New HP laptop: should I reformat and put retail copy of Win XP on it?

[Cymbal Man Freq]

New HP laptop: should I reformat and put retail copy of Win XP on it?

I'm already sick to death of just a couple days of reading this board.

 

[FuturDreamz]

May I ask why do you want to put XP on your laptop?
EDIT: I found your posts in another thread: http://www.sevenforums.com/general-...sions-empty-start-menu-items.html#post2141599

I'm not entirely sure what exactly you mean by permission problems. Is it possible you're mistaking other issues with permission issues, such as driver issue or conflict with Norton?

You should never need to take ownership from the OS, as I believe that can only make things worse. The only time I ever needed to futz with permissions and ownership was when I got a SSD and wanted to turn my old boot drive into a storage drive.

 

[Cymbal Man Freq]

Just a quick look in my closet didn't turn up the copy I was looking for but I found a Win XP Pro 64 bit 180 day trial CD. Is that upgradable to valid software and how much would that cost? Also would it work on this new laptop? I prefer 64 bit for the laptop because I have 8 GB of RAM, and browsers these days demand it.

 

[Cymbal Man Freq]

Why am I abandoning Win 7? I've run head on into Permissions HELL. I have a 1 TB drive, so I guess I could reformat and repartition so I can put Win XP Pro 64 bit on first, then try to reinstall Win 7 on a 2nd partition, and put Win 8 on a 3rd partition.

 

[edwar]

No you should not. More then likely you won't be able to as you won't find XP drivers for the hardware in your new notebook.

What is wrong with your install of Win 7 on that HP.

 

[Cymbal Man Freq]

I just hope my M$ license for Office 2010 and my anti-virus cover the 3 licenses required for 3 OS's.

 

[Cymbal Man Freq]

What is wrong with my install of Win 7?
I'm near the bottom of his thread...
http://www.sevenforums.com/general-...ccess-permissions-empty-start-menu-items.html

 

[edwar]

Why am I abandoning Win 7? I've run head on into Permissions HELL. I have a 1 TB drive, so I guess I could reformat and repartition so I can put Win XP Pro 64 bit on first, then try to reinstall Win 7 on a 2nd partition, and put Win 8 on a 3rd partition.

What type of permission hell are you talking about? I run 2 Win 7 PCs and have no problems with permissions. Yes they may be slightly different then XP. In XP you could take ownership of the SYSTEM drive. If you do that in Win 7 you will screw the OS to the point you will need to reinstall.

that is not to say you can't give yourself, your Named User Account, full Read and Writer permissions except to certain folder that 7 has restricted to just the System.

 

[Cymbal Man Freq]

As of now I've mucked with permissions so much that when I right click on the C: drive and check the Security tab in Properties, the only users that don't have Full Control are Authenticated Users (whatever that means).

The SYSTEM, My 1st and 2nd User, Administrators and Users all have Full Control now, whereas before I can only guess that only one heading had Full Control. I added two entries for my two users prior to reassigning permissions.

Maybe everything is fixed? No. Things like Getting Started on the Start Menu with a subgroup starting with Discover Windows 7 (for HP preloaded software) give me errors and won't work. (http://go.microsoft.com/LinkID=139460 with a big red X saying "Application not found")

 

[edwar]

Right you have fooled with the ownership and permission to the point the OS is TOAST. Use the recovery partition or the Discs you made when you first started the system to do a Clean install of the OS.

If you don't have those discs and or the recovery partition will no longer work because of your messing around then you will need to download the ISO file for your version of Windows, HP, Pro or Ultimate from My Digital Life and use that along with the key from the COA sticker on your notebook to do a Re-Install.

 

[Cymbal Man Freq]

I'm more of the opinion that the OS was toast before I fooled with permissions and I've rectified the problem, but it's too soon to know.

 

[Cymbal Man Freq]

I did download an .iso file from Digital River the other night. I'm supposed to burn it to DVD or put it on a USB stick? I use BelArc Advisor to find the COA key because...oh, here's the key on the bottom of the laptop where my grubby hands can get all over it when i CARRY THIS THING AROUND. (caps lock error, sorry).

I'll probably try the recovery partition first after I back up mystuff and make recovery DVD's and such.

 

[FuturDreamz]

As of now I've mucked with permissions so much that when I right click on the C: drive and check the Security tab in Properties, the only users that don't have Full Control are Authenticated Users (whatever that means).

The SYSTEM, My 1st and 2nd User, Administrators and Users all have Full Control now, whereas before I can only guess that only one heading had Full Control. I added two entries for my two users prior to reassigning permissions.

Maybe everything is fixed? No. Things like Getting Started on the Start Menu with a subgroup starting with Discover Windows 7 (for HP preloaded software) give me errors and won't work. (http://go.microsoft.com/LinkID=139460 with a big red X saying "Application not found")

That's because you now have permission, but the OS no longer has permission. So whenever the OS tries to do something, it encounters a file that only you have permissions to and can't do anything.

 

[bassfisher6522]

Here's my 2 cents worth. First and foremost I would do a factory reset to the day you purchased the laptop. Hp should have some built in software installed somewhere to achieve this. Or make the recovery disc's and use those to restore to factory condition.

Windows 7 is bar far a superior OS to windows XP. Just there is a learning curve to using windows 7.

 

[gregrocker]

If you're going to reinstall you might as well get the superior Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 instead of trying to install a dead OS on new hardware which probably won't want it.

If you stick with the tools and methods given in the tutorial you'll have a perfect reinstall. Be sure to read the Special Note to HP Owners a t end, too.

 

[Cymbal Man Freq]

I just looked at the Security settings for my mom's Win 7 Dell desktop which is a year old.
C: drive
1) Authenticated Users: (everything unchecked except Special Permissions)
2) SYSTEM: (everything checked except Special Permissions)
3) Administrators (Vostro 460/Administrators): (everything checked but Special Permissions)
4) Users (Vostro 460/Users): (Nothing checked but Read & Execute, List Folder Contents, and Read)

D: Drive
1) Authenticated Users: (everything checked except Full Control, and Special Permissions)
2) SYSTEM: (everything checked except Special Permissions)
3) Administrators: (everything checked except Special Permissions)
4) Users: (Same as C

 

[edwar]

Really you need to STOP this. Re-Install the OS. You have FUBAR'ed the permissions and you CAN NOT FIX IT without re-installing.

 

[AC]

Please, follow the Windows 7 Clean Install tutorial in my sig. I'll even post the link for you.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1649-clean-install-windows-7-a.html?
You have, for lack of a better word, "freaked" up the permissions, so you need to clean install.