new shiny XP pro

[livinginspain]

Shame on me !
I have been running a copy of XP Pro from a dubious source and now want to legalise my Windows XP.

I have my new XP pro full install disk ready to go.

What I want to do is replace my dubious copy with my nice new shiny legal copy with minimal disruption to settings and programmes

Any ideas ?

I have lots of spare hard drive space, ( a 40 gig, a 120 gig, both less then 25 % full ) I also have a cd writer and a dvd writer )

Keep it simple please !

Many thanks.

[ORAC]

No need to reinstall, just follow the instructions here. There's a bit more on how to use reg edit here. Remember to make a restore point first.

(This assumes that the original and legal versions are both the same, i.e. Home or Pro.)

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

livinginspain,

With Microsoft, you do not buy their program, you buy a license.

If you are going to update to the legal copy of WinXP and the version you have is exactly the same as the copy currently on your computer, you can just change the CD-Key to the one on the license agreement you bought.

If the version on your computer is a different version, then you will need to do an install since your legal key will not work with it.

The versions sold retail are WinXP Home and WinXP Pro. The dubious copies are usually WinXP Pro Corp and they use the CD Key is FCKGW........ (I was wondering if that sounded familiar.)

When you try to chance the CD-Key, if it does not accept your legal copy, then you will need to do a fresh install. (All is not lost if you do a fresh install since you can do the install without losing all your data.)

Take Care,

Richard

[goates]

XP comes with a program to transfer settings and user files from one computer to another. I think it can also be used when reinstalling or upgrading the same computer. Unfortunately I can't remember what it is called right now, and I'm not using an XP machine at the moment. You could try searching the Windows help for moving or tranferring settings.

goates

[livinginspain]

thankyou all but another question....

Thank you all for your advice and help.
Eventually I needed to install the new xp anyway !
Before doing so I backed up my entire drive c: with my old XP Pro onto my second hard drive. ( D) ( and used the transfer settings and files too )
All was backed up to my drive d:

Then I installed my new XP onto my drive c:

The problem is now however, I cannot recover all my old email. Most of which is business related and quite important.
When I search for .dbx files, save them to xpmail on drive c: my xp will not recognise the file type.

All of the files saved in my drive d: ( the backup of my orginal drive c: ) seem to be impossible to open. Restore, although recognizing the back up copy, and taking about 25 minutes to perform some mysterious function, then doesn't seem to produce anything useful !

Any input would be appreciated.

My XP itself, is now legal, updated and super !

[ORAC]

Does this help?

[fobotcso]

I get the impression that your old e-mails are not "lost" as in being corrupted. It's just that you can't get at them.

See if you can navigate to the equivalent to this folder:

C: \Documents and Settings\{your main user name}\Local Settings\Application Data\Identities\{7903668F-0537-490A-AB46-D52DE63F83D0}\Microsoft\Outlook Express

Copy the entire contents into the equivalent folder of your new installation and the e-mails should be accessible.

However, this will overwrite any new e-mails you have sent or received since you began using the new installation so you should back these up by simply dragging and dropping them into a temporary folder on your Desktop.

I have done this sort of thing many times when I have rebuilt systems. It's one of the preliminaries that goes with exporting OE Account information, data and, since my most recent cock-up, Sony SonicStage Music databases. But that's another story!

[livinginspain]

recovering my email

thank you for your help so far, but I still get the following message when I try and import the email

" Import Message
No message can be found in this folder or another application isrunningthat has the read files open.

Please select another folder or try closing applications that may have files open "

I can see that there are emails in this folder, but the above appears when I try to import the email.

Any other ideas please ?

Strangely enough, I searched for my old address book, copied the backed up one to the desktop, and imported it with no trouble at all. ( strange to me that is ! )

[livinginspain]

success !

Its amazing how much more you can learn when you RTFQ !!
Why havn't I learned that over the years ?


When I took my time and researched the 'identities' aspect of this, all was revealed and my 2400 emails have been restored correctly.


Many thanks to the brains trust for advice and help.