OEM Win XP Pro CD ??

[tim romano]

I haven't had much success with this issue using normal sales channels, and hope someone here knows the answer: my e-pc42 ships with only an emergency repair disk. Using the emergency disk, the HD is wiped clean and a pristine copy of the O/S is reinstalled. NOT GOOD in many circumstances! I want a real OEM Win XP Pro CD (for which I'm certainly willing to pay media / shipping / handling costs) but I don't want to pay $299 for a retail copy of XP Pro when I've already bought the license through HP. How does an owner of e-pc42 obtain a copy of a OEM WinXP Pro CD from HP?

[Joseph T. Wyckoff]

I think the answer is that you buy the disk from Microsoft (etc.)

In some cases the copy on the hard drive will only work a few times (like three rebuilds) and then you have to buy services from HP.

It sickened me when I got this answer, but it makes sense too. Microsoft wants to get more money, HP wants to minimise support costs, and so on.

I will be very happy to be corrected, but I think you and I will both wind up buying software retail.

Or Technet / MSDN, depending on your budget.

[Joseph T. Wyckoff]

A quick hunt of our web site... I find a utility called part surfer.

http://partsurfer.hp.com/cgi-bin/spi/main

I find that for my PC (workstation) here at work, I could order a 'recovery cd.'

I am pretty sure that is NOT what you want, but it is an improvement...

In the short term... look for a copy of an i386 directory, and copy it to another hard drive, to tape, or burn it to cd.

For archival purposes, only, of course. And read and comply with your license, of course.

In that I386 directory, if it exists, you may also find a utility to make a boot floppy, recovery console, or something similar.

Normally I would also mention HP's Omniback utility - tape backup software... Keep it in mind for the future, the next version (Data Protector) has a pretty neat boot and recover from CD option too.

Good Luck.

[Roger Faucher]

Tim:

I wish everyone would make this an important part of their pre-purchase assessment process. I would never buy a PC without getting the CD for the OS. It simply doesn't make sense and it doesn't make sense for Microsoft and HP to engage in this behavior. Ultimately, they'll drive people to by non-HP computers with non-Microsoft OSes (Linux?).

Just so you all know, Microsoft authorizes their OEMs to sell OEM versions of Windows with a complete system, a motherboard only, or a hard disk drive only. So, you could buy a bigger hard disk drive and get Windows XP Pro that way.

Roger

[tim romano]

Joseph,
Thanks for the tips on the i386 directory. I'll burn that to CD and also look for the boot disk creation utility.

Roger,
I agree with you. I myself own two HP PCs, and I've always recommended HP to my customers and colleagues. I need to upgrade my laptop to one that supports XP but I doubt I will buy another PC from HP, and I certainly won't be recommending HP while this policy remains in effect. Shipping only a repair disk is not a bad idea; but not offering a real OEM CD in the parts catalog (customer pays media, shipping, production, and handling costs) is shortsighted and hostile to customers!

I understand that the emergency CD looks at the HP BIOS to prevent piracy of the Windows OS. This policy smacks of complicity with the MSFT monopoly.
Tim

[Patrick Ruane]

Have you checked with Microsoft? It might be worth phoning your nearest Microsoft centre (check www.microsoft.com for contact details) and seeing what they can do. They normally supply replacement media if you lose / destroy a disk and have a valid license, and only charge minimum shipping / production costs. I have had to do this in the past and got an office 2000 cd replaced for about ??30 as mine was scratched to hell.

This whole licensing / recovery CD only thing has been creeping up for a couple of years. I have seen the same thing with Dell (who I would normally recommend highly). I now tend to build my own pc's and pay extortionate retail OS prices, it works out about the same as dell prices but I get my CD.

[Roger Faucher]

Patrick:

Just buy either the mobo or the HDD from someone who is authorized to resell OEM Microsoft OSes and you'll save money (read my previous post). If they won't sell to you, ask them for the names of a few of their customers in your area that might re-sell to you.

Roger