 AnnmariePuppy Mills Breed SufferingAMAM
join:2000-11-11
kudos:7
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| [Vista] New machine but recycled Vista I searched this forum but found only fragments of my question so forgive me if I missed the answers all together.
I am semi- retiring my old Dell computer which currently runs Vista Ultimate. It is maxed out at 1G of memory and limps along but ...
My son gave me his super fast 2 year old machine. This will become my new computer. 
I have the original Vista Ultimate disk that MS sent me for being a beta tester.
My plan is to use that disk as the OS for my "new" computer. That computer has no OS whatsoever. My son formatted the HD.
Question 1: I searched MS site and found this info:
»windowshelp.microsoft.com/Window···033.mspx
Will I ever need to activate my current copy of Windows again?
Maybe. You might have to activate Windows again if:
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You uninstall Windows on one computer and install it on another. During installation, enter the product key that came with your copy of Windows. If automatic activation fails, follow the instructions that walk you through activating Windows by phone. You will have 30 days to activate your copy of Windows.
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You make a significant hardware change to your computer, such as upgrading the hard disk and memory at the same time. If a major hardware change requires activating Windows again, you will be notified and will have three days to activate your copy of Windows.
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You reformat your hard disk. Reformatting erases your activation status. In this case, you’ll have 30 days to activate Windows again.
•
A virus infects your computer and deletes your activation status.
If you have to activate Windows again, you don't need to buy a new product key.
To activate Windows on this computer, do the following:
Open Windows Activation by clicking the Start button Picture of the Start button, clicking Computer, clicking Properties, and then clicking Click here to activate Windows now. Administrator permission required If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
Is that the recommended procedure to do what I want AND will I have some time with Vista on both computers to make sure all is well? Does the 30 reactivation apply here? I am currently in the process of backing up all data to an external HD but want a bit of time before I deactivate/reactivate Vista just in case something goes wrong or I change my mind.
Question 2: my old Dell came with and still has XP on a second drive for dual booting. I will continue using that computer for running Folding @ Home.
What is the proper way to format the drive that had Vista and only run the drive that contains XP?
I KNOW there is a recommended program to do this but for the life of me I cannot remember what was previously recommended by MSeng.
And last but not least do I have to rename anything on my network? I am thinking I can leave my old Dell as Annmarie's Dell and simply name the new computer whatever. |
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 denb45Premium
join:2001-02-04
Albuquerque, NM | I think form what you posted, you've already answered your own question |
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AnnmariePuppy Mills Breed SufferingAMAM
join:2000-11-11
kudos:7 | I think I have a plan except for the last paragraph. Still not remembering what to use for that. |
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 KilroyPremium,MVM
join:2002-11-21
Ann Arbor, MI | As long as you one use each name once on the network it doesn't matter how you handle it. So, you can leave the old one with the name it has and name the new one whatever you want, provided it isn't a name that is already in use on your network.
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When will the people realize that with DRM they aren't purchasing anything? |
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AnnmariePuppy Mills Breed SufferingAMAM
join:2000-11-11
kudos:7 Reviews:
·Optimum Online
Host:
Electronics
| reply to Annmarie
Just in case:
"What is the proper way to format the drive that had Vista and only run the drive that contains XP on the old Dell?
I KNOW there is a recommended program to do this but for the life of me I cannot remember what was previously recommended by MSeng." |
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KilroyPremium,MVM
join:2002-11-21
Ann Arbor, MI | To totally wipe a drive you want Darik's Boot and Nuke. I have had issues with it and SATA drives, but it has always worked fine for me with IDE drives. Boot and Nuke will remove everything from the drive.
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When will the people realize that with DRM they aren't purchasing anything? |
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AnnmariePuppy Mills Breed SufferingAMAM
join:2000-11-11
kudos:7 | OK. I have two separate physical drives - one with Vista and one with XP.
If I run that app on the Vista drive then the computer will simply boot to the other drive and other OS? with the Vista drive being clean as a whistle? |
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 MattAll noise, no signal.Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
kudos:12 | said by Annmarie:OK. I have two separate physical drives - one with Vista and one with XP. If I run that app on the Vista drive then the computer will simply boot to the other drive and other OS? with the Vista drive being clean as a whistle? How do you boot now? Does your system boot to the Vista drive and you are presented with a menu? Do you have to change the system boot drive in the BIOS to boot XP or Vista? Did you answer this already and I missed it? |
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AnnmariePuppy Mills Breed SufferingAMAM
join:2000-11-11
kudos:7 Reviews:
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1 edit | The system boots to a black screen ( I know it has some official name) and I am asked where do I want to boot to - Vista or earlier version of Windows.
I have chosen Vista for about a year now. No use for XP anymore.
Vista is on one physical drive and XP is on another physical drive just to clarify.
I think this is what was recommended to me a while back VistaBootPro »www.vistabootpro.org/ |
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MattAll noise, no signal.Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
kudos:12 | said by Annmarie:The system boots to a black screen ( I know it has some official name) and I am asked where do I want to boot to - Vista or earlier version of Windows. I have chosen Vista for about a year now. No use for XP anymore. Vista is on one physical drive and XP is on another physical drive just to clarify. That sounds like the Vista bootloader is installed. If you wipe the Vista drive and it's the drive that holds the bootloader, you won't be able to boot to either OS. Do you have any idea if Vista is on the first physical drive or the second? Normally the bootloader will be installed to the first physical drive that is installed.
Can you open the disk manager (in XP or Vista) by right-clicking on Computer and choosing Manage, go to Disk Management and post a screenshot here? That will help us determine exactly how the drives are set up and shouldn't expose any private information. |
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AnnmariePuppy Mills Breed SufferingAMAM
join:2000-11-11
kudos:7 Reviews:
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Host:
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| Boot is listed on the Vista Ultimate drive after I followed your steps.
That program VistaBootPro has a feature to change the boot order. |
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MattAll noise, no signal.Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
kudos:12
1 edit | said by Annmarie:Boot is listed on the Vista Ultimate drive after I followed your steps. That program VistaBootPro has a feature to change the boot order. As is typical for Microsoft, the boot partition and the system partition are interchanged. The "system" partition actually holds the boot sector, ntldr and the files required to start the Windows boot process, which is done from the boot partition. The "boot" partition actually holds the Windows system files and is where your \Windows directory lives. Makes perfect sense no? 
So, I would recommend you perform a full backup of your system, preferably with a disk imaging program, and the try the VistaBootPro, or just wipe the Vista partition. Another good sign is that your Vista partition is showing up as D: and your XP is showing up as C:. You were booted into Vista when you took that screen shot right?
(EDIT)
Here's a little more explanation of the Boot/System mess: »en.wikipedia.org/wiki/System_par···artition |
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AnnmariePuppy Mills Breed SufferingAMAM
join:2000-11-11
kudos:7 Reviews:
·Optimum Online
Host:
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| I was booted into Vista - yes.
XP is on a separate drive which I have labeled C. It is a small drive.
Vista is on another much larger drive which I have partitioned for various types of files and the partition that holds Vista is D.
I simply want to run XP on that machine. Nothing else. All my important files have been backed up to an external HD.
I want to pull that large drive that hold Vista and just run XP on C.
The Vista drive can be wiped and used in another machine down the road.
My concern is once I do wipe the Vista drive with the computer boot to the XP C drive w/o any interference from me? |
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MattAll noise, no signal.Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
kudos:12 | said by Annmarie:My concern is once I do wipe the Vista drive with the computer boot to the XP C drive w/o any interference from me? Based on the information I've seen, yes and no. You will still be presented with the boot menu and you'll have to select XP, but when you do so it should boot successfully. If you want to get rid of that, the best way to do this would be to boot off the XP disc, enter the recovery console, and type "fixboot" and then "fixmbr." That should clear out the Vista boot manager.
If you don't have an XP disc, do you have a Vista disc? You could always insert your Vista disc and type the following to restore the NT 5.2 (Vista is NT6) boot code:
Drive:\boot\bootsect.exe /NT52 ALL
Replace Drive: with your CD-ROM drive letter. I've never tried that, but it's my understanding it restores the previous MBR that should work with XP and so forth.
I know there are tools that do exactly what you need to do without all the muss and fuss of booting to recovery consoles and such, but unfortunately I've never used them. |
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AnnmariePuppy Mills Breed SufferingAMAM
join:2000-11-11
kudos:7 | OK. I think I understand all of it now. Thanks for the help all. Might be updating this thread in the next few days if I run into a glitch. |
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MattAll noise, no signal.Premium
join:2003-07-20
Jamestown, NC
kudos:12 | said by Annmarie:OK. I think I understand all of it now. Thanks for the help all. Might be updating this thread in the next few days if I run into a glitch. Good luck and Happy 4th! |
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