# Installing Windows XP



## AntAltMike (Nov 21, 2004)

I recently purchased a Compaq nc4200 from a reputable, local used PC reseller. It looks like new. The sales clerk said she thought that it was acquired as government surplus that was never used.

I bought it just to have something I could carry with me for WiFi access, but of course, it would be beneficial for me to have more word processing capabilities as well.

When this computer powers up, it shows a Windows XP logo, there is a sticker on the panel that says "Designed for: Microsoft Windows XP", and there is a 25 character product code sticker on the underside. Furthermore, when I click the Start box in the lower left corner, it shows me that I can "Tour Windows XP" if I so choose, but this computer doesn't seem to actually have Windows XP loaded into it. 

On my hard drive, there is a Programs folder titled, "Windows" that was created two years ago, with a size of 3.19GB and a "Size in Disk" of 2.97 GB, and in the attributes categories, "read only" is checked.

Do I have Windows XP in this file that I can somehow load into this computer? I went to the Microsoft web site and poked around, but all I found for downloads was for Windows 7 and newer.

I think this reseller ordinarily wipes the drives on new units fairly clean and then puts in just enough shareware software to allow them to boot up. Might they have removed part of the XP that I am still legally entitled to have and use?

On the internet, I see "licensed" Windows XP selling for $80 something, and on eBay, there are "repair" disks selling for around $20 that say they do not have product keys. Could I either get the full XP suite or whatever my product key might entitle me to either by downloading it from Microsoft or by getting it off one of these "repair" disks (which I'd rather not do because I'd have to buy an external disk drive to download it that way) and then "legitimize" my use of it by registering my product key with Microsoft? I once bought a refurb desktop computer from a large, eBay dealer and it came with the warning that if I did not properly and timely register the Microsoft software, I would lose use of it, and after 30 days, it did cease to function (even though I had, in fact, registered it, but that is a tale of woe that I will spare you), so I guess I will have to eventually determine whether this product key is a valid, transferable one that gives me any valuable rights.


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## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

weird that it's marked read only..
If you can find a reg XP disk, I would just wipe it and reload it using serial # on the unit..


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## SayWhat? (Jun 7, 2009)

_or: Microsoft Windows XP", and there is a 25 character product code sticker on the underside. Furthermore, when I click the Start box in the lower left corner, it shows me that I can "Tour Windows XP" if I so choose,_

Have you tried that? Does it do anything at all? It might lead you to a place where you can enter the product code.

_On my hard drive, there is a folder titled "Windows" that was created two years ago, with a size of 3.19GB and a "Size in Disk" of 2.97 GB, and in the attributes categories, "read only" is checked._

If you're able to navigate that, try to start Notepad or any of the other programs listed in the system32 folder.


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## maartena (Nov 1, 2010)

Since you have a code-sticker on the bottom of the laptop you can install the OEM version of Windows XP (home or pro, depending on the license on the sticker) from any OEM disc you can find.

If you know the reseller, he might be able to supply you with a COPY of the Windows XP disc without any license code, so you can use the license code on the bottom of the computer, but it has to be the OEM version, NOT the "retail" version. (Or volume license for that matter).

There shouldn't be any need to spend any money on it.... you can also borrow a Windows XP disc from a friend, as long as it says "for distribution with a new PC" on the physical disc itself, you know you have an OEM version, and you can use it with the key on the machine.

You may have to download some additional drivers after install to make it recognize all the hardware.


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## RasputinAXP (Jan 23, 2008)

I'd be looking into upgrading it to Ubuntu or something that'll be kept up to date. That's a 5 year old machine now, and looks like it's got a Pentium M and a gig of RAM or thereabouts. I'd be worried it's not going to hold up much longer anyway.


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## 4HiMarks (Jan 21, 2004)

I'm confused. If it boots up to the point where there is a Start button, you HAVE Windows installed. It is probably XP, given what else you wrote. I really don't think the reseller sold you a computer with no Operating System at all. 

With your talk of word processing and a suite, are you perhaps really thinking of Microsoft Office? If so, just download Open Office and forget about MS products.


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## reber1b (Jun 14, 2007)

Have you watched it boot up from the very beginning? It may have an XP Pro version that was installed on top of a "Home Edition" or even W2K. If so, you would see, early in the bootup, a black screen with white text giving you a choice as to the operating system you want to boot to, and one of the choices may be Windows XP.


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## AntAltMike (Nov 21, 2004)

When I click Start and then Documemts, and then click File and then New, in hopes of creating a new document, all I have for choices are Text Document, Rich Text Document and Open Document Text. It doesn't offer me Word or even Write or anything that includes any of the commonplace editing powers.

The reseller installed Open Office 2.4 and I upgraded it to Open Office 3.3 but I haven't been able to make any of them enable me to read a Windows Word document.

I stopped by the place where I bought this laptop computer today and they said that I could install an OEM copy of Windows XP using the product code on the underside. They told me that a product code can be used up to five times to enable on-line regustration but if I try to use it a sixth time, I will have to call Microsoft on the phone and convince them that I am trying to make valid use of my rights rather than just cheating them out of heir licensing fee by simultaneously using my product code for lots of different computers


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## AntAltMike (Nov 21, 2004)

I went into the system 32 folder and it had hundreds of icons in it. One was Notepad and the other was Write. The Write is nearly powerless. Am I to believe that Windows XP doesn't have any more editing power than my early 1990s Radio Shack Deskmate did? To do things like spell check and grammar check and complex page formatting, would I really have to buy Works for XP? How much would that cost me?

I have Open Office installed, but I haven't found out how to make it open a Word document WPS, I think). I was able to open an .xls spreadsheet.

I have an XP disk and I bought an external disk drive cheap on eBay that should be here tomorrow...


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

"AntAltMike" said:


> I went into the system 32 folder and it had hundreds of icons in it. One was Notepad and the other was Write. The Write is nearly powerless. Am I to believe that Windows XP doesn't have any more editing power than my early 1990s Radio Shack Deskmate did? To do things like spell check and grammar check and complex page formatting, would I really have to buy Works for XP? How much would that cost me?
> 
> I have Open Office installed, but I haven't found out how to make it open a Word document WPS, I think). I was able to open an .xls spreadsheet.
> 
> I have an XP disk and I bought an external disk drive cheap on eBay that should be here tomorrow...


Keep in mind, Write is ancient. It's from before Windows 95, the Windows 3.1 days, maybe earlier (I was solely DOS before then.) so Write is from around your Deskmate days and hasn't changed since. The old 3.1 Progman program is in there as well.

WPS is Microsoft Works, which is horrid to use a family friendly word. Even Microsoft word has trouble with them, Microsoft has a converter. Works is discontinued, and good riddance.

In terms of a word processor built in XP, Wordpad is the best though Notepad has it's uses. But it's no where near advanced. Thats what LibreOffice, OpenOffice or Word are for.


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## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

one of the best things in win7 is the much updated wordpad and paint.. I hardly use anything else anymore..


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## RasputinAXP (Jan 23, 2008)

AntAltMike said:


> I have Open Office installed, but I haven't found out how to make it open a Word document WPS, I think). I was able to open an .xls spreadsheet.


WPS is Works. Google Docs and LibreOffice will open them.


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## PokerJoker (Apr 12, 2008)

XP is already installed on your system, no need to screw with it.

The problem may lie with your assumptions. It sounds like you're under the impression that Windows comes with Microsoft Word.

That is not the case. Word is part of Microsoft Office, a program available at (significant) extra cost.

Plus, the WPS file you have is not a Word file! It is a Works file. Works was a crappy cheap "home" substitute for Office that came with a lot of older PCs. It's not around any more, for good reason. The typical XP versions of Office wouldn't even open those WPS files.

If you really want Office, get a copy of the Home/Student version.

Keith


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## AntAltMike (Nov 21, 2004)

So what are the current word processing programs on MicroSoft Office?

Microsoft has a free .xls reader available on its site, and Adobe has a free reader, since it can sell more of its creation software if more people can read Adobe formatted documents. Does Microsoft at least have free, downloadable readers for its current document formats?

I once bought a computer that had Word Perfect 7.1 loaded into it. I got to like it, but every once in a while, someone I had sent a document to would tell me they couldn't open it, but Word Perfect had a Save as feature that let me re-save it in a different format, and I could readly change its formatting into something that someone without Word Perfect could read. What is available for what one might call a universal format translator?


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

Microsoft Office 2010 is the current version, the Home and Student version comes with:

Word
Excel
Powerpoint
OneNote

So for Word Processing, really one program. Amazon sells it for $115. The big benefit is that you can legally put it on up to three machines in your house.

For a viewer, I think this will do it, but you'd also need the compatibility tool to open Office 2010 files (.docx).
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...88-7cfa-457a-9aec-f4f827f20cac&displaylang=en

Personally, I'd get Office, but that's just me.


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## houskamp (Sep 14, 2006)

AntAltMike said:


> So what are the current word processing programs on MicroSoft Office?
> 
> Microsoft has a free .xls reader available on its site, and Adobe has a free reader, since it can sell more of its creation software if more people can read Adobe formatted documents. Does Microsoft at least have free, downloadable readers for its current document formats?
> 
> I once bought a computer that had Word Perfect 7.1 loaded into it. I got to like it, but every once in a while, someone I had sent a docukment to would tell me they couldn't open it, but Word Perfect had a Save as feature that let me re-save it in a different format, and I could readly change its formatting into something that someone without Word Perfect could read. What is available for what one might call a universal format translator?


 I still use wordperfect (now version x4).. never could get used to office and hated the way it got into mail and everything...


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

I sincerely hope you didn't give over $50 for that thing.

It's not likely to run Ubuntu or Mint very well unless someone has stuffed it with all the RAM it can handle (http://reviews.cnet.com/laptops/hp-compaq-nc4200/1707-3121_7-31343460.html)

If you want Office software for free, then simply download Open Office for free.
http://www.openoffice.org/

It's compatible with Microsoft Office.

Yes, you already have XP loaded. Otherwise, you wouldn't be clicking a Start button.

All Compaq and HP OEM XP disks are the same.
The reputable shop should have tons of them and can burn you a copy with ease.
You can use the disk to reinstall the OS if you so desire, but you're not likely to gain anything. None of them even ask you for the license key. They recognize the HP/Compaq hardware and install without fail.
You would need drivers from the HP website. That in itself can be a great challenge, because they suck at offering model specific drivers.

If you want an OEM disk and they won't accommodate you, then PM me your address and I'll send you one.

The best word processor you currently have on there is Wordpad.
Start > Programs> Accessories > Wordpad

Honestly, if It were mine, I'd load it up with 2GB of RAM and install Mint.
http://www.linuxmint.com/

Get the RAM here http://www.crucial.com


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## Marlin Guy (Apr 8, 2009)

RasputinAXP said:


> I'd be looking into upgrading it to Ubuntu or something that'll be kept up to date. That's a 5 year old machine now, and looks like it's got a Pentium M and a gig of RAM or thereabouts. I'd be worried it's not going to hold up much longer anyway.


It's already outlived most of its siblings. :nono2:


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## AntAltMike (Nov 21, 2004)

RasputinAXP said:


> WPS is Works. Google Docs and LibreOffice will open them.


Registering at Google Docs was hell. The first half a dozen of the security squiggles that I had to decipher were illegible, and the audio alternative needed Garrett Morris. When I finally I got readable security squiggle screens, it kept acting like I had failed to read them correctly, and kept presenting the blank, new registration screen again, but then I tried logging in as an existing member and found that my earlier registration had, in fact, been processed.

But now, I keep incurring "Not Found, The requested URL was not found on this server. " when I click several different "download" and "try" buttons.

I went to LibreOffice but the download page looked geeky. I couldn't figure out for sure which thing they offered that I should be selecting, and I wasn't eager to download more than I needed.

I have now installed Open Office 3.3, and its word processor is great, so once I can acquire the capability of opening this century's Microsoft's documents, I will have all the word processing capability that I need.


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

For LibreOffice, it just had two drop down menus for me, selecting Windows and US English came up with the right download, the first link.


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## AntAltMike (Nov 21, 2004)

Modest progress is beng made. I installed LibreOffice, but when I then opened my .WPS document by instructing my computer to "Open with", "Libre Office', the document opened but with each and every sentence being underlined and with a solid strikeline running through each sentence. 

So I copied a paragraph and tried pasting it onto blank Office and Libre documents, but the underlines and strike lines stayed. One way I could get rid of them was to paste the paragraph here in a thread "reply" box, where it was clean, and then I copy that and then pasted it into a new blank document. While that enables me to read .WPS documents that I have been sent, it unfoirtunately remove the original formatting, and since the .WPS document I am trying to process was sent to me for the express purpose of formatting it as a court document, I still can't do what I need to do with this .WPS document.

Update: I can get rid of the underline by pressing "ctrl" and "U" at the same time, but I don't know the magic key to clear the strike line. I also see that all the type is in the same case. it seems unlikely that it was sent to me that way. It seems more likely that the title of the document was in a larger font size than it now appears.


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## dpeters11 (May 30, 2007)

It's not uncommon to have issues like that when converting or opening with a different program.


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## AntAltMike (Nov 21, 2004)

dpeters11 said:


> ...For a viewer, I think this will do it, but you'd also need the compatibility tool to open Office 2010 files (.docx).
> http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...88-7cfa-457a-9aec-f4f827f20cac&displaylang=en...


For some reason, that downloaded accessory wouldn't appear when I clicked my, "open with" list, but then, I downloaded what looks like virtually the same thing at the url below, and now I can read the .WPS docs.

http://en.kioskea.net/download/download-50-word-viewer


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