Burning WinXP to CD

[RJ]

Hello all,

my uncle's old P90 died and he wanted a new one. Since he didn't want a self-built one we got a HP computer.
It is a HP A200N, and it came with Windows XP. But the thing is, it didn't come with a XP CD. I asked the salesman about this and he told me that there is a recovery partition on the hard drive and they don't give discs anymore because of piracy. So if something goes wrong you just select F10 at the bios screen and the PC will do a clean install.
Now i prefer to have WinXP on a CD. What if the hard drive dies after the warranty expires or if he wants to partition the drive differently ?

Well, the main question ist: How can I copy the contents of the partiton on a CD, but the CD needs to be usable, like a normal WinXP cd or at least a HP recovery CD, so that I can get rid of that partition ?

Thanks in advance,

RJ

[jeresimo]

The review for that System is something to reckon with specially the No.2 *see below:

— Reviews from Customers —

Average Customer Rating: 3 | Total Customer Reviews:

Summary: Beware the Disposable Computer
Comment: While HP's generally work nicely as a consumer computer, you WILL have problems if you:
(1) Try to add more memory and/or hard-disks -- the HP cases
are crammed full and you will have fun trying to fit your
new stuff in.

(2) Try to replace anything that goes out -- HP unfortunately
is not using standard parts for things like power
supplies; so, if yours goes out, it is not an easy or
inexpensive matter to replace it; it is easier and
cheaper to simply DISPOSE of a non-functioning HP and
get a new one.

Still, if you want something that works out of the box and would rather buy something new if you need to upgrade or change, HP is a reasonable computer to get.

So the answer to your question is clear: Dispose it when it goes south.

[bailey]

or you could go out a buy a copy of xp retail.

[Iman74]

Similar question: When I bought my Alienware PC I asked will I get the XP CD with it, their reply was yes but it was not true. I got a recovery CD However, I did get my license to XP Pro. and that sticker is in a safe place. Now I am curious, my wife has a copy of XP she bought at CompUSA (and got ripped off), can I use that CD, but my license number?

[fudtone]

Ahh good old HP. Hopefully you can copy the partition to disk and use it for a reinstall.

Copy it to a new partition then run the setup as normal.

If you ever change the MB keep it you will need it for the reinstall as it will address the propritary bios.

[Iman74]

When it comes to preprioritory PC's, you will never need to worry about changing the motherboard.

Originally posted by fudtone Ahh good old HP. Hopefully you can copy the partition to disk and use it for a reinstall. Copy it to a new partition then run the setup as normal. If you ever change the MB keep it you will need it for the reinstall as it will address the propritary bios.

[fudtone]

I have changed out a few to accomadate agp's, raid and the like.

Why will you never need to worrie about it?

[Iman74]

HP's, Compaq's, Dell's are not made to have their motherboards upgraded. The only time you would change it if it was damaged.

[fudtone]

If we followed the rules on what is made to do what I would also buy a HP.

This does not meen you cannot do these things only that you need to be prepared for differnces in process/product.

[andyms18a]

rj if you have a xp cd then copy it for you uncle and use the licence key that came with the hp computer if you ever nead to reinstal

[RayH]

Since you have a clean installation, find a disc imaging program, like Ghost or Drive Image. You can pick one up for $10-25. Just back the whole computer up.

[Panama Red]

I just tweaked two new Hp units for friends and were they ever disappointed when I showed them the recovery partition vs XP cd. The set up instructions for the new HP's tell you to make your own recovery disks, either one DVD (if you have a dvd burner as these 2 did) or SIX cd's, which you have to buy extra. Then the recovery disks aren't really true XP registered software, just the recovery properties of that computer. What a joke! Makes for a great sales point to steer customers toward custom builds with their own XP copy. Just used it tonight, and I order the system parts Sunday. Thanx, HP!!

[RayH]

The license one purchases with an HP or similar ready builts is for that machine only. But at least recovery discs can be made.

But at least recovery discs for the machine can be made.

[RJ]

Thanks for the replies.
I actually thought about copying my WinXP CD for him, but the problem is that I have the german version and my uncle doesn't speak german.

I'll try to ghost that image. Thanks, haven't thought about that yet.

RJ

[bigandy]

Iman, I don't believe that you can use your CD Key with your wife's dsic. I tried it before and it did not work, I think that the disc is "locked" so that it will only work with its original key.

[andyms18a]

Originally posted by bigandy Iman, I don't believe that you can use your CD Key with your wife's dsic. I tried it before and it did not work, I think that the disc is "locked" so that it will only work with its original key.

only windows me cds are locked to the licence no xp can use any disk as its now protected by product actevtion

[Iman74]

Originally posted by andyms18a only windows me cds are locked to the licence no xp can use any disk as its now protected by product actevtion

So just to confirm I understand you correctly, I can use my wife's XP CD, and my CD Key, hence that is legal and possible?

[tyoung]

If both are OEM versions this will work. If one is a Retail version an OEM key will not work, and vice versa.

[Jester]

If you have a licsence iman and the disc i think that is legal. And any xp cd key will work with windws xp. My friednds tested this with key gens and all sorts of stuff of kazaa so they could test it before they bought it. They didn't expect the fade though.

[andyms18a]

Originally posted by Iman74 So just to confirm I understand you correctly, I can use my wife's XP CD, and my CD Key, hence that is legal and possible?

yes you have 2 licences for xp one for your computer and one for your wifes we only use one xp cd at work to install all our new builds and use the licence from the new purchesed copy so when the customer gets the new computer the cd is still sealed in the pack it came in

[kingsucka]

Similar question here...

HP pavilion 7935, 40gig hdd

Hp support is MIA. If I leave the recovery partition alone and only partition the rest of the disk into two parts, will F10 at bootup still work?

Also, This machine does not have the utility to copy it to CD. I cannot access the recovery partition to copy it. Does this require a third party tool? Any suggestions

[kingsucka]

Attached is a screen shot from disk management if that helps

[Panama Red]

Rather than add your post to an already ended thread, you would stand a better chance of getting an aswer if you started you own new thread. Does your unit come with a CD or DVD burner? Those that do have the option to burn the recovery parition to CD or DVD (I've seen both) using an HP Recovery option. Look thru your program list and see if it's in the HP stuff. Might not be on the Start Menu. May have to look in My Computer. I'm not positive, but your recovery should work after the repartitoning.

[kingsucka]

It seemed related so I didn't want to make a new thread b4 checking this one. That is the weird thing is that the machine came with a cd burner, but there is no option to put it on cd in the hp tools?? I'll make a new thread, thanks

[RJ]

My uncle's HP did have a program to create the CDs. My uncle found it a couple of days after I created this thread. It was called somethink like "Create recovery CD/DVDs". With that, we were able to create them.

If you don't find an option like this in your start menu, maybe it has to be added. Check add/remove programs, windows setup for this.

RJ