About 4 months ago I purchased a refurbished IBM Lenovo ThinkPad from an official reseller. It was pre-installed with Windows XP Pro but didn't include an installation disc or any recovery software for a clean install. Is there a way I could get an installation disc of XP Pro from IBM seeing that I own the license and so I should be entiled to a registered copy?
well considering you OWN the key. i think its within your rights to borrow and copy a friends copy of XP Pro. MS makes their money off of licenses, not discs sold... correct me if i'm wrong, but since you own it already, you are entitled to 'ONE COPY FOR BACKUP PURPOSES' so that could be your one copy...
I probably would have tried this if I hadn't bought the laptop online. @engage16 how would you suggest I get my hands on a copy of XP Pro. In other words are you saying I could essentially use anyone's XP Pro disc since I have a license? In that case my best option is to use someone's 'restore' disc because somebody always has a bunch of those laying around but, the problem is they're usually configured for that person's specific computer (drivers, BIOS, etc), e.g. like those Dell PCs loaded with 'bloat-ware' applications! Are these disc types free reign too? Or is it better to get an OEM (which will be helluva difficult)?
the best restore disks are the ones from custom online builders such as cyberpower, ibuypower... , they have nice copies of the OS without all the bloatware...
again go to your computer store.tell them your disk wont work.ask them for a copy.take said copy and install with your license key.eh voila.
check to see if the recovery disk is in your hd. at the post screen it will say press f11 or something like that to do a system recovery.
