I recently bought a HP laptop and it came with Windows XP Professional w/ SP2. I have another XP Pro cd though it doesn't have SP2 on it, and i'd like to reformat my desktop, can i use the XP Pro Sp2 CD that came with the laptop on my desktop machine? It's not a recovery CD it's the actually OS the rest of the applications etc for HP are on a application DVD. Thanks
If its a restore disk of xp pro with service pack 2 its for your notebook only. If its a bonified microsoft xp sp2 cd no way you can use it, because when you registered the os with microsoft your notebook hardware picture is what's online with microsoft servers. As soon as you tried to register that copy with your desktop, microsoft servers will recognize the difference and deny the installation. Talk about big brother, you can thank software piracy thieves for Microsofts's stance! You can no longer get service pack 2 alone unless you have a legit copy of the os not installed on any other pc.
Ok, Thats werid, i know of a few people who have Win XP Sp2 and are able to install it on more than one machine and are able to activate and validate etc. It's not a recovery CD. It's the actually OS, the applications and other stuff are on another DVD.
Is it a HP OEM copy of xp. Usually with brand specific oem disks you can't it activated on other non HP computers.
Well, it certainly doesn't look like the Windows XP cd you buy. It's a grey cd with white background and it says "Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 2". I haven't actually formated the laptop yet, i might format it and see what the installation puts on. Spoke to a mate of mine who has the same laptop and said he used the HP XP pro sp2 cd to reformat his desktop and says it works. So i guess it does work? Makes it so much easier than installing SP2 after.
I think if you use the Xp SP2 disk that came with your laptop, for installing on the Desktop PC, you just won't have any problems. Just remember to give your original CD key (that came with your non SP2 Windows disk), at the time of installation. Otherwise download SP2, and nLite and make a slipstream CD with your old non SP2 Windows disk, burn the iso on another disk, and you have a new SP2 cd. Download SP2 nLite
Download ServicePack2 separately and merge it with your XP. (See Microsoft site for detailed instructions) Create an ISO and burn it on a media. From now on, you are the owner of the brand new WindowsXP with ServicePack 2 included
A brand new copy for every computer system ? Just like every a brand new car for every driver's licence ? That concept works for Bill's pocket, and only. I prefer to stick to my own policy that works much better for my wallet, instead
