i realize this whole situation is mostly due to me being a dumbass and wanting some extra hard drive space.

but....
my laptop came with xp home (i know, it's old). it only has a 40gig hd so i decided to use partition magic to wipe out the restore partition since i had restore cds that i made when i turned the thing on for the first time.

apparently this was a bad decision, as the next time i reformatted, my restore cds wouldn't work--evidently i deleted some files necessary for the restore disks to know they weren't being used for the wrong brand of computer.

shit.

i tried installing a legit copy of vista, but that rendered the computer essentially unusable, so i pirated a copy of xp sp3 and installed that. it worked for almost a year...i just kept refusing to download the WGA tool.

so today, it decided to go ahead and download the WGA tool without asking me. and of course, my system failed.

so, some questions:

1. right now all its doing is saying that i can't get the latest updates, and its not letting me use a custom desktop background. everything else seems fine--is that going to last or is it eventually going to spontaneously restart or something?

2. if it's going to get worse, anyone have a copy of that windows 7 RC lying around?

3. any other suggestions?

thanks for your help!

 

burn it with fire

 

pm sent

 

If you had installed a pirated copy of XP Home (I'll assume you didn't) then you could use your XP home key.

 

Win RC is no longer available from MS but you can find it on the torrents for sure. Is your PC even Win7 capable? What' are the specs?

 

you could always find an OEM copy of XP home edition on the torrents and install that, I've had to do that before. I wonder if a recovery install would work and turn your XP pro/MCE into XP Home? Why don't you be our guinea pig and try it!

 

what is the error exactly?

 

If it came preinstalled with XP, it should have a license key sticker underneath it. At least my two laptops do...

 

There is a way you can actually get it to work. You have to get these files and drop it in your windows folder. Search google and find out.

 

What type of computer?

 

Well, don't mean to preach, but your owner's manual clearly indicates that destroying the restore partition will render your restore CD useless.

You are SOL unless your laptop maker will reformat your hard drive, or you might be able to get an ISO mirror of the restore partition from the internet and try that.

You might be able to find someone who will sell you a registered copy of XP home with a key code that they are no longer using.

You could also try Linux install, but not sure how well it will support all of your software.

Other than that, your laptop is probably now a paperweight.

 

What brand of laptop? If Dell, I can ISO a Reinstall disk for XP home that you can use the key on your computer for.

Your key on your laptop is an OEM key, so you cannot acquire a retail install of XP and use it.

 

I have the same problem. I bought what I thought was a legitimate copy of Windows on eBay. After it failed the validation the first time, I wiped it clean and refused updates and installed Windows again. I have refused automatic updates now.

I recently tried to get updates for Windows, and it decided to download the Windows validation tool for me. Fucking cuntsuckers. I cancelled the download before it was complete.

 

bro! (before stogie beats me to this) go on the torrents and find an OEM XP Home install disc. It doesn't matter what OEM brand it is as long as it's OEM. Don't bother with the hacks or anything since you have an XP Home key. Install it and enter your key (if prompted) and you'll be fine.

 

problem solved!

thanks to all of you for your replies....it is an acer aspire 3620 so it has a celeron processor etc....not exactly a powerful computer. and yeah i should've read the manual about the restore partition. i actually have a legit copy of xp home (other than what came with my laptop) so i tried that with my key (i do indeed have that certificate of authenticity sticker) and it didn't work

given how often it overheats, burning it with fire sounds appealing.