Cheap copy of XP?

[Steve21]

Hey,

Anyone got any ideas where to get my hands on a cheap (preferably legal, aka not ebay :P) copy of XP?

Seems most places totally stopped it, and as it's for more personal play testing of code/scripts etc, can't really use MS license style ones :P

Not really fussy on which edition, if anything bog standard school style would be best

Thanks,

Steve

[FN-GM]

Plenty of legal ones on eBay....

[sukh]

Hi

Have you got a key to use or looking for one too?

Sukh

[Steve21]

Plenty of legal ones on eBay....

Generally found most on ebay are MSDN knockoffs

Any ebay shops you use often for XP?

Steve

[sukh]

@steve - Do you want to purchase one or looking for a free one?

[Dos_Box]

You can get some cheap ones on Amazon: Amazon.co.uk: windows xp
However I notice the price from some vendors is getting quite shocking!!

[Steve21]

@steve - Do you want to purchase one or looking for a free one?

Happy to pay, assuming it's not silly amounts (although free wouldn't be turned down either lol)

You can get some cheap ones on Amazon: Amazon.co.uk: windows xp
However I notice the price from some vendors is getting quite shocking!!

Aye, Not really looking to pay more than a brand new W7 disc can be £80+ for XP is pretty bad I assumed.

Steve

[Dos_Box]

Supply and demand I suppose. There is still a large demand for XP out there. I saw you could get a Vista Home Premium (With SP1) disc on Amazon for £45 the other day. Now that is a cheap XP upgrade seeing as Vista isn't too bad now they've given it a service pack and patched it to hell.

[Steve21]

Supply and demand I suppose. There is still a large demand for XP out there. I saw you could get a Vista Home Premium (With SP1) disc on Amazon for £45 the other day. Now that is a cheap XP upgrade seeing as Vista isn't too bad now they've given it a service pack and patched it to hell.

True, Guess with MS stopping their downgrade disks a lot of schools snapping them up.

I got Vista, and W7 machines to hand, Just was hoping to grab an XP disc. Gives me a full set of computers to test programs on while coding. Especially seeing they like changing everything so much between versions

Steve

[Arthur]

I got Vista, and W7 machines to hand

Do you have Windows 7 Pro, Enterprise or Ultimate? If so, you could use Windows XP Mode for free which is a fully functioning and legal copy of XP Pro SP3.

The XP Mode VM can also be imported into VMware Workstation/Player or VirtualBox if you prefer.

[Steve21]

Do you have Windows 7 Pro, Enterprise or Ultimate? If so, you could use Windows XP Mode for free which is a fully functioning and legal copy of XP Pro SP3.

The XP Mode VM can also be imported into VMware Workstation/Player or VirtualBox if you prefer.

That looks cool option, only thing I do wonder is how would that work with things like bootmenus/startup scripts etc, they'll still run under W7? or does that XP have its own bootmenu/start up etc in the virtual box?

Thanks Steve

[gjdb]

XP in virtual mode boots up like it normal would do, so you can fiddle around with scripts, bootmenu`s or what ever you want.
Afterwards you can choose to save the changes or to remove them.

I always keep a clean virtual image as a back-up, so i can always replace an image which i did F$#$-up

[Steve21]

Ah cool thanks, Will have to try that out.

Steve

[dhicks]

Just was hoping to grab an XP disc. Gives me a full set of computers to test programs on while coding.

You can get a whole Windows XP computer for under £100 on eBay, if you just want something cheap for testing on. I've not seen any full, boxed copies of Windows XP available for less than their original RRP - there's places on Tottenham Court Rode still selling Windows XP for £90.

[chazzy2501]

If your school has Volume Licensing then you could add a technet plus subscription for £50. The copies of any os you use are legal as long as it's not used a production environment. I use loads for testing in VMs etc. That way you get access to loads of cool software thats legal to use at home.