Hi, i am doing a reformat of my computer. I currently have Windows XP media center edition, service pack 2. I don't have the install disc for this. i only have the install disc for windows XP professional. I have the install key/serial number for Media center edition. Would the key/serial number work with XP professional? Also I used Norton to make a back up DVD. Does Norton backup my driver? If not how do i back them up? Thanks in advance guys!
your ssn for media center will not work with windows xp pro, also what drivers are you talking about?
The drivers for like my CD/DVD drve and my Nvida Drive etc. Is it possible to download windows media iso somewhere?
sorry for the double post but have another question. i also have the windows xp media center edition 2005 service pack 2 cd but i only have the serial number for windows XP media center 2002 service pack 2. will the serial number work with 2005? thanks again.
In short the serials are locked to their original install cd so no you can't just use an copy or iso Question: Why do you not have the cd for 2002 mce,if you own an hp or other factory made comp it will have come with a recovery partition there will also be an option to make recovery disks in the all progs list under pc help & tools or some other such wording,if it's an hp push F10 on reboot to start recovery options or F8 ? for other makers. Your driver backup will be unecessary as most of your hardware will be detected & installed on reboot the only driver if any that you'll need will be for graphics card which you can get from it's home site,drivers for pc's are standardised which makes it easy to install new hardware. Norton backup ? if you have ghost usethat instead to make future backups of your completed hdd,help can be got here http://radified.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl
my PC is a gateway and it has 2002 on it right now. Also i don't think serials are locked to one cd because i have done this before and used a friends disc and serial and it worked. i just don't have the disc anymore.i don't know what i would do because i wont be able to install windows without the xp disc.
you may well have done that before,but the serial from an older version will not work in a newer version.
you may well have done that before,but the serial from an older version will not work in a newer version.
Oh ok i gotcha. Well i think i resolved my problem i called gateway and they are sending me recover discs, so will this help me? I will be able to reformat with these discs. right?
Yes,recovery disks will re-install system back to factory shipped condition with all drivers & software for that particular make & model of machine, the only drivers you may need to add after hardware detection on xp boot will be any added graphics cards,firewire,dvd burner etc,basicly any software that you added after you originally bought the machine to either enhance extra hardware that is not original,it'll be failry straight forward. I was'nt aware it was possable to use an xp disk on another machine with a different serial that's good to know, so long as it's SP1 or SP2 respectivley
Ok, well thanks for all your help guys, much appreciated. I'll be getting those disc in 3-5 days so hopefully everything goes ok.
