XP Pro without SP2

[Ignatius]

I have OEM XP Pro SP2 and am keen to investigate the security in earlier versions of XP Pro. I'd like to get a copy of an OEM XP Pro installation disk with SP1 and, if possible, without any service packs. I've checked ebay to see if there are any but it's drawn a blank. Does anyone know where I could get what one? Obviously, I have a valid XP Pro COA and assume that it would work with any OEM XP Pro installation disk.

Thanks for your time.

[acidtone]

Howdy.

Maybe just get in touch with MicroSoft, and see if you can just buy the XP pro disc without the service packs, just tell them that you lost your original, you just need a replacement.
They'll probably make you pay for a new one though.

Or if you feel like being a pirate, just get a p2p app then download a copy that way.

cheers
acidtone..

[nihil]

Just read the EULA?

OEM is OEM.................. you would need a "boxed retail" version

[SirDice]

Download it via P2P. Should be easy to come by.. And it's not as illegal as you think, as long as you got a real valid (OEM) serial to show for..

[Ignatius]

Thank you. As I said originally, I do have an OEM COA for XP Pro which is legit. I'm not keen to download from what I feel may be "dodgy" sites (P2P, torrent etc.), hence my request here about getting the installation disk.

[nihil]

I would try small local PC shops........... they get second user stuff, boxes to break for spares and the like?

Strictly speaking, OEM is with a new box only. The MS EULA allows one installation on one machine only.

Mind you, the definition of "new" is open to interpretation?

[not_it]

try getting an old bundled xpsp1 operating system recovery disk from an HP computer or something then nLite it to create a bootable CD. It will strip all of the HP requirements for the first repair cd and make a plain xp install disk. I do it at work when I need to have a plain XP disk for recoveries. that's my trick of the day

[Ignatius]

try getting an old bundled xpsp1 operating system recovery disk from an HP computer or something then nLite it to create a bootable CD. It will strip all of the HP requirements for the first repair cd and make a plain xp install disk. I do it at work when I need to have a plain XP disk for recoveries. that's my trick of the day

That's interesting. I'm sure that I'm not alone in being disappointed by the fact that laptop manufacturers insist on supplying installation disks (either physical, or on a recovery partition) containing loads of "add-ons" - which I don't want. I'm intrigued that nLite will allow the extras to be stripped off. I'll certainly have to look into that. If I don't get anywhere with my efforts to strip it down, I may have to post here or PM you ... unless you fancy writing a brief tutorial (apologies - I know that requesting tutorials isn't really acceptable, but it's only a suggestion to get you some "brownie points"!)?

[not_it]

I wouldn't mind. I had played with XPlite in the past (a commercial product) which strips out unwanted portions of Windows. Then I heard about nLite and it being free intrigued me. (cool thing w/ XPLite it is it does it after OS install. nLite does it when you create your install cd)

Eventually I wondered if it would strip out the OS install from a bundled manufacturer disk and tried it to find that it worked.

1) create a folder on your hard drive named temp or something
2) run nLite. when prompted for XP cd put it in and browse to it
3) choose to save the extracted files to your temp directory
4) takes a while to extract all of it
5) after you get the basic install files move over it will have a bunch of other options (add/remove components, hotfixes, tweaks, create bootable iso)
6) only pick create bootable iso (mess with the other stuff if you want to make a lite version of windows, but that's not what we're doing here)
7) once the iso gets created burn it to disk

If you want I can write up some visual instructions. PM me if anyone wants me to.

[Ignatius]

Wow - that was quick. I'll have a play with it.

Thank you.