raffy Posted July 28, 2009 Report Share Posted July 28, 2009 So I'm trying to put in a clean copy of XP Media Center on my Mom's Acer laptop (her current installation is kinda jacked) and I can't figure out quite how to do it. I'm very familiar with putting together a PC and installing OS from scratch but my biggest challenge here is finding a XP Media Center disc without actually buying one. I still have the product key, it's on the sticker under the laptop. So the million dollar question is: how/where do I get/buy a Windows XP installation disc without the product key (which I already have)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkam Posted July 28, 2009 Report Share Posted July 28, 2009 You can call up Acer they should be willing to send you one for $10-$15 or so. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raffy Posted July 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2009 thanks for the advice....unfortunately according to Acer, recovery media is not available anymore for this laptop. Perhaps because it is almost 3 years old and Microsoft has halted support for Windows XP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkam Posted July 28, 2009 Report Share Posted July 28, 2009 Time to just find an OEM copy of XP to buy and use that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raffy Posted July 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2009 (edited) Time to just find an OEM copy of XP to buy and use that. Looks like that's the only way to do this....thank God Windows XP OEM discs are not as expensive as Vista. Edited July 28, 2009 by n_maher Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n_maher Posted July 28, 2009 Report Share Posted July 28, 2009 I have a copy of Vista home basic you can have for $15 if you want it Raffy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raffy Posted July 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2009 I have a copy of Vista home basic you can have for $15 if you want it Raffy. Thanks Nate. Let me ask her is she still wants me to mess around with her laptop...she wanted me to a few weeks ago but hasn't complained since. Do you think an AMD Turion 64 X2 and 1GB of RAM will be able to handle Vista Basic? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkam Posted July 28, 2009 Report Share Posted July 28, 2009 1gig of ram is kinda pushing it for Vista, even if you turn off all the visual effects and basically make it look like XP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raffy Posted July 28, 2009 Author Report Share Posted July 28, 2009 Maybe it's time for another gig of ram then. Off to Newegg I go! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n_maher Posted July 28, 2009 Report Share Posted July 28, 2009 What Todd said, 2G would be better. But at least this is a fresh never installed version that you could then roll into a Win7 edition upgrade in a few months. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crappyjones123 Posted July 28, 2009 Report Share Posted July 28, 2009 i have a few different copies of vista licenses + xp tablet 2005 edition + windows 7 rc. no charge. i get them for free through msdnaa. just pay for shipping and i can send over the dvd/cd by thursday/friday. take a look at the following. the flagged names are ones that i have already used up. unflagged ones are what i can get licenses for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
socrates63 Posted July 30, 2009 Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 In case raffy goes looking for an OEM copy of XP, just make sure you get XP Media Center Edition as plain ol' XP doesn't have Media Center component built in. I'm not sure your XP MCE key will activate regular XP. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron_Dreamer Posted July 30, 2009 Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 I had a similar situation recently. Bittorrent is your friend. It's not piracy, since you'd be registering it with the keycode already on the laptop. You can find the ISO file to make yourself a new XP MCE SP3 CD, and have it ready to go in an hour or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkam Posted July 30, 2009 Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 Yeah but depending on the ISO his Acer key won't work. For example OEM keys don't work with the retail iso and vice versa... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron_Dreamer Posted July 30, 2009 Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 So look for an OEM ISO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkam Posted July 30, 2009 Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 thats what i get for being too general . in some case keys only work with vendor specific oem discs/iso's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
n_maher Posted July 30, 2009 Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 Yeah, I think the correct translation of Todd's comment is: Finding an iso that will work with your key is a crapshoot and will depend on a multitude of factors, i.e. don't hold your breath. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherwood Posted July 30, 2009 Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 i.e. I'm 0 for 3 on this route so far. I currently own no windows computer whose registration key for the OS is the same as what's printed on the sticker. Looks like it's time to start saving backup discs, eh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iron_Dreamer Posted July 30, 2009 Report Share Posted July 30, 2009 M$ Windows XP PRO MCE SP3 MULTI OEM Se7en Style EYE CANDY (06 14 2009) : Software > Windows - Other - Mininova Have fun. Worked for the HP I used it on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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