Where to get Windows xp OEM from for t41?

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proveren · #1 Post by **proveren** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 4:40 pm

I bought a used t41 and installed a regular XP on it. And of course it didn't accept it because it wasn't IBM OEM windows XP, but I didn't know that back then. Unfortunately, I don't have a recovery partition in my hard drive, and the person I bought the thinkpad from doesn't have the recovery CD's.
So what are my options if I don't want to pay for recovery CD's from lenovo? I mean I just want the OEM windows, i have a product key on the back of my laptop ...
Does anyone have a suggetion/link for the windows XP OEM ISO?

Thanks,
Zdravko

#2 Post by **jdhurst** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 4:43 pm

In general, you cannot buy OEM Windows for an existing PC. Sometimes people sell proper Recovery CD's here; sometimes they are available on eBay. Otherwise, buying the CD's from Lenovo is a reasonable course. ... JDH

Utwig · #3 Post by **Utwig** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 6:17 am

T4x series CDs are interchangeable, you can sometimes ask forum members to provide isos. In Slovenia they don't sell or give out recovery CDs to endusers, so I just imported them from USA via FTP.

You can also go to some Thinkpad/IBM/Lenovo shop and have them do restore and charge you 1h (35-100 EUR in Slovenia)

I haven't tried on Thinkpads, some Austrian guy on some forum did: Get XP OEM CD and use the key on the back of the laptop. I installed some Toshibas like that and it activated and validated.

The problem might be language. Depending on what key your Thinkpad has you might need German OEM CD. Or if you want German XP you need German restore CDs. For some (mostly Central and Eastern Europe) languages you can install language pack on top of English XP.

kajencik · #4 Post by **kajencik** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 8:17 am

There is this thread: http://forum.thinkpads.com/viewtopic.php?t=56674 - it appears to be exactly what you are looking for...

sktn77a · #5 Post by **sktn77a** » Sat Mar 22, 2008 1:02 pm

A Windows XP OEM CD should work just fine on your thinkpad

You'll need to download the hardware specific drivers that aren't already on the XP disk but people do this every day.

mange_ · #6 Post by **mange_** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 10:43 am

Some licenses require a certain type of OEM media too, be aware of this if you get some media that doesn't work for you. I went to great lengths to find some working OEM media and i finaly found a copy of a swedish win xp pro sp1 (perheps it was sp1a?) swedish that originaly was for a dell machine. No win xp or xp sp2 media worked for me. Best bet is to visit a local computer store and ask nicely to copy their oem media.

sparta.rising · #7 Post by **sparta.rising** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 12:59 pm

I know pirating is a big no-no, but if you are using a valid license (whcih you are), using media found on the net isn't a problem. Most IT departments use copied XP OEM cds, not pressed CDs from Microsoft.

SlamX · #8 Post by **SlamX** » Mon Mar 31, 2008 1:01 am

You can use any XP OEM CD. Microsoft is aware of this type of situation. After you install OEM XP you may be prompted to activate XP in which case you need to enter the OEM COA on the bottomeof the laptop. Here is a link to MS for the utility to do it.

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId= ... lcid=0x409

nikemen · #9 Post by **nikemen** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:31 am

I have this unit and the original OEM c'ds. I'd be happy to make some copies for a forum member if you'll pay shipping to germany?

I'll be back in country on Friday.

Where to get Windows xp OEM from for t41?

Where to get Windows xp OEM from for t41?

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