Help reinstalling windows on Lenovo z61m
- 0Hi:
I have a legit product key to windows xp that came with my laptop, a lenovo z61m. Recently I reformatted the drive, and have now been reading about errors when activating that copy of windows xp. The Lenovo laptop did not come with a recovery disk, or a reinstallation disk. So I downloaded a copy via the internet, claiming to be OEM. I had to work my way around with this copy to get it to boot, by slipstreaming SATA/RAID drivers onto it. So the cd I am using is slightly altered. Now I plan to use the Windows XP product key that came with the laptop with the dowloaded and altered Windows CD. Any problems I face? What are the solutions?
Answers
- 0
DanLeClair,
Thank you for visiting the Microsoft Genuine Advantage Forum. The purpose of this forum is the support of Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) program. Your question is off topic as well as outside my area of knowledge. I would like to provide some information which may help. There are two types of licenses for XP that consumers will encounter, retail (aka full packaged product), and OEM (original equipment manufacturer).
Retail licenses may be moved from one computer to another, as long as the license is activated on one computer at a time and as long as the previous installation of the license is removed from the previously licensed computer.
OEM licenses for XP are tied to the first computer onto which they are installed and the license is not permitted to be moved on any other computer. For the purposes of defining what a computer is, since a computer is really just a collection of parts, Microsoft has established that the motherboard is the base or "defining" component, and the OEM license is permanently tied to the motherboard.
You will need to contact Lenovo as Carey has mentioned above for the recovery/reinstallation cd's because of the end user license agreement that is tied with the laptop itself.
I hope this has helped,
Lori MS
All Replies
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The OEM product key affixed to your Lenovo laptop is only valid with Lenovo's genine factory recovery or reinstallation disk. You'll need to contact Lenovo support and request a genuine replacement disk. Microsoft does not support, naturally, any Windows installation using files illegally downloaded from the 'net.
How to Replace Lost, Broken, or Missing Microsoft Software or Hardware
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/326246/en-gb
