The XP is falling! The XP is falling!

[Ben]

With the fresh install, it was no different than the initial build and registration process.  With the "build, then swap into a new system" process, it pointed out that it was registered with a different CPU and I had to re-validate it.  Nothing more than entering the registration code.

Chris

Gotchya, cool. That's easy as eatin' pie.

[zxcvbob]

Get 8 Pro, and "downgrade" to win7.

I like that idea... I'll have to see what the church can buy 8.1 Pro for, and we can try it with Classic Shell before I downgrade it.  (I think that means I should run it w/o activation during the test period; can downgrade an activated copy but it's harder todo)

If 7 Home OEM is cheaper than discounted 8.1 Pro, I'll just do that.  I don't think we are using any "pro" features.

[Gewehr98]

Is there a way to still get legit Win 7 DVD's for, I dunno, $100 or less?

Yes. I bought a couple OEM copies of Windows 7 Pro 32-Bit, for $76.95.

http://www.productquest.net/miwi7.html

I installed them on IBM workstations, and for a few minutes they had Dell logos in the System Properties screen.

I fixed that.

 

[zxcvbob]

Yes. I bought a couple OEM copies of Windows 7 Pro 32-Bit, for $76.95.

http://www.productquest.net/miwi7.html

I installed them on IBM workstations, and for a few minutes they had Dell logos in the System Properties screen.

I fixed that.

That's perfect.  32-bit 7 Pro is what I was looking for, but going to settle for Home or 64 (or 8.1) Thanks!  I don't care if they say "Dell"  ("HP" might be a problem )

[zxcvbob]

"Windows cannot install required files."  Something about "corrupt or missing", and error code 0x80070017.   

I ran the BIOS diagnostics on the optical drive and it failed.  The GParted disk boots just fine, but that's a CD, not a DVD.  The Windows DVD booted the one time, but will not boot again (on that computer; I haven't tried it on another)

I'm going to make a copy of the DVD and see if maybe the copy works.  Also try to find how to copy the Windows 7 install media to a bootable USB thumb drive.

[Phyphor]

http://www.linuxandlife.com/2012/12/unetbootin-create-bootable-usb-windows-7.html

Bootable Windows 7 on a USB stick.

[Jim147]

I picked up a couple of these for one of my commercial customers wanting to upgrade on the cheap for his home office and one of his work systems.

http://www.microcenter.com/product/411741/OptiPlex_755_Desktop_Computer_Refurbished

I guess the system specs are just a guess. Both of the ones I got had 3 GB ram, dual head video cards and TV cards.

jim

[zxcvbob]

I picked up a couple of these for one of my commercial customers wanting to upgrade on the cheap for his home office and one of his work systems.

http://www.microcenter.com/product/411741/OptiPlex_755_Desktop_Computer_Refurbished

I guess the system specs are just a guess. Both of the ones I got had 3 GB ram, dual head video cards and TV cards.

jim

That is *very* close to the hardware we have.  Dell OptiPlex 360 (I think) that I upgraded last year w/ the fastest processor that will work in this socket, 3GB of RAM, and a Radeon X1300 graphics card.

Last night I took the install DVD home and ripped it, intending to make a backup copy and work from the copy.  The original disk had scuff marks on the back after the failed install attempt, and I don't think they were there before.  I ripped it to an ISO, then tried to burn the ISO to a DVD-R and got an error because it was too big to fit.  WTF, Microsoft?

I formatted a 8GB memory stick to FAT32, copied the ISO to that, and marked it bootable.  It booted on my PC at home.  This morning before church I started the install from the memory stick (had to play with the boot order in BIOS to get it to work) and it installed just fine -- quickly even.  I was surprised it never asked me to activate; even when I downloaded Microsoft Security Essentials.  I found the activation link in the Control Panel and activated it, otherwise it would have popped up and demanded the license key sometime when I wasn't there.

Now trying to track down all the Visual Basic 3.0 DLL's and VBX's to get some old 16-bit app that the preacher still uses to run.  I ended up copying the entire /windows/system folder from the old drive to the new one as C:/windows/system(old) and added that to the end of the PATH environment variable.  Seems to work.

When I left, Windows wanted to install Service Pack 1.  I declined for now; didn't want to waste a whole Sunday afternoon.

Applications (like Audacity) seem to run faster under W7 than they did under XP.  That could be my imagination, or it could be because it's a clean install without years of barnacles yet.

[lee n. field]

That is *very* close to the hardware we have.  Dell OptiPlex 360 (I think) that I upgraded last year w/ the fastest processor that will work in this socket, 3GB of RAM, and a Radeon X1300 graphics card.

Last night I took the install DVD home and ripped it, intending to make a backup copy and work from the copy.  The original disk had scuff marks on the back after the failed install attempt, and I don't think they were there before.  I ripped it to an ISO, then tried to burn the ISO to a DVD-R and got an error because it was too big to fit.  WTF, Microsoft?

Microsoft has a utility for making bootable USB sticks from ISOs downloaded from them.  Requires an 8GB stick.

[charby]

[KD5NRH]

If you know anyone who insists on keeping their XP box, for God's sake at least get them to use another browser besides IE.  Firefox or Chrome with Adblock at a minimum.  Adblock & Noscript if you can convince them.

Just convince them that some relatively lightweight VM is a browser, and set up DamnSmallLinux to boot straight into SeaMonkey.

[KD5NRH]

Last night I took the install DVD home and ripped it, intending to make a backup copy and work from the copy.  The original disk had scuff marks on the back after the failed install attempt, and I don't think they were there before.

For the last time, hacking your old 45RPM record player in an attempt to make it a DVDROM drive will not work.