Solve : used laptop with no OS?

1.	Solve : used laptop with no OS?
Answer» Hi all I have an used Dell latitude my wife bought from work and they wiped the drive CLEAN before selling. My ? is I have an xp upgrade packet (NEW) how can I load this without having 98 2000 or me or do I need to buy a complete xp pack? Someone had told me to find an 98 2000 or me disk and load that first but I am not into hacked programs too much trouble!!Have you tried contacting Dell for recovery software for this laptop? The recovery software will install the OS and all software installed on that laptop as it was shipped from the factory. The recovery software is relatively inexpensive...legal...and you can use your XP upgrade CD, if the laptop can handle it.The other option is to locate or use a Win98SE or Win2K CD . They do not have to be installed ...at some point it will ask for an upgrade path and you simply insert the older OS CD and it will continue the install. These need to be legit CD's with a reg. # however for this to work properly. You will need to spend some time at Dell's SITE and collect that machines drivers prior to this to insure a hassle FREE install....just travel to Dell's site and enter the service tag # from the laptop and it should list all the neccessary drivers... Does this machine have enough horsepower for XP ? ?An XP upgrade disk looks for a qualifying product. Windows 98 is such a product. However, it doesn't look for a complete Windows 98 installation. Old hands know that it looks for one file: c:\windows\win.com. If it doesn't find that, it asks you to insert a Windows 98/ME disk to prove that you own a qualifying product. You don't actually have to install the whole qualifying OS. Of course it would only be legal for you to install Windows 98 DOS 7 onto a hard drive and put win.com in c:\windows IF you actually owned the qualifying product, so don't break the law, folks! (If you live in the States I mean. Microsoft EULAs are not legal in many COUNTRIES.)Quote from: Dias de verano on May 31, 2008, 08:59:59 AM Old hands know that it looks for one file: c:\windows\win.com. Dias, Thanks for the reminder. I was trying to remember the name of the file as I was reading through the thread. win.com was it! Anyway, as I remember, it may not be necessary to get the original win.com file. I think you can simply rename any old file to win.com and it will pass the test. (It doesn't even have to be in a folder named windows either). Just put it on a floppy, CD, or usb drive that is available when needed. Of course, you should use this trick only if you already own a copy of Win98. Quote from: llmeyer1000 on June 01, 2008, 01:17:43 PM Of course, you should use this trick only if you already own a copy of Win98. Of course! Have you ever considered running a linux distro on this machine? They are free and if you dont want to buy a windows CD then you could have a free O.S. on the machine untill you decide to install windows. http://www.linux.org/dist/ my favorite is http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download

Answer»

Hi all I have an used Dell latitude my wife bought from work and they wiped the drive CLEAN before selling. My ? is I have an xp upgrade packet (NEW) how can I load this without having 98 2000 or me or do I need to buy a complete xp pack? Someone had told me to find an 98 2000 or me disk and load that first but I am not into hacked programs too much trouble!!Have you tried contacting Dell for recovery software for this laptop?

The recovery software will install the OS and all software installed on that laptop as it was shipped from the factory.

The recovery software is relatively inexpensive...legal...and you can use your XP upgrade CD, if the laptop can handle it.The other option is to locate or use a Win98SE or Win2K CD .
They do not have to be installed ...at some point it will ask for an upgrade path and you simply insert the older OS CD and it will continue the install.
These need to be legit CD's with a reg. # however for this to work properly.

You will need to spend some time at Dell's SITE and collect that machines drivers prior to this to insure a hassle FREE install....just travel to Dell's site and enter the service tag # from the laptop and it should list all the neccessary drivers...

Does this machine have enough horsepower for XP ? ?An XP upgrade disk looks for a qualifying product. Windows 98 is such a product. However, it doesn't look for a complete Windows 98 installation. Old hands know that it looks for one file: c:\windows\win.com. If it doesn't find that, it asks you to insert a Windows 98/ME disk to prove that you own a qualifying product. You don't actually have to install the whole qualifying OS.

Of course it would only be legal for you to install Windows 98 DOS 7 onto a hard drive and put win.com in c:\windows IF you actually owned the qualifying product, so don't break the law, folks! (If you live in the States I mean. Microsoft EULAs are not legal in many COUNTRIES.)Quote from: Dias de verano on May 31, 2008, 08:59:59 AM

Old hands know that it looks for one file: c:\windows\win.com.

Dias, Thanks for the reminder. I was trying to remember the name of the file as I was reading through the thread. win.com was it!

Anyway, as I remember, it may not be necessary to get the original win.com file. I think you can simply rename any old file to win.com and it will pass the test. (It doesn't even have to be in a folder named windows either). Just put it on a floppy, CD, or usb drive that is available when needed.

Of course, you should use this trick only if you already own a copy of Win98. Quote from: llmeyer1000 on June 01, 2008, 01:17:43 PM

Of course, you should use this trick only if you already own a copy of Win98.

Of course!
Have you ever considered running a linux distro on this machine? They are free and if you dont want to buy a windows CD then you could have a free O.S. on the machine untill you decide to install windows.

http://www.linux.org/dist/

my favorite is http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download

Solve : used laptop with no OS?

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