XP not confirmed as legitimate

[mick094m]

Hi

Need a bit of advice I run two computers ,this one for the internet with a legitimate home edition,my other one is used for my digital images,recntly I bought a sata hard drive off ebay that was supposed to have a working edition ofXP Pro installed, Ias I never ever went on the internet with that PC it never entered my head to find out ,just assumed it was legitemate.

Then last week I had problems with this PC( Blue Screen) so whilst I was finding out how to solve the problem I needed access to the internet so decided to use my other one to order items from another supplier on the internet,a screen popped up about checking software,as I assumed it was legite I just clicked on it not worried about it as I assumed Iwas ok,then it showed that the operating system was not.

I need to get that PC working without losing anything of that hard drive,I have since purchased a legit copy of XP pro and was thinkng of installing it on to an IDE hard drive in the hope that it will become the master boot hard drive,or install the legit copy on the boot sata ending up with 2 operating systems ,then uninstall the one that is not legit,I cannot install another sata as I have another 3 that I use for storing my editing photgrapghic images,maybe if I can find out what is on these there may be enough space to install the new operating system,

Any advice on what to do without losing my data would be very much appreciated.

[submix8c]

Make sure the one you want to install to is the Primary. Boot to the Legit CD. Choose "Install". The current OpSys (on the HDD) will be detected. Choose "Repair" (maybe Upgrade, depending on what's already there) and go. Do-Not choose "Repair" on the first screen(s).

Since you now have a Legit, you can Upgrade (and perhaps "fix") the XP Home -OR- "overlay" the "bad" one with the Legit. One or the other...

(OR wipe the "bad" one and install "clean" on a new HDD - all your choice.)

Edited March 21, 2010 by submix8c

[Sp0iLedBrAt]

And contact the people that sold you the bad XP copy and make a big fuss

[mick094m]

Make sure the one you want to install to is the Primary. Boot to the Legit CD. Choose "Install". The current OpSys (on the HDD) will be detected. Choose "Repair" (maybe Upgrade, depending on what's already there) and go. Do-Not choose "Repair" on the first screen(s).

Since you now have a Legit, you can Upgrade (and perhaps "fix") the XP Home -OR- "overlay" the "bad" one with the Legit. One or the other...

(OR wipe the "bad" one and install "clean" on a new HDD - all your choice.)

Don't want to wipe the bad one as there are my important programmes on it just want to get rid of the bad operating system,was thinking of conecting to the internet again and explaining to Microsoft the situation that I was mislead and was not waare of it being a rogue copy,will try to root out who it was but it was awhile ago ,as I said been using that PC for ages just for digitl imaging along iwth all the other sata drives ,they are new ones don't know if they have been effected the same way,just want to get a legit operating system up and running to then investigate if any further damage has been done,if I cannot access my images stored on the other drives then there will be trouble for the person who sold it as they are very important ones ,and will be reporting them to ebay for all the good that will do,they don't seem to be bothered, just take peoples money

[Ponch]

I bought a sata hard drive off ebay that was supposed to have a working edition ofXP Pro installed

You have to understand that a there is no such thing as a legit working XP on a hard drive, it will be legit or not depending on the computer in which the drive is installed.

It's a bit like I was selling you the legit key of my car. I can swear it's legit, it won't help you.

Now for your problem, it should not be that difficult to reinstall XP from your copy over the system that's got halted by MS's checks. You just need to get your technical description clearer, I got lost somewhere.

[jaclaz]

You have to understand that a there is no such thing as a legit working XP on a hard drive, it will be legit or not depending on the computer in which the drive is installed.

Well, no, it depends on the actual License, there can be allright a legit XP on a hard drive, what you are saying only applies to OEM versions, and only to some of them.

jaclaz

[Ponch]

there can be allright a legit XP on a hard drive, what you are saying only applies to OEM versions, and only to some of them.

I assumed "working XP" was meant as "a running XP"... which involve your ability to reactivate the OS put in other hardware to keep it running.