Why won't a Dell Setup OS Disc does not work with other boards???

percy

OSNN Senior Addict
Joined
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Hi. Can anybody explain why a Dell setup disc that came with my Dell desktop can't be used with a generic (like Asus board or customized setup)? Why? Thanks.
 
its dell hardware. ie drivers in it are for a dell board. Its tailored for dell.......
 
one of my old dell home xp discs worked perfectly on my friends ancient computer...he lost his disc but had his own key from the system...that's weird it won't work for you unless they changed their discs recently
 
"ike Asus board or customized setup"
let me rephrase myself. It might work on another dell. but i have had no luck using a install on a non dell machine.
 
i haven't actually tried to install it on my customized desktop since i have another cd. just curious. :)
 
I don't know about Dell but I believe Compaq also looked for things to make sure it was a Compaq computer. I was able to find a workaround for this when a friend of mine had me build him a computer and I used his old Compaq install cd. Of course, after all the trouble I went through trying to get it to install he went out and got Winxp for it.
 
Possibly not an install disc, but an image made to work with your hardware? I know my friends Vaio doesn't have an actual XP disc, but a "restore cd" that just restores an image of the PC at the time it was shipped.
 
A restore cd is nothing more than an image. The way the dell cd is, is that it is a OEM cd. It is the OEM OS, it has the key for dell already in it when you install it. If you can find where the key is housed you may be able to change it .. It does look for hardware and such to see if it is a dell machine before it installs. I think there is also some type of stamp in the bios that tells it what it is ..
 
j79zlr said:
Possibly not an install disc, but an image made to work with your hardware? I know my friends Vaio doesn't have an actual XP disc, but a "restore cd" that just restores an image of the PC at the time it was shipped.
Dell ships an OEM Windows XP CD with your machine rather than a restore disc. It's been that way for at least the last 2 years.

The OEM license allows you to use the OS only on the computer that it was shipped with. Even if you do find a workaround and install it on another machine, you will be running it illegally.
 

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