XP disc not supplied with new computer

[Tron]

Hi folks ... my Mother in law purchased a new computer with windows XP preinstalled about a year ago and only just lately I asked her where the XP disc was and she assures me that no disc was supplied with the computer, is there any form of preinstalled XP that does not come with a disc or is the computer shop just doing a shonky.
If they haven't supplied a disc should I report them to microsoft?

 

[jh3si]

Yes if they did not give you a disk, I would first take it up with the store and see if she was sposed to recieve a disk. Then go to higher levels if you have to. Some reboot disc are installed directly on the hard drive. I would reccomend talking with the company the computer was purchsed from and ask them if you have a part of your hard drive sectioned off for recovery or if you where infact sposed to recieve Recovery Disk.

Best of Luck,
Jh3si

 

[jh3si]

One more thing is they usually supply you with recovery disc that was made just for your computer and have on the disc everything they had on when it was sold to you and so that everything works with your computer, printer, etc. Usually you will not be recieving a retail Windows XP Home or Proffesional disc, but rather a recovery disc made with extras for your computer with XP on it.

Jh3si

 

[Rollin' Rog]

Is the computer a "brand" name? If so what is the name and model number?

 

[Tron]

We have got a Windows XP Home edition booklet that came with the computer and on the front of the booklet it has a sticker saying " For distribution with a new HP or Compaq PC only, it is a compaq,I'm not sure if this is of any help, there is a seperate recovery section on the hard drive.

 

[EAFiedler]

Hi Tron

My Windows XP Home Edition - HP, came without any disks whatsoever.

On HP's site I can order a set of Recovery Disks.
I have used Acronis True Image to make a clone of my hard drive instead.

Check Compaq's site to see if the option for Recovery Disks is available for her machine.
I believe Compaq is now part of Hewlett-Packard.

 

[amnent]

Usually with Hp and Compaq desktops, you have 2nd partition on your hard disk (usually D: drive) which contains the recovery files. Also under a Tab in Programs there is usually a "PC help and support" section, when the mouse is placed on this it comes up with other programs.

One of those programs is a "run once" program to create a backup of the recovery files on CD or DVD depending on what you have in your machine. If you use CD's this can use up to 12 CD's.

Instructions are contained in your user's guide for running this program. NOTE: once you have created these backup CD's or DVD's store them safely in case something happens to your hard drive.

 

[mike5532g]

Presario Restore Software

 

[richman1068]

Yes, as far as I can tell, for the most part, XP does not ship with the OS CDs in the box. I think it is something to do with software piracy, they don't want you buying a computer with an XP disk and going around installing it on other computers. It's kind of frustrating really. I would suggest backing up your hard drive in case your drive fails and you lose your OS.