BleepingComputer.com: Xp Media Center 2005

is there a way to get a copy of Windows XP Media Center 2005 for no cost?


I have a (Acer Incorporated) Certificate of Authenticity with Product Key but no software.

If acer were to do it they would need me to send pc to them and they would put the image back on.


contact Microsoft?

when i upgraded to Vista (wel just before i did) i contacted Acer (my PC manufacturer) for my E700 Pentium D 2.8Ghz, 1GB Ram (now 2GB) and 160GB C: & D: portioned HDD, and asked them how to burn restore disks as they don't provide them anymore, they wouldn't tell me how to burn my XP Media Centere Edition 2005 OS, so i went ahead to install vista, maybe that was a stupid thing but i'm not experiencing any problems. Would the image be still on the HDD somewhere????

i have access to Windows XP Driver for my system which i've downloaded and burnt on CD.

Izzy, on Feb 22 2008, 12:12 AM, said:

You have to send it in for re-imaging or cd's if they offer them. Cannot get it for free as I would assume you wiping out your recovery partition is not covered under any warranty.

I have it on my laptop, but newer version I think, will send it to you, hehe. nah kidding.

I dont think there is any other way to get it but to send your computer in, and I doubt it would be free..

nothing unusual.

only if the idiots would tell you how to burn recovery discs in the first place, but they don't seem to like the idea of us doing that.

never mind i suppose i'll leave it the way it is.

i doubt the original image on the hidden partion would exhist now with Vista as they say it wipes it out, i know ALT+F10 during bootup starts the recovery but i have tried that and doesn't work.

Well...at this date, I would suspect eBay would be the logical place to try, if one wants to buy a copy.

The fact that you specified "free" doesn't indicate that.

FWIW: You could have imaged your entire system before you dumped MC for Vista...and had more options than you currently have. May be something to consider in the future.

Louis

If you have a computer with a legitimate Windows XP Media Center sticker on it (with the code intact), you can order the restore CD's from the company that made the computer. Most will charge a modest fee (about $20 US) and will mail them out to you (as long as they still have them in their inventory).

I did have my HDD imaged before i installed Vista incase the installation went stupid, but the computer store person said that the image annot be burned to Discs, either didn't want me to know that its possible, which i do know it is, or they didn't want to do it, but my old system has restore discs which seem to be Norton Ghost made ones. so i don't know.

The COA stick on the system is Acer Incorporated, so i do not know if i purchased a disc from eBay (which i have looked but there aren't any there) would allow me to use it as each disc has its own COA and i don't know if you could install it without a produck key or edit the registry to put in my product key.

would it be illegal if i downloaded a copy of MCE but installing with my Product Key? I suppose it still comes under Pirate.

if i could find someone with the same PC Aspire E700 with MCE and could get restore discs, would that work to install? meaning i change the product key because i would guess it would install there product key. BUt another question to that, the acer guy i spoked to if i were to have restore disc it wouldn't work anyway i can't see why as it will al be on disc. becaue my old acer system i upgraded the HDD to a larger one, which is blank as can be and it worked. Wouldn't be in the BIOS, but then Vista probably destroyed it too.

Then i could post on eBay wanting restore discs for my PC. well i'm guessing there isn't such thing as free but i suppose if i could get something cheap it wouldn't be so bad.

The company will not send recovery discs, as not only Acer, but HP and Compaq no longer provide discs anymore, just image on HDD which means the tower needs to be returned to factory for re-imaging and will cost a bit, especially freight, and there time as there won't be warranty.

I understand the company's attitude...after all, XP has been around for 8 years now and most (there's always an exception) that purchase computers from box-makers receive all the advice/info re making restore disks when they make the purchase.

And, at the moment, they are more interested in pushing Vista, rather than worrying about an O/S whose original deadline for sale has already passed.

Louis