I want to uninstall xp

[JayJay]

A friend of mine mistakenly put the OEM version of XP (that came with her
new laptop) onto her desktop pc(which was running W98) . She has now
discovered you can't have the same copy of XP running on both machines,
because of Microsoft's Activation process.
She has asked me to uninstall XP from her desktop pc and reinstall 98. This
I am finding impossible.

Presumably, because it hasn't been Activated, XP won't allow me to uninstall
in Windows from the Change or Remove programs dialogue.
I can't uninstall from DOS: the command osuninstal.exe won't run because XP
demands registration information, which of course the pc doesn't have
because XP hasn't been registered.
I can't reformat the drive and start afresh with a clean install of 98, as
XP won't allow me to create a startup disk, and anyway it bypasses the
Floppy drive on start up.

I called the Microsoft techincal help people. They tell me they can't help
(they choose not to support OEM XP) and that my friend will have to pay lots
of money for 3rd party technical support -- even though she does not want
to use their product on her desktop, just get rid of the mistaken install.
In other words, Microsoft are ensuring people who make honest mistakes (like
99% of XP users, she didn't read the small print on her licence agreement)
will now have to pay heavily - a form of punishment, if you like -- , which
strikes me as immoral. Personally, I would have thought Microsoft owes its
genuine customers (she has a legal and registered copy of XP on her laptop)
some duty of care. Apparently not.

I am now, because I went through the registration process once to get the
help number, now stuck with that registration process. ie I boot up as the
"owner", and am given the option to Activate, and now when I refuse I am
logged off.

There must be a way around this. I promised to fix her pc and am stumped.
Can anyone advise please?

[Caenogenesis]

JayJay <julia...@msn.com> asked wistfully:

Where in London do you live, is your friend closeby.

I will come round and sort out everything you need sorting.

I am as cheap as you want, for a price!

This is a genuine offer of my kindness.

--

Gazwad

Freelance scientist and people tester.
Guardian: alt.os.windows-xp

[Eric Legge]

Windows XP - how to remove it in order to restore Windows 95 or 98
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/Q250/4/56.ASP

Windows XP is really just an upgrade of Windows 2000, so this method should
work.

Eric

PC Buyer Beware!

http://www.legge40.freeserve.co.uk/BuyerBeware.htm

[Walter]

It's a 5 minute job at most. Either boot off of the CD (if it will) and
start an XP install again, when it gets to the drive screen, delete the
partition and exit, or, just use a 98 boot disk and use fdisk to delete the
partition and start fresh. If you need a boot disk, check out
www.bootdisk.com.

"JayJay" <julia...@msn.com> wrote in message
news:3d13897b$1...@news1.homechoice.co.uk...

[Esther Medina]

I always thought you could have a valid copy of xp on your desktop and a
laptop

"Walter" <unli...@notAvailable.now> wrote in message
news:w6nR8.71454$hF5.3...@news2.east.cox.net...

[Walter]

If you purchase a retail copy, yes. An OEM version is already distributed at
a reduced price, to be used on 1 computer only, the 1 it was sold with.
With most MS software it makes a great deal of differance what version you
have, OEM or Retail.
With retail, you can call MS for technical assistance, with OEM, you have to
contact the company you purchased it from.

"Esther Medina" <mara...@starband.net> wrote in message
news:12qR8.2481$cu1.93...@twister2.starband.net...

[tdk4u]

check the info here on Windows Product Activation
http://www.aumha.org/a/wpa.htm

--

tdk4u

"Esther Medina" <mara...@starband.net> wrote in message
news:12qR8.2481$cu1.93...@twister2.starband.net...

[Ken Blake]

Walter <unli...@notAvailable.now> wrote:

> If you purchase a retail copy, yes. An OEM version is already
> distributed at a reduced price, to be used on 1 computer only,
> the 1 it was sold with.

No, this isn't correct. It has nothing to do with whether it's an
OEM version or a retail version. *All* versions can legally be
installed only on a single computer.

And by the way, that's the way it has been on every version of
Windows; the only thing that's new in XP is that Microsoft has
made it harder to get away with breaking the rule.

--
Ken Blake
Please reply to the newsgroup

[Walter]

Funny,
They have been allowing people to install XP on Laptops and workstations,
and activating both at the same time.

"Ken Blake" <kbl...@this.is.an.invalid.domain.com> wrote in message
news:uhej6dg...@corp.supernews.com...

[Ken Blake]

Walter <unli...@notAvailable.now> wrote:

> Funny,
> They have been allowing people to install XP on Laptops and
> workstations, and activating both at the same time.

Nope, not true. You may be thinking of *Office* XP, for which it
is true.

[Walter]

Nope, Windows XP.
We just did this on a laptop less then a week ago, and my boss has also done
it with his laptop. When we called MS to activate it, we told them we
already had it on the workstations and where activitaing the laptops, and
they just did it. Did not even ask any questions.

"Ken Blake" <kbl...@this.is.an.invalid.domain.com> wrote in message

news:uhfhmhq...@corp.supernews.com...