question about operating system XP Pro

tremmor

Well-Known Member
Have a computer. Had XP Pro on it. Others have played with it and still not right. Im not playing with it and make it a wipe and new install.
Question:
The key is on his tower. Can't find the disc. I have XP pro on one i bought.
Can i use this cd and install mine then use his key to activate?
thanks

Yes, all these are builds and not oem.
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Providing each one is the same like upgrade and upgrade. But won't work if one was full version and the other is upgrade version.
 

tremmor

Well-Known Member
Ok. both full XP Pro install. I'll run with it. thanks
On another note i do have a Corp ver i could use.
Full install also. Did not want to use it if not needed.
 

tremmor

Well-Known Member
have another question. Im surprised this come up. Installed a corp ver. and said it had a partition on it. I could find it in windows. rebooted with the xp pro disc now and it will format completely. It was a recovery partition and surprised he did not get the disc for what ever reason. No.....im not using a hack ver. How was i supposed to find this partition. With a boot disc? I had exited to dos from the computer. it was not there. Its not a biggie and will have it going in a few minutes. Standard xp pro 32 bit. will get all the updates. It does urk me i did not see it though. how was i supposed to get to it.
thanks
 

voyagerfan99

Master of Turning Things Off and Back On Again
Staff member
A lot of computers have a recovery partition but you don't access it from windows (it's a hidden partition). In order to use it you have to press certain key(s) on POST.
 

tremmor

Well-Known Member
Sorry.......at this point i don't have a clue. Installed XP Pro wanted to update drivers and operating system. I can't update cause i can't access the internet. I checked device manager and yellow exclamations everywhere. Sound, internet etc. Yes the motherboard is older and maybe 8 or 10 yrs. Never changed the battery and did. Im trying to download the basic drivers anyway onto cd or microdrive. I can't find them. Dead end. Its Intel motherboard D865PERL and installed XP Pro. He didn't have nothing and im stuck with it. Willing to try anyway. Need the internet working.
thankyou for any help. im lost.
 

tremmor

Well-Known Member
still confused JohnB. Which driver would i need just to get the internet working. Im not sure now. Help appreciated. I checked bios. All flash. Drivers, don't see one for internet then i could let it auto detect.
thanks
 

tremmor

Well-Known Member
this morning i installed XP Pro. went to update.microsoft.com and now says it requires SP3 updates. Whats going on here JohnB. Never seen that one before. Had after checking SP1. See SP2 but not 3 for download. Any ideas? Suspect its over or very close now for XP.
Just saying it always had just SP1 i think.
 
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johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
A lot of software require SP3 to be installed in order for the program to install correctly. It's all about security now. It's in your best interest to update to SP3 Even after updating to SP3 you will have over 100 updates to apply after that.
 

tremmor

Well-Known Member
Im saying thats why i went to update.microsoft. All the disc i have had only SP1. After i updated with SP2 i could download SP3. Thats why im there. to get the updates. It won't let me update. I don't have SP3. I have to have SP3 first. cant update.
It won't even show the updates. i don't have it. thats a first. think i said it right. If i can't update and won't take me to the screen to update i can not get SP2 or SP3. Thats where i did it at.
 
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tremmor

Well-Known Member
Its good. Thanks again and in the future. Worked perfect.
tremmor.........

Don't worry, I won't let ya get bored. I'll be back.
I promise.........
 

tremmor

Well-Known Member
Too late......its done. Been working on the snowblower and doing this at break time.
Its over now. but thanks.
And yes. was validated and all updates. I will pop on a virus program and give back and call it a day.
 

tremmor

Well-Known Member
noticed something

Went to microsoft.com and seen all the SP updates for all systems on the front page. Not at update.microsoft. Was installing security essentials.
 

tremmor

Well-Known Member
One question that bothers me. As mentioned this was a build with Intel. Had a recovery partition on it. Don't have a clue how i was supposed to access it. I suspect the other person screwed it up. Never the less does anybody have any ideas. the owner didn't know. said the boot disc didn't work. Any thoughts?
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
Usually only store bought pc's have recovery partitions but if you used a microsoft install cd then most likely the recovery partition has been wiped or the mbr has been screwed up to where you can't access it anymore.
 
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