Clean Install Of Windows

[pumper]

decided after 2 1/2 years to do a clean install of windows

used my factory windows sp 1 disk to format the C: drive & do an install

no problem .. 30 minuites

then I started the patch process .. security & sp2

it's been over 3 hours getting close to 4 hours now

.. w/ the hard drive light continuously blinking & the hard drive grinding.

i'm in the us, with a cable modem .. 2 gig+

most of the time has been the install not the downloads

61 security updates took maybe an hour to download & install

sp2 was 30 minutes to down load & took 2 hours to install!

[cdnvic]

This is the one place where I think copy disks have a place. Get a $2 copy of WindowsXP with SP2, install it, but use your authentic license key. More or less legal but saves you a ton of downloading.

[HenryLongfellow]

MS was giving away (free of charge) a CD that included all the updates so that you don't need to download from scratch.

I got one a few years back so that the pain of updating after install only includes updates since my update CD was created.

[penguin]

61 security updates took maybe an hour to download & install

Only 61? I did this the other day using a CD with SP2 already installed and still had 89 updates to install.

Has anyone got an update cd from Microsoft recently? If they still provide them does anyone have a direct link to where you order it? I have a SP2 cd from a couple of years ago but you need SP2 on the install cd if you have a large hard disk, e.g. 160GB, otherwise you need to slipstream it.

[Tywais]

otherwise you need to slipstream it.

That's what I do. Have XP SP1, and separate SP2 file and another file with all security updates in it. Use nLite to slipstream them together and build a new CD. Very convenient and don't have to do the Internet update thing.

nLite

The updates for XP here to be used with nLite > http://www.ryanvm.net/msfn/updatepack.html

[billzant]

I don't know whether it is any use but I downloaded a Tech Republic pdf file entitled:-

Create a bootable WinXP CD slipstreamed with SP2 and hotfixes

Do you want me to PM?

Hope you are keeping well,

All the Best,

Bill Z

[tonga]

then I started the patch process .. security & sp2

it's been over 3 hours getting close to 4 hours now

.. w/ the hard drive light continuously blinking & the hard drive grinding.

i'm in the us, with a cable modem .. 2 gig+

most of the time has been the install not the downloads

61 security updates took maybe an hour to download & install

sp2 was 30 minutes to down load & took 2 hours to install!

I think both of your cable modem and computer are slow. I have a 2mbit DSL in Thailand and it takes less than 30 minutes for me to download XP SP2. My sp2 install was much quicker than 2 hours you quoted, it was something like 20-30 minutes. I have an old overclocked AMD 2.3G CPU but with a very fast RAID 0 disk setup. The disk speed helps more since installing windows is a disk intensive task.

I downloaded the SP2 file manually from Microsoft's website instead using windows update from IE, and burn it on a CD so no need to download it again in the future.

[djc45]

This is the one place where I think copy disks have a place. Get a $2 copy of WindowsXP with SP2, install it, but use your authentic license key. More or less legal but saves you a ton of downloading.

so there is a place for copy software when it suits i thought you didnt use copy software or advocated the use of it?

[cdnvic]

This is the one place where I think copy disks have a place. Get a $2 copy of WindowsXP with SP2, install it, but use your authentic license key. More or less legal but saves you a ton of downloading.

so there is a place for copy software when it suits i thought you didnt use copy software or advocated the use of it?

You need to learn how software licensing works.

If you hold a valid license for the software it's not pirating. You pay for the license, not the CD the data comes on. Last year my Photoshop CD got broken. Luckily I had a copy backed up. Would have been silly to pay another $700 for a $1 cd when I already owned a license to use a single copy of Photoshop.

Had I not had a legit copy of Photoshop, it would have been a different story.

[think_too_mut]

decided after 2 1/2 years to do a clean install of windows

used my factory windows sp 1 disk to format the C: drive & do an install

no problem .. 30 minuites

then I started the patch process .. security & sp2

it's been over 3 hours getting close to 4 hours now

.. w/ the hard drive light continuously blinking & the hard drive grinding.

i'm in the us, with a cable modem .. 2 gig+

most of the time has been the install not the downloads

61 security updates took maybe an hour to download & install

sp2 was 30 minutes to down load & took 2 hours to install!

You haven't even said what Windows you are installing but everyone assumed it is XP.

Home or Pro? If you had an OEM XP CDs, it's most likely - "Home" edition.

Also, what is that "2 gig +" provider in the US? The fastest Japan knows of is a 100 Mega-bits per second over a Fiber link.

Back in November 2006 I reinstalled my PC from scratch (Win XP Pro) and it took 2 hours but nothing like what you have described.

[djc45]

This is the one place where I think copy disks have a place. Get a $2 copy of WindowsXP with SP2, install it, but use your authentic license key. More or less legal but saves you a ton of downloading.

so there is a place for copy software when it suits i thought you didnt use copy software or advocated the use of it?

You need to learn how software licensing works.

If you hold a valid license for the software it's not pirating. You pay for the license, not the CD the data comes on. Last year my Photoshop CD got broken. Luckily I had a copy backed up. Would have been silly to pay another $700 for a $1 cd when I already owned a license to use a single copy of Photoshop.

Had I not had a legit copy of Photoshop, it would have been a different story.

Sure…….. Backup of your software to use ok

But is it not the case that if you buy a copy you will encourage the use of pirate software and still the pirates get the cash so I don’t understand what the difference is if you still BUY pirate software even if you use a legit bought licence key

[cdnvic]

The difference is that you have a license to use the software. If you buy a copy and use it without a license it's illegal. If you buy a copy or get one from a friend because you don't have a physical disk then you are legal so long as you have a license to use it.

You pay for a license, not the data.

Some offices have hundreds of machines running Windows that was all installed from the same disk, but each installation needs it's own license.

And for the record, there is no unlicensed software on my machines.