Re-loading laptop OS

[Piff]

Number 2 son has a new laptop for Christmas & I have inherited his old one for building site office use.
This laptop got dropped a while back & became unstable. A new hard drive was inserted by a mate of his together with a dodgy copy of Vista (had Vista originally but this went with the old hard drive so Mr Gates has had his licence fee!)
Apparently the laptop is still not in the best of health, but worth a try at fixing before binning it.

2 questions:

I have an old copy of Win98 and an XP upgrade (both currently unused so legal to load). Is it just a case of booting from the Win98 disc & following on-screen instructions or is there an easy way to wipe the hard drive before the new install?

When his mate set up the new hard drive, he accidentally created an unnecessary partition. This partition is F, is 5.15gb and is labelled "primary", there is a C partition of 29.27GB which is also labelled "primary" for the operating system and a D partition of 263.67gb which is labelled "logical".
There is "Mini Tool Partition Wizard 6" installed on the machine which I guess his mate used to set up the partitions. I can't see a way with this software to merge F with D, and I have no idea if C is suitably sized to take Win98 and XP upgrade, it says it has 3.99gb unused with vista loaded.
Will these partitions dissappear if the hard disc is formatted?

 

[Dieselman]

If you do a full re-installation from CD you will be given the option to set/delete partitions.

You could reload Vista and use the licence key on the sticker as that it a paid for licence.

 

[Piff]

If you do a full re-installation from CD you will be given the option to set/delete partitions.

You could reload Vista and use the licence key on the sticker as that it a paid for licence.

Unfortunately the licence key has nearly completely worn away and I don't think we have a copy of the number - may be worth going through the old box/paperwork - I can't understand why these stickers are put on the underneath where thay are prone to damage

 

[neilz]

You can upgrade 98 to XP (How to prepare to upgrade Windows 98 or Windows Millennium Edition to Windows XP) so your method should work. I think during the installation of 98 you will be allowed to delete both partitions and let setup create a new one.

You should get a screen like this (it's an XP screenshot but back then (XP was released in 2002) setup had remained mostly unchanged from with 98):

 

[John]

If I remember rightly, you need to use the Delete Non-DOS Partition option as Windows 98 wont have a clue what an NTFS-formatted (standard in XP, Vista and 7) is.

When you create a new one, you will be limited to 32GB with FAT32, but when you then go on to install Windows XP, ensure you blast away (remove all partitions again) and install a fresh copy.

Then use NTFS to format the partition.

Academic now but legally, you are allowed to install a Windows XP equivalent (e.g. XP Home for Vista Home Premium) under your OEM downgrade rights. However, I suspect you would have needed your Vista key when you come to activate (which might still be possible if the barcode has not worn away).

 

[Piff]

Thanks guys - but may have hit another problem. Owner of the XP upgrade disc (my father) can't find the licence key for that disc. Oh how I love the way microsoft works - but their gear & then have to buy it again if you lose the licence number even if you have a legitimate original disc

 

[John]

The upgrade for XP Pro comes with a blue, green and orange card folder and the licence key is stuck in that...?

I've never seen a worn off OEM sticker before though.

If you had the old hard disk, it is possible to extract the Vista key...

Does your Vista OEM sticker have a barcode still?

 

[Piff]

The upgrade for XP Pro comes with a blue, green and orange card folder and the licence key is stuck in that...?

I've never seen a worn off OEM sticker before though.

If you had the old hard disk, it is possible to extract the Vista key...

Does your Vista OEM sticker have a barcode still?

Father is hopeless - prefers to store discs together in a "belkin wallet" & throws away original packaging

OEM sticker on bottom of laptop has the final digits ......HIN-3C69Z. there is a bar code above it but I think this is the serial number of the laptop

Old hard disc - number 1 son says

 

[Piff]

Unfortunately the licence key has nearly completely worn away and I don't think we have a copy of the number - may be worth going through the old box/paperwork - I can't understand why these stickers are put on the underneath where thay are prone to damage

Old paperwork - number 1 son says

 

[Piff]

Don't suppose I'm allowed to load my copy of XP which I have running on this desktop?

 

[John]

You are legally, as I wrote above, but I think only if you can ascertain the Vista key.

I would suggest you try phoning Microsoft licensing as they may allow you to use it anyway (i.e. they might not need the Vista key or be able to work it out from what you have left if you tell them the manufacturer etc.).

However, before you do that, it depends what you have in terms of media. If you have a proper XP disc with holograms of an equivalent version to Vista, you might be OK, but if you only have a rescue disk etc., more than likely not!

You will also have to download a lot of drivers as XP probably wont have any of them.

You might be able to buy a proper disc without key from eBay legally but I would ensure MS will allow you to downgrade first without the full key.

PS: Depending on what you want to do with it - you could install Ubuntu and OpenOffice for free instead if you are stuffed otherwise...

 

[neilz]

IF You can get the old HDD in and start up Windows Vista, there is the "Magic Jellybean" software (or something like that) which tells you the serial numbers of all software in use on your computer (including Windows)

 

[davidjpowell]

Certainly with Vista and Windows 7, some OEM suppliers have reinstall discs that do not require inputting the code. Certainly the case with a Dell where I used a downloaded install after the original media had been lost.

I did have the key, but did not need it.

 

[BTB 500]

I just did a new install of Win 7 Pro for £40, via Software4Students (you need a child of school/university age to be eligible). This was meant to only work as an upgrade from XP or Vista, but I did it on a machine with Win 7 Starter (in German!) installed. I had an XP install disk to hand as I'd been told I would need to insert it during the Win 7 installation, but never needed it.

 

[widewalt]

If you have problems activating the W7 Upgrade editions from software4students just run the installer again, from within W7, and it will 'upgrade' that copy so that you can activate it without any problems.

Going for W98 limits the applications, specially security ones, that you will be able to run. Millennium - run for the hills!

XP is fine but again you may have driver problems, driverguide.com is usually a good source for obscure drivers.

You could also try installing Belarc Advisor as I think this one can 'dig out' the correct Vista key as the likes of Jelly Bean (very good) has its limitations with Vista and W7 licence keys.

Another option, bit dodgy so use with caution, nip into PissyWorld and take a snap of the W7 licence key or find a friend with Vista and grab a snap of his key. Automatic online activation will probably fail so just use the telephone activation method and Robert's your father's brother.

 

[neilz]

Try Windows 2000 - dirt cheap on eBay and so fast. Will run 99.9% of modern software (not Office 2007 or newer, though)

 

[John]

Millennium - run for the hills!

It's funny because I've heard a lot of people say this historically, and whilst I don't doubt people's experiences with it, I found it to be the best "W9x" Windows there was.

However, I did cheat and found out very quickly how to strip out System Restore, which made it run like a dog.

I had my Pentium III 1GHz machine at the time booting in 13 seconds and was ultra stable!

Try Windows 2000 - dirt cheap on eBay and so fast. Will run 99.9% of modern software (not Office 2007 or newer, though)

It will run like the proverbial off a shovel with W2K but I wouldn't recommend this as it has dropped off the extended support phase now - unless the computer is not used on the Internet. No new security patches are exactly what nasties try to take advantage of in the absence of social engineering opportunities.

I'd consider a genuine Windows XP Pro Upgrade CD off eBay. I sold one and it made £25.

 

[Piff]

Update

 

[Piff]

Update - Father found his XP folder with the license key.
Son returns to uni tomorrow so there is a chance we may find the old hard disc with the legal copy of Vista when we hose out his room, or it may be in his room at uni.

The win 7 for £40 on a student licence is tempting, but I'm not sure this laptop is worth spending any money on!

I though I would try activating the illegal vista by trying the XP licence key. First character R - R doesn't work on the keyboard. Tried the rest and QEUIOP don't work either!
Looks like this is heading for the bin!

 

[removed]

Would it be completely out of order to suggest either Ubuntu or Linux Mint (if keeping the Windows-type interface is desirable)? No headache with licensing stuff - it's free legally, miles ahead in terms of security and reliability, fun to use and comes with everything you might need (or it's available to download for free too).

It might sounds daft, but I honestly do not understand why people use an inferior, expensive OS, when there are freely available ones of incomparably higher quality?