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replace counterfeit XP Pro with genuine XP Home without reformat RRS feed

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    I am aged 70 plus and am not totally familiar with computer speak, but I will try to explain my predicament by explaining that I have a genuine OEM version of Windows XP Home on a disc which came with my computer.

    Recently the whole system went berserk because of what was explained as a trojan.

     I sent the box out to a have it repaired. It came back with Windows XP Pro loaded along with Firewall and anti spyware and antivirus  protection but I  had to reload all my other programs  and relace lost address books etc. Fortunately I was able to pirate data from my wife's laptop, but now I find that XP Pro system is a counterfeit version.

    Can I re-load my genuine system XP Home without having to completely reformat my computer as I am not all that flush with cash to purchase the requested $238 to regularise the XP Pro counterfeit system now on my computer? 

     

    Help Help!

    Monday, April 2, 2007 12:21 PM

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    Oakiedokie,

    The technical differences between XP Home and XP Pro prevent you from "genuinizing" a bogus installation of Pro to a genuine installation of Home without a clean installation.

     

    In such case you would use the Recovery or Reinstallation CD that came with the computer to wipe out the bogus XP Pro and replace it with XP Home.  You would want to back up and offload any data that was irreplacable before doing so because the recovery process will wipe out the contents of the user portion of the hard disk drive.

     

    Follow the computer manufacturer's directions at the support site for your make and model to learn how to run the Recovery or Reinstallation CD.

    Monday, April 2, 2007 1:28 PM

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    Oakiedokie,

    The technical differences between XP Home and XP Pro prevent you from "genuinizing" a bogus installation of Pro to a genuine installation of Home without a clean installation.

     

    In such case you would use the Recovery or Reinstallation CD that came with the computer to wipe out the bogus XP Pro and replace it with XP Home.  You would want to back up and offload any data that was irreplacable before doing so because the recovery process will wipe out the contents of the user portion of the hard disk drive.

     

    Follow the computer manufacturer's directions at the support site for your make and model to learn how to run the Recovery or Reinstallation CD.

    Monday, April 2, 2007 1:28 PM
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    Thanks Dan. I'll try to work through that I hope.

    Oakie

    Tuesday, April 3, 2007 8:15 AM
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    Dan,

    I have created a set of disaster recovery floppies (4) and backed up everything on my hard drive and a separate hard drive where I store documents photos etc.(11 DVD's in total). I feel that I have only set the path for me to reload the counterfeit operating system if I proceed any further down this track. What do you think please?

    Ken

    Tuesday, April 3, 2007 9:23 AM
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    Oakiedokie,

    If you did an image backup of the entire contents of the hard disk drive with an imaging utility such as Acronis True Image, Norton Ghost/Save and Restore, DriveImage XML, or equivalent, then Yes, your backup is a "copy" of the existing nongenuine installation of XP.

    While backing up with a disk image based program is normally a good idea, in this case we would like to somehow separate the good data to be saved from the bad operating system that we want to replace.

    Assuming the separate hard drive that you wrote about has sufficient disk space to hold whatever data that you want to preserve that is currently on the main hard drive, you could copy such data to this extra disk as the backup.  Then disconnect the separate disk from the main computer (to preclude any chance of accidentally erasing the data) and do the clean installation of your genuine XP Home.  After installation is complete, connect the separate hard disk and copy back the saved data to the main hard disk.

    Tuesday, April 3, 2007 10:04 PM