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I have an eMachines computer that came pre-installed with Win XP Home Edition. The motherboard went belly up, i have a new one and some other parts on order to get it up and running again and have a few questions.
Ok, my computer came with a Win XP Home "restore CD" that only works with the mobo that came with my busted computer, because of the chipset and driver issues, I know that... My first question is, is it possible to separate the cabinet files from the restore CD and load ONLY Win XP Home onto the HDD (quick point to make: I am replacing the stock HDD with a completely new one, Seagate Barracuda ES 320GB drive so it will be completely blank...) without the drivers for the busted mobo?
If not, I am wanting to get Win XP Pro OEM VERSION for the added business apps it has, and I want to know, aside from the obvious price difference, what is the difference between the OEM version and the retail version?
Is it an issue with the licensing? An important point i should make is that I am not technically a "system builder" but I do possess enough know-how to rebuild my system from a hardware standpoint. Since I do not have a volume license, if I installed Win XP Pro, then registered it with the COA code, IF for some reason I had to reinstall it at a later time, would the COA code still be good (ie. could it be re-used by me on the same computer, or on a different computer if the same thing happened like the mobo went out again) and would it still be eligible for updates from Microsoft?
Or is it a one shot deal, one install, one time to register it and that's it if I have to reinstall it again I'm screwed by Microsoft?
Hope I was clear enough I tend to ramble sometimes,. thxs in advance to all who can help me clear this up. ^^
We are the Borg...
Resistance is futile....
DVD's will be assimilated...
Protection is irrelevant. This message has been edited since posting. Last time this message was edited on 7. February 2007 @ 14:06
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