I’m after some help from the STW IT community….seems a resonable place to ask 😆

Aging old P4 based Dell is all but dead, so I’ve just ordered a new machine. i-7, loads of ram and hdd space. Thought I’d be clever and save a few quid by buying a machine with no OS and installing myself as I’d found windows 8 pro for 50 quid (full media, not the upgrade pro pack)

Now, reading further into it I’ve discovered even for a clean/custom install with the media I need XP or later running on the machine first.

Ah. and I’ve already ordered the media.

okay the Dell has a licensed copy of XP, product key on the label on the top, OEM version clearly. It came pre-installed and I don’t have the disks.

can I scrounge the disks from someone, register it with the license on the dell (I’ve read conflicting things, keys possibly tied to motherboards?) and then do the win 8 install?

If not, what’s the cheapest way around this? I want to get a 64-bit version of win 8 on the machine eventually.

cheers for any help

I suppose that technically speaking, providing the Dell is destroyed you could use the Dell licence on the new PC.

Now you just need some kind soul to copy you a Dell recovery CD. 😉

I’m about to upgrade our P4 Dell antique to Win8. I chucked 4gb ram in the other day, for £35. It only for internet & kids stuff.

That doesn’t sound right at all, where have you read that?
You should be able to boot from the DVD supplied & install away like any of the other previous OS’s

disclaimer: I haven’t seen it let alone installed it

Microsoft are just being fussy:

http://www.techbeast.net/2012/10/26/windows-8-clean-installation-with-an-upgrade-license/

I tried a few XP discs, but some arent bootable.

z1ppy, on the microsoft site, techradar and varous places google has got me to 🙁

As far as I can work out, you get 3 flavours of win 8, – rt only comes pre installed on tablets etc, standard, and pro. for 25 quid you can get the standard upgrade from an early version of windows as a download, a bit more you get a dvd, a bit more for the pro. to go to a 64 bit OS from a 32 bit then a ‘clean install’ is a very good idea. However a clean install needs the media…and it still needs an early windows OS running. it doesn’t install on it’s own, it wipes, formats and installs as it goes.

deft, yes I’ve read it is possible to by the upgrade pack no the full media, and get do that hack to use it for a clean install (wipe, format, install) not an upgrade, but doesn’t it still need an OS running on the machine first?

the final version is the win 8 system builder. this will allow a home user to install on a fresh (or virtual) machine. It’s 70 quid as a download, more as media.

My bad, I thought you’d already ordered a Win 8 disc but I misread.

If you have the XP product key then I’d just download and burn a copy of XP – you pay for the key not the disc so it’s not really immoral. A Win 8 key can then be used for both the 32bit and 64bit versions so you don’t need to worry about that.

Other option – run Windows 8 upgrade on the XP machine, pay £25 for the key and create an install disc, then just use it on the new machine. Should work as your key only gets linked the hardware after installation.

complicated this isn’t it?

I’ve ordered this thinking it was bargain
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/9130579.htm

which allows a custom install to 64 bit version of pro, from a previous version of windows (but not win 8 standard)

to upgrade to pro from win 8 standard you need the pro pack
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/9130696.htm

to install on a fresh machine/drive you need the system builder
http://www.365professionals.com/store/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=54
70 quid for a download of the standrad version, more for pro and more for media

As far as I can see the OEM XP on the dell will be registered to the motherboard, so I can’t get that on to the new machine. Can’t get win 8 on the old dell without upgrading the memory which is pointless as I’m binning it (I considered another gig of ram…but decided it was time for a new machine and OS)

think I’m now hunting for the cheapest version of xp, vista etc that I can load then upgrade from 😐

You don’t have to install Windows 8 on the same machine as the one you do the upgrade from. You could run the upgrade programme on the XP machine (assuming it still works), then just use the key and DVD to do a clean install on the new one. Total cost should only be £25 then.

the XP dell still works but doesn’t have enough ram to upgrade to win 8 (needs 2 Gig). Besides I don’t think it is possible to make an install win 8 disk is it?

looks like I’ve found a copy of xp, with product code, on ebay for 14 quid….so think I’ll be getting that, install on the new machine, then do the custom install to 64 bit win 8 pro…..what a ball ache.

YGM,
Baz

To upgrade for £25 you download a small programme from MS that takes payment, gives you a key, and creates the install disc (USB or DVD). So you’d do that on the XP machine, then just stick the disc into the new comp and use the key there instead. You don’t actually have to install 8 on the XP machine.