Reinstall Windows XP with OEM license

[Akzle]

I figure there must be some simple combination of utilities that'd do all that ...

there is. it's called linux.

seriously, even a winblows fanboy will find his way around ubuntu.

go get UBCD, that will do everything, it's good to have on hand.

and get a 'buntu liveCD, it should have utilities for everything i said.

sudo -i
dd if=/dev/(main drive) of=/dev/(usb/flashdrive)/backup.iso

that's your backup, exact copy of everything on your disk including partitions and master boot record. literally byte by byte.
you can then mount that image as a virtual drive and cruise it just like you had it installed to main disk. or dd it back to the drive, or dd it into a virtual box or... or... or...

you can also dd a drive to blank but you'd be better going through either the ubuntu install or gparted to format the drive/arange the partitions. even if you don't install ubuntu

(i'd reccomend you do, GRUB bootloader is heaps much better than winblows one.)(when you install windows after it, it will rewrite your MBR, so only show up and load windows, but linux will be installed in the background. OR you can fix the MBR to point to GRUB which gives you the option of winblows vs ubuntu - i think you'll find after a while you'll hardly ever click into windows)

seriously.
go get an ubuntu liveCD. you'll be buying me a beer.

[davereid]

Yeah, I make my living off Microsoft products, so I'll be Windows for a while.

Putting Ubuntu on this thing for my Daughter on the other hand, would have been a good option (given the small list of things she'll actually do with it), but as she's off overseas shortly, it's the wrong time to throw a different OS at her (esp. given my own lack of experience with it).

Yeah I have a mate who repairs Fisher and Paykel products.

He said that he BUYS Samsung and LG. But there isn't much money fixing them so he still recommends F&P.

[pzkpfw]

Yeah I have a mate who repairs Fisher and Paykel products.

He said that he BUYS Samsung and LG. But there isn't much money fixing them so he still recommends F&P.

Cool story, but not very relevant. Having an LG dishwasher at home doesn't have much at all to do with whether he can fix an F&P dishwasher for his job.

I happen to pay my bills doing programming in a Windows environment. Windows isn't perfect (I'm no fanboy), but for personal use I just can't be arsed having another environment (whether another machine, or dual boot, or VM's or whatever. Just. can't. be. arsed.); I just use my Windows gear, it doesn't hurt at all.

And it doesn't mean I recommend Windows in particular (like your mate with evil intentions recommends F&P!). Heck, I bought my Wife an iPod a few weeks back - it just happened to be the device (and OS) that suited her at the time. Might have been an Android Tablet in different circumstances (or even Windows 8 RT).


I'm frankly sick of all the fanboy bullshit. Oh how funny to see Akzle et al call Windows "Winblows". Whatever. Each of the devices and OS's have their place.

[Akzle]

I'm frankly sick of all the fanboy bullshit. Oh how funny to see Akzle et al call Windows "Winblows". Whatever. Each of the devices and OS's have their place.

this isn't really fanboy shit.
-ubuntu is easy as shit for winblows and even mono-button-mac users to find their way around.
-it is free
-it has all the required tools (for this and much more) BUILT IN, you're not downloading an .exe or installer for every fucking thing you want to do.
-you don't need a running/installed environment to use it from
-you don't even need to install it, it will run natively off a CD/DVD/flashdrive, and still do everything you want it to. how polite.

find me an MS tool that does that shit. FOR FREE.
or go pay norton for ghost to make a shitty proprietary image that you'll still need to re-write the MBR on.

many other linux flavours are probably also suitable (i'm thinking mandrake distros) but i learned hat back when it was hat and before debian->ubuntu etc.

and win does blows. thus winblows.
i have no time or place in my life for an i-Anything, because there are better tools for the job. and while windows mobile USED to be on my pilot, and it'd still be my second choice for a mobile device (linux flavours win, google=umbrella corp=evil, and will cause the zombie apocalypse) infuct, some of teh windows lumias look quite neat...

long story short. you want it done quick and easy, piss and moan all you like, linux is about as quick and easy as you're going to get. else take it to the computer shop and pay 120$/hr for someone else ("technician", heh.) to use linux on it.

[redhat]

Worst comes to the worst, I may just shell out $80-$90 for the retail Windows 8 - may be nice to have the physical media anyway, to save me downloading next time I buy an upgrade.

Have you considered using a free Linux distro rather than using Windows? Many have a polished interface and are very user-friendly (easy to learn too) - these often can bring an old computer thriving back to life, such as your old netbook.
All it takes is a simple download of the .iso file which you can either burn to a CD/DVD or set it up to install from a USB drive. The installers make it as easy as (if not better than) installing Windows.

Some of the more popular options...
Linux Mint (Cinnamon): http://cinnamon.linuxmint.com/ (my personal choice)
Ubuntu: http://www.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/take-the-tour
Fedora: http://fedoraproject.org/en/features/#desktop


Edit: just read the other pages, I still recommend Linux for your daughter

[pzkpfw]

Edit: just read the other pages, I still recommend Linux for your daughter

Yeah, if I had more time to make sure it was all good for her, I'd consider it. But she's off in just a few days. I don't want to take the risk. The netbook ran fine for 3 years on XP, I just think that's the safest/easiest thing for her to take away.

Thanks anyway. I've got a bunch of old PC's 'round here... may well try mint just for a peek one of these days.

[Akzle]

may well try mint just for a peek one of these days.

enter SMOKEU.

[Jezxa]

Dont know why I still use windows now that I dont game anymore, just used to it i guess. Windows 7 is a very solid OS though, leagues ahead of XP.

Might try Mint when I put an SSD in my laptop. or BackTrack

[Gremlin]

Have you considered using a free Linux distro rather than using Windows? Many have a polished interface and are very user-friendly (easy to learn too) - these often can bring an old computer thriving back to life, such as your old netbook.

Tested before for users in a business network, as they used terminal server. More hassle and less functionality (rdp didn't work well either) than just using Windows. Can't remember the version, but something modern (was earlier this year).

Not really hating, but sometimes (in personal stuff as well) we just want to work with what we know and provided you look after it, Windows does just fine.

[Akzle]

provided you look after it, Windows does just fine.

can i has your install, please?

(that said, the XP on this laptop has been "stable" for a couple years now (20/04/11 @ 5:04PM) last "windows update" was about that time, too. no point in replacing the old bugs with new ones.
a fucking miracle as it used to be monthly re-installs)