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10-29-2010, 04:50 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-29-2010, 04:52 PM by shoju.)
Here at work, I'm building a network. It's small, with just 9 comps and a single server so far, but it is a monumental step up from when I got here (3 computers, no server, no infrastructure, no security).
I have 7 of the comps loaded and ready to go, and the server is up, running, and I'm learning on the fly (I'm a web designer, not a server guy).
The other 2 comps have XP Home on them. The problem is, they will NOT, no matter what I do, install windows 7. They are toward the lower end of the specs, but they both will make it, and the cost to upgrade the boxes is too much for what they are used for. One is a UPS box that only runs UPS world ship (it doesn't have a single other thing on it), and the other is just a box that management uses to check their email in a "break room" atmosphere. It doesn't get much use, and at this point, Taking the money I have left in my budget to replace them with new machines means that I'm out of cash for the rest of the year.
So, I'm looking for 2 copies of Windows XP Professional. NO VISTA, with keys, that I can use to upgrade them and get them on the network. If someone knows where I can find them (trying to not ebay them) I would be eternally grateful to you!
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Problem with going to external sources is whether the keys will be valid or not. Have you looked at Ubuntu?
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If you tried to install Win7 and failed, does that mean you have Win7 keys? We used some "downgraded" Win7 keys here at work to upgrade some Win2000 machines to WinXP. I don't think you can buy raw XP licenses right now. You'd have to find someone with a retail version of XP that is selling it or buy a Win7 license and downgrade it.
I don't know the process our IT group went through to downgrade the Win7 licenses. Maybe give MS a call.
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Perhaps a Vista Downgrade?
Quote: <snip> The answer is that only one XP Professional license is required in order to activate any number of Vista downgrades. I'm sure there must be some ceiling you can reach at which point they'd stop you, but in my example, the Microsoft representative told me that one XP is good for the five Vista machines I'm going to acquire, and all they'd ask for when I call in is the Vista serial number. <snip>
And it appears Vista can still be purchased.
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10-29-2010, 08:27 PM
(This post was last modified: 10-29-2010, 08:29 PM by Concillian.)
(10-29-2010, 08:11 PM)ZatarRufus Wrote: Perhaps a Vista Downgrade?
Quote: <snip> The answer is that only one XP Professional license is required in order to activate any number of Vista downgrades. I'm sure there must be some ceiling you can reach at which point they'd stop you, but in my example, the Microsoft representative told me that one XP is good for the five Vista machines I'm going to acquire, and all they'd ask for when I call in is the Vista serial number. <snip>
And it appears Vista can still be purchased.
Wow, they list Vista Ultimate retail for $80. That's cheap. Vista has quite the stigma, but nothing really wrong with it since SP1. Essentially the Win7 codebase without a couple relatively minor features.
Anyone on XP and thinking about an upgrade might consider that. The nice thing about the retail version is that you never have to ask Microsoft to activate it. Change a motherboard or video card, or hard drive? It doesn't care and always activates. The OEM version, you do that stuff it makes you call MS and have them approve that your license is cool. I've heard some people who upgraded motherboard got denied on an OEM version activation, that they consider a motherboard upgrade to be a new computer. No BS like that if you buy the retail.
It's the upgrade version, but there is a pretty easy way to get a clean install with the upgrade version. Google will tell you how, or PM me if you want to know and can't find it.
None of that really helps Shoju, just mentioning for anyone else passing by.
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(10-29-2010, 04:50 PM)shoju Wrote: The other 2 comps have XP Home on them. The problem is, they will NOT, no matter what I do, install windows 7.
What is the reason the machines will not install Windows 7? How old are they? I recall reading someone had Windows 7 running on a Pentium II or Pentium III, and was working on getting Windows 7 to run on a 486.
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They are 1.8ghz dell boxes. They came with windows XP SP2 installed on them. They give me an error when installing that
This system cannot install the selected windows product. For more information, please consult the windows compatibility guide at microsoft.com
(paraphrased)
If I could get an XP Professional license I would downgrade, the problem is, I don't have an XP Pro license to use to downgrade.
I have a vista machine on the network (the 3rd of the original 3) and it was a nightmare to get it to see things right, address right, and play nice with my GPO's. I would rather stay away from Vista after that 
If I were more of a Hardware/network person, I'm sure that I could find a way to make Vista play nice, but at this point, it is me, a guy on the phone helping me, a Microsoft AD Server book, and lots and lots of googling.
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(10-30-2010, 12:01 AM)shoju Wrote: They are 1.8ghz dell boxes. They came with windows XP SP2 installed on them. They give me an error when installing that
This system cannot install the selected windows product. For more information, please consult the windows compatibility guide at microsoft.com
(paraphrased)
If I could get an XP Professional license I would downgrade, the problem is, I don't have an XP Pro license to use to downgrade.
I have a vista machine on the network (the 3rd of the original 3) and it was a nightmare to get it to see things right, address right, and play nice with my GPO's. I would rather stay away from Vista after that
If I were more of a Hardware/network person, I'm sure that I could find a way to make Vista play nice, but at this point, it is me, a guy on the phone helping me, a Microsoft AD Server book, and lots and lots of googling.
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Download Upgrade Advisor from Microsoft and run it on the two machines in question. It shoudl tell you if they're capable of running Win7 or not. If it's only complaining about the video, there should be a way around the Aero install to get Win7 to install.
I'd have to take a look around, but I know there are ways to get Win7 to install even on low resource machines (you're s'posed to be able to install it on a machine that has a Pentium 2/3 processor with 512 M of RAM and a 20G HD).
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I know at least some versions of Windows 7 can be run on fairly low end systems, because I have seen hypervisors run minimal guests with Windows 7 in them. That said, I have nothing positive to say about Windows 7 itself, so your pursuit of XP seems worthwhile.
Someone mentioned Linux earlier in the thread and no response was ever made with regard to that. Is this an oversight, a decision to avoid Linux due to corporate policy, or a decision to avoid Linux due to personal preference (i.e. no desire to mix Linux into this environment and get it working)?
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I personally like linux.
I do not know it nearly well enough to work with it in a network admin environment. I'm barely capable of running a windows environment. I'm not a hardware guy. I'm "that there computer guy" at work, which means, I get to run it.
I also work in a business that firmly believes in that old american adage of "You get what you pay for", and the lack of price associated with Linux immediately made it sound like a steaming pile of crap to them. The response was:
"Why do you pay for microsoft son? Because it is a better product. If that Linux stuff were worth anything, it would cost money"
Sure, in a 'real' setting, it wouldn't be a question. I would have everything as Red Hat (the linux dist I have the most experience with), and I would be pouring over Red Hat books. But, without writing a dissertation esque post, trust me, the fact that I have bolstered the companies computer systems to 10, and added a server is a success. We don't even keep paperwork on the computers, because that would "make it too easy" for Uncle Sam.
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Hi,
(10-30-2010, 10:14 PM)shoju Wrote: "Why do you pay for microsoft son? Because it is a better product. If that Linux stuff were worth anything, it would cost money"
Well, you *can* pay for Red Hat, you know. 
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(10-30-2010, 12:01 AM)shoju Wrote: They are 1.8ghz dell boxes. They came with windows XP SP2 installed on them. They give me an error when installing that
This system cannot install the selected windows product. For more information, please consult the windows compatibility guide at microsoft.com
(paraphrased)
At what point of the Windows 7 installation do you get this error? I hope you are not trying to upgrade over top of XP. Upgrading XP to Windows 7 does not work.
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When I go into the windows 7 disk to put it on the partition I have created for the OS. It runs through half a dozen tests or so, gets ready to install, and then gives me an error that it cannot install. The partition is clean, nothing on it.
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(10-31-2010, 07:13 PM)shoju Wrote: When I go into the windows 7 disk to put it on the partition I have created for the OS. It runs through half a dozen tests or so, gets ready to install, and then gives me an error that it cannot install. The partition is clean, nothing on it.
By default Windows 7 likes two partitions, a small system partition to which it does not assign a drive letter, and a large boot partition for everything else to which it assigns the drive letter C. If you have not done so already I suggest using the Windows 7 version of Diskpart to format your partitions. Don't use anything else for making partitions. Diskpart is included on the Windows 7 installation disc. Boot from the Windows 7 installation disc, go to the command prompt and run Diskpart. You should also be OK just installing Windows 7 to a bare, unpartitioned drive if you don't care about drive letter assignments.
Here is what finally worked for me (as I have cut and pasted from an older post):
On the new hard drive create four primary partitions using the Windows 7 version of Diskpart from the 64-bit Windows 7 installation DVD. Let's call them 1, 2, 3, 4. Set partition 1 active.
Boot DOS 6.22 from a floppy and format partition 1 as FAT, transferring system files. We now have a bootable C drive and a DOS prompt!
Install Windows XP 32-bit on partition 1. We now have a working dual boot system. Because XP is 32-bit and Windows 7 is 64-bit, we can't simply install Windows 7 from XP. That would be too easy.
Set partition 3 active. Install Windows 7 64-bit from the installation DVD to partition 3. Boot into Windows 7. Format any as yet unformatted partitions and set up all the drive letters except C, which Windows 7 has selfishly assigned to partition 3, which by now you may have guessed is both the boot partition and the system partiton.
Copy the Windows installation DVD to partition 4 (just a convenient place to put it). Run Setup and install Windows 7 to partition 2, which is now the F drive. Boot into the new copy of Windows 7. All the drive letters are now correct except for partition 3, which is still C, and partition 1, which can't be C as long as partition 3 is C. See?
Remember partiton 3 is still the system partition, even though we now have partition 2 (drive F:) as the boot partiton. Use the Widows 7 utility Bcdboot to transfer the boot information to partition 1. Remove the drive letter from partition 1. Set partition 1 active and reboot.
We now have a triple boot: DOS, Windows XP, and Windows 7. Choose Windows 7. All the drive letters are as we left them. Partition 3 is still C, but since partition 3 is now neither the system partition nor the boot partition, the drive letter can be changed at will. I changed mine to L, and assigned C to partition 1, which previously had no drive letter assigned.
C is now my system partition and F is my boot partition, just as I've always had it for the past fifteen years. No registry hacks necessary. They said it can't be done. They being Microsoft forum folks. As in employed by Microsoft.
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Most new computers don't have floppy drives, at least in my experience.
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(10-31-2010, 09:13 PM)Taelas Wrote: Most new computers don't have floppy drives, at least in my experience.
Unless you want DOS on your system you do not need a floppy for installing Windows 7.
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Windows 7 also isn't soley 64 bit.
I'm running 32 bit win7 pro on 8 systems at work.
I used diskpart to make the partitions.
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(10-31-2010, 10:01 PM)shoju Wrote: Windows 7 also isn't soley 64 bit.
I'm running 32 bit win7 pro on 8 systems at work.
I used diskpart to make the partitions.
True.
Did you use the Windows 7 diskpart from the Windows 7 32 installation disc to create your partitions? What are the partitions you created? And to which partition are you installing Windows 7?
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(10-30-2010, 12:01 AM)shoju Wrote: They are 1.8ghz dell boxes. They came with windows XP SP2 installed on them. They give me an error when installing that
This system cannot install the selected windows product. For more information, please consult the windows compatibility guide at microsoft.com
(paraphrased) ...
Check your BIOS settings as well. It may be that master boot record protection is on, or you have a Dell system with OS Install Mode still enabled which restricts effective RAM to 256MB.
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