Ok, I bought a HP Pavilion s7000 slimline PC for my daughter for Christmas (it was second hand) It has Vista installed and it runs slow, has a lot of crap on it too. I've now found out that the version of Vista is not genuine. There is a serial key on the side for Windows XP Media Centre Edition 2005 and I want to install it. I've been told I need OEM discs but I can't find them anywhere, I've looked online for the last month and found nothing. Any help at all would be much appreciated.
Cheers urie for the response! Can I burn these to a DVD-R? Also will the restore disc delete Vista? I'm no expert, as you might have guessed lol
Hi, I've done the disc and it goes to XP setup but says there are no partitions to install. This is driving me bloody mental.
The key on the side of the laptop is a retail key, meaning when you install XP you will have to enter that key, and if it's already been activated a number of times it will block it until you call Microsoft.. so just be aware that this may not be the end of your problems. You're better off getting a corporate type of XP disc (commonly seen as a "student edition" or similar) which won't use that key and will install OK. As for the partitions, you may have to delete what's there and start from an empty hard drive.. not sure why it's doing that, Vista did not use any sort of special partition type.. XP should be able to format the existing partition and install over it.
If you can take picture of this and attach to the post then you will be able to show us what you see? When you load any OS on top of another you need to wipe out the old OS (Vista in your case) When you booted from the install disk you should get to the screen where you select a disk to install to, with XP install it can be a little more complex if you are beginner. If you look at this example picture, then you will see it has 38163 MB drive, and 3 partitions listed. What you need to do, is select each partition in turn and delete those until you see Unpartitioned space only (size will match your drive size) Then you should have this image (ignore the size number as from different computer) Then with this Unpartitioned space highlighted as shown, then you should press Enter key to show this next screen. You can format quick if you think the drive is "healthy" or choose the 3rd option if you are not sure of the health of the drive (you can choose quick, then scan later this) I would not "cloud" the issue by trying Vista or Windows 7 at this time if you are very new to computers. Best to keep it simple.
Hi mate this is the screen I'm getting. It won't allow me to create a partition, pressing C does nothing at all. If I press enter anyway I get this I almost took a hammer to it yesterday, I've spent hours looking around the internet for a solution. Is there some settings in the BIOS I don't know about?
if you are installing onto sata drives you will require the sata driver integrated to the setup image for xp to recognize it.
Why isnt it on the image already? It's my last DVD-R which I'm booting from (or trying to) can I add this file to the image somehow? Or use a USB or something? Sorry if my questions are a bit stupid. Thanks for everyones replies I really appreciate it.
You are 100% wrong. The sticker is a retail key, retail oem whatever you want to call it, but it's NOT the key that the installation media uses to have it pre-activated on installation. And it's activated normally when used, up to the # of allowed activation times. Everyone knows that, that's why you had to use something like Jellybean keyfinder to get the installed, pre-activated VLK-OEM type of key before you reinstalled. That may be true, but the OP specifically talked about using the key on the sticker, so I provided the information.
Thank you urie, it does ask for a floppy every time. I'll have another bash tomorrow as my daughter is asleep (it's in her room) Much appreciated, I do have a pendrive, thanks for the link fella, I'll see how I get on
Retail keys are never attached to the computer case. These keys are always for OEM:COA or OEM:NSLP channel, and a Retail setup won't accept them*. The key used for the pre-installed XP is usually the generic SLP1.0 key. MDL used to have a list of these that has been taken down due to DMCA. *This behavior did change with Vista, where Retail, OEM and VLKs are accepted and switch the channel accordingly.
@ jellybelly,The Op asked about key on computer sticker because he is new to this and as he said and on MDL we always encourage OEM:SLP activation if possible, as we know activation will never get used up.
The red highlights are 100% wrong. You do not HAVE to enter the key on the sticker to install the XP. It is media dependent as to key to be used, not mainboard dependent. The original key is NOT the key on the COA..this is basically relegated to proof of purchase status. VLK or corporate editions are a poor choice, and for media center non existent. VLK or corporate editions have long been known to have issues validating to genuine status. kel1981: The install issues are certainly related to lack of SATA drivers..an easy fix for sure. Windows 7 would be a trouble free install most likely, MCE can be done very easily also. OEM serial keys are located in the OEMBIOS changer tool. Unzip and have a look. You can add the OEMBIOS files for proper activation with this tool as well, painless... Stay away from "auto activating" and the like..trouble from the start. MCE is a nice OS, limited, but nice.. Be sure the drivers for the rest of the hardware are still easily available. To slipstream drivers with your fav program (Nlite, etc) try the SATA drivers attached. View attachment sata_ide.7z
Best to find a Media Center Disk with sata drivers already on the disk . It's a pain in the butt trying to make things work if you don't know how. And it looks like the machine has a card reader if it's a desktop unplug the card reader when installing . Herman
Sorry for the delay, I have been working. This may take a little longer but you can integrate the sata drivers to the XP disk and if you can tell me your exact model no. of your computer I will look into getting the drivers all scooped up into one simple package if possible. Unless you have taken out the hammer to the machine.