Operating System ?

[caveman16]

     Me again - - -  Today was my store day.    We pick up our neighbor and make a day of it in Murphy  , 17 miles down the road.    While in Wal-mart I wanted to  "price" the Windows XP home edition .  Hey  - - -  They don't have it  - -   what they did  have was an upgrade with SP 2.          

     There is so much I don't know  and I just keep right on stumblin'  on to such things as this.     Where do I get the Win-XP . OS        

     Today will be 10 days since I've been  "cramming"  on how to build a PC  - - -  I'm sure there's so much more to learn I'll be doing it  "on the job"   BUT  only with your help.

     As always  - -   appreciate your help and patience,      caveman

[Brett_Henderson]

If you have a Windows "anything" CD.. you can buy and install the XP upgrade. It's really a complete XP.. it will just ask you to insert an old Windows CD during the install.. OR.. you can install the "upgrade" onto any HDD that has Windows on it at the time..  OR.. you can get the guy who runs a small shop near you to sell you an OEM copy of XP.. OR.. if you buy enough hardware from him.. he might just GIVE you a Windows 98 CD (that might get into a legal grey area, so I'll leave it at that)... OR.. when you order your parts online, you can buy them as a system and get XP with it..

[caveman16]

     Good Morning  Brett, and all you Guys and Ladies.

     Appreciate your input  Brett but I wish to re-word my question.    I'm building a  new PC from PARTS.   It.s not an upgrade I'm needing.   This box of assembled PARTS wont know how to think or act like a PC  until I put a  "brain" into it.   The "brain I want in it is Windows XP  w/SP2.      I don't know where to BUY that program.

   Sorry  that I  just assumed everyone knew I was building a "new PC"  and didn't  word my question correct.   Please bear with me.            caveman

[Brett_Henderson]

I knew that

[caveman16]

     Hey Brett,     I sure hope that you're smiling at me being soooo dense.    ;D      I don't have  windows anything .   The PC ,     I have now  - - -  came with that installed  and  it also came with the  three disk for  restoring  "THAT"  PC  ONLY  - -   and  only if needed.    I wont even try to use those disk on a new system.      [  I'm sorta  square  I  guess ]  

      On the "box" of that winxp-upgrade, - - It states that I must have already installed win98 /etc / etc.     THAT'S what I'm looking for.      Brett,   I'm so new at this  I'm probley not understanding   your advise.     My  "name" explains much - -      forgive me.        caveman

[caveman16]

     Another thought I overlooked to mention  - - -  I also want  "THOSE  RESTORE"  disk should  I ever need to reformat  the system.    caveman

[Brett_Henderson]

No worries... I'm pretty dense myself..

You can go ahead and order/buy a retail copy of XPpro for about $240..

[MWISimmer]

An OEM copy of windows MUST stay with the PC it was installed on.
A Retail version can be transferred from PC to PC but may only be used on one PC at a time.
On a side note, you may change all the peripherals except the mainboard when using the OEM version, as a mainboard is classed as the "Heart" of the PC, ie change cpu, RAM, graphics, even HDD. Change the mainboard, buy a new licence.
Confused?
Yep, so am I!
Rob.

[Brett_Henderson]

I do remember repairing a computer for a guy who had an OEM...  The repair was pretty much a rebuild (new build) including a new main-board. I had to get on the phone with M$ and get a new activation number.. no charge.

[MWISimmer]

That's the keyword, Brett, REPAIR.
Had it been an upgrade, then a new licence would have been required.
If one can prove the mainboard was beyond repair...wrong BIOS flash etc, then MS will re-activate.
Rob.

[Brett_Henderson]

Yeah..and I suppose if you keep it to one a year .. you can probably get away with it.

If Vista wasn't just around the corner.. a retail copy wouldn't be the worst purchase decision in the world.. Since it is due out in a year or so.. I'm gonna still recommend buying an OEM copy of XP..

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[congo]

It's a much better idea to install a full XP edition than to upgrade. You don't need XP pro version, XP home is fine.

[Delta_]

An OEM copy of windows MUST stay with the PC it was installed on.
A Retail version can be transferred from PC to PC but may only be used on one PC at a time.
On a side note, you may change all the peripherals except the mainboard when using the OEM version, as a mainboard is classed as the "Heart" of the PC, ie change cpu, RAM, graphics, even HDD. Change the mainboard, buy a new licence.
Confused?
Yep, so am I!
Rob.

On a full version (non-OEM) you can change the motherboard.  I did it just 5 weeks ago and XP installed fine onto my formatted hdd.

[Brett_Henderson]

It's a much better idea to install a full XP edition than to upgrade. You don't need XP pro version, XP home is fine.

If you mean:

[congo]

You can format the drive and do a brand-new, complete, NTFS, XP install with the "upgrade" CD. You just gotta have an old Windows CD handy.. pop it in when asked.. it gets spat right back out and on you go..

Ahh, I didn't know that