XP Home

[hawkida]

I have a computer that went screwy after the last XP update. It no longer boots, not even in safe mode (It constantly cycles after blue screening so fast I can't read the error, or in safe mode it gets stuck after loading "mup.sys" and does nothing). So I want to boot it from a CD and tell it to do a repair. Except I don't actually have an XP disk. I do have a legit XP serial for the machine and I was under the impression that I could download the software legally from Microsoft themselves. Well, if I can, they're making it bloody difficult to work out how. Best I can find is some version that's suitable for putting on floppy disks. Am I wrong? Do I have to search my entire house in the hope of finding an XP disk, or go down the dodgy torrents route? Or am I just failing to see something that's right under my nose?

Comments

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

I would run a Linux Live CD to check that the hardware is ok. It might also be worth using it to transfer any data off that hard disk.

It may be that an XP disc "repair" may work, but then again it may not.

[hawkida.livejournal.com]

There's no useful data on the disk, but it runs XP Home tablet version and had a whole bunch of interesting freebie software on it, too. It's a Fizzbook Spin and it was cute and handy until Microsoft killed it...

[alexmc.livejournal.com]

> XP Home tablet version

I didn't even know that existed! You may find that you will need an XP CD specifically for the tablet edition before it will repair.



PS As an aside I found that http://ninite.com/ can be helpful in installing a bunch of windows freebie applications with just a few clicks.

[hawkida.livejournal.com]

The license sticker on the machine says it's an XP home license. I think the tablet stuff is hidden in there somewhere on xp home disks anyway and just doesn't install on non-tablet machines.

I don't need ninite, I only want VLC and Firefox on top of what came with the machine.