A little over a year ago, I purchased a Lenovo ThinkPad that came preloaded with Windows XP Pro. And a bunch of crapware, of course. Lenovo does not provide you with a Windows reinstallation CD, though, and forces you to burn your own reinstallation CD. I believe Lenovo has the Windows binaries tucked away on a hidden hard drive partition.
I now desperately need to reinstall Windows, but am not confident (i) that Lenovo's system will actually allow me to burn Windows CDs, (ii) how "clean" a version of XP the system-derived CDs would provide, given how much crapware the Lenovo came preloaded with. I'd like to start with the "cleanest" version of XP possible. My questions:
(1) How "clean" is the XP from Lenovo's burn-it-from-your-system CD?
(2) What is the deal with the OEM system-builder versions of XP that are
available from newegg/tigerdirect? They come with CD media, right?
(3) I've heard that OEM system-builder versions are "single install"
only. Meaning I can only install XP once with a system-builder
XP product key? Or does it just mean that I can only install on
one computer?
(4) If I buy the OEM system-builder version, can I use the XP product
key that appears on the official Microsoft sticker on my laptop?
Would this original product key allow me to get multiple reinstalls
out of the OEM system-builder CDs?
(5) Is there somewhere on the Microsoft website that I can download ISO
images to burn my own Windows re-installation CDs? And just use my
original XP product key from the Microsoft sticker?
PLEASE NOTE that I **cannot* install Windows 7 before the end of this semester. My school's IT department insists that our final exam software is not compatible with Windows 7. Sorry for all the questions. It's just really frustrating to "own" a copy of Windows XP, but not really own it.
I now desperately need to reinstall Windows, but am not confident (i) that Lenovo's system will actually allow me to burn Windows CDs, (ii) how "clean" a version of XP the system-derived CDs would provide, given how much crapware the Lenovo came preloaded with. I'd like to start with the "cleanest" version of XP possible. My questions:
(1) How "clean" is the XP from Lenovo's burn-it-from-your-system CD?
(2) What is the deal with the OEM system-builder versions of XP that are
available from newegg/tigerdirect? They come with CD media, right?
(3) I've heard that OEM system-builder versions are "single install"
only. Meaning I can only install XP once with a system-builder
XP product key? Or does it just mean that I can only install on
one computer?
(4) If I buy the OEM system-builder version, can I use the XP product
key that appears on the official Microsoft sticker on my laptop?
Would this original product key allow me to get multiple reinstalls
out of the OEM system-builder CDs?
(5) Is there somewhere on the Microsoft website that I can download ISO
images to burn my own Windows re-installation CDs? And just use my
original XP product key from the Microsoft sticker?
PLEASE NOTE that I **cannot* install Windows 7 before the end of this semester. My school's IT department insists that our final exam software is not compatible with Windows 7. Sorry for all the questions. It's just really frustrating to "own" a copy of Windows XP, but not really own it.