right disk), and they are the ones who mention how to burn your own Windows XP disc from your hard drive.

Again, the procedure WILL NOT WORK if you do not have a genuine & validated copy of XP.

 

Actually, you can buy an OEM copy of MCE on both eBay or (safer) newegg.com. It's only $110 on newegg, which is just like $20 more than XP Home. Of course, this does require a purchase, but it would definitely be your safest bet IMO.

 

Just in case, have you tried to see if you can get a disk from the reseller?

 

I stand corrected... Actually a little tempting, but I'll stick with Pro until I can get Vista Ultimate in about a year or two.

 

My notebook comes with a license for WinXP MCE OEM. The problem is that the manufacturer didn't include a specific CD for it, opting instead for a restore disc. As far as the availability of the actual CD, it can be found almost anywhere. Like here for example. It sells for about $140 which isn't too bad, though it is about 1/3 of what I paid for my notebook.

 

I tried that way back when when I bought my first notebook (a Compaq). Reseller pointed me towards the manufacturer, which then pointed me towards Microsoft and they pointed me back to the manufacturer. I didn't really get anywhere with it.

The problem is that the manufacturer is free to do whatever they want with the OEM version. So if they decide not to include it with a system then you're sol.

 

It's legal to install software that you have a licence for. if you've got an OEM Windows licence, then you can legally re-install OEM Windows. If you haven't got the OEM MCE installation CD for your system, try and contact the manufacturer.

Dell OEM Windows will install on non-Dell systems.