upgrade, or not... ????

[Kobe16_]

LET ME SAY THIS FIRST- I DO NOT WANT A CRACK!

A friend loaded on XP pro onto my computer. Knowing that was not a great idea, I bought a full version. In the process of all this, I kept running the cracked version- not thinking anything of it...
NOW, I want to install SP1- but of coarse get the error saying its a pirated version.

- MY QUESTION: Where does this leave me? Do I actually have to format my hard drive and start over (ouch)- or do I/can I install XP on top of XP... will that work???? I don't want a crack or copy of anything- just the best and easiest way of fixing the problem!
SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!


What a mess!

Thanks!

[minibubba]

you can reinstall your legal version over the other one, but I'd recomend you format and reinstall for the best results

if you choose to just reinstall I'd still recomend backing up everything you want to keep...but if you go through all of that then you might as well format anyway ;)

[kane2g]

Gotta love friends. I say make him work to help you.
Here's what I would recomend (friend not required if you got anouther system)
Take out the harddrive out of the machine and put it in his. Than copy all the stuff you need. Than just do the reformat, reinstall and fugghead bout it.

[asklepios]

well u can always install XP on existing install...but then that might leave you with loads of other problems and a PC working like ****.
kane2g's reply is the one i would take. back up everything and go for a format and reinstall :thumb:

[Kobe16_]

tHANKS guys- I appreciate it! What a mess- I can't believe I have to go through this. Thats o.k. though, as long as its legal- thats all I care about. I also heard a rumor that you can "update" your Serial/registration number... That sounds pretty fishy to me; doesn't microsoft encode the numbers once its entered on an install??? That would make sense, but you know how rumors go!

Thanks again!

[maximus7001]

Why are lots of ppl afraid to format a hard drive. I dont see the problem. All u gotta do is backup docs,pics,music, gamesaves and such. Burning a cd is not that hard. Then set the boot device to cdrom. And follow the instructions. In about 30-60min depending on system, it will have a desktop.
What is so scary or hard about that?


Enough of the huming, and hawing about it. Just do it already.
I make a living from ppl that are afraid to, so most of u will know where im coming from.

[PersianImmortal]

It's fair to say a lot of us hate having to waste hours and sometimes even a whole day backing up our data on CD (I have around 6GB of stuff), then the reformat and reinstall can take another 30-40 minutes, then spend another few hours reinstalling every game and app and getting the settings "just right".

It takes me around 5 or more hours to do the whole deal and I dread it. Thankfully I only do it twice a year at most.

However if you're having serious problems, a clean reformat and reinstall can really save you a lot of heartache and trouble and mucking around in the long run.

[minibubba]

having a second HDD or partion with enough space can help with buring all those CDs...just drag over what you want, then drag it back after the format and install

of course if you want a permant backup CDs are the way to go, but if you're in a bit of a hurry draging it off and back again can save some time =)

[Wiggo]

I have a few other PC's to backup to when times dictate that it's necessary.