- Joined
- Jan 5, 2008
- Messages
- 4
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- Location
- Exeter/London/Newport
- Your Mac's Specs
- MacBook Pro 2.33GHz 2Gb
When Boot Camp was released, like many OS X users, I was curious to see if/how Windows ran on a Mac (rapidly, it turns out). So I navigated over to eBay to obtain a copy of XP SP2, created a partition and (after several hours) had Windows beating my beautiful MacBook Pro with the ugly stick. A few days later, the novelty factor had worn off and I haven't booted into XP since.
Now I'd like to reclaim my hard drive: an extra 32Gb will free-up a lot of space. While I'm at it, I'll take the plunge and upgrade from Tiger to Leopard.
In principle, as I understand it, one can simply use Disk Utility to erase the partition. However, I'm also trying to persuade my parents to switch to an iMac. They "need Windows" because they occasionally run PC-specific programs. I'm the family's tech support guy, so another Mac would mean less work for me!
Anyway, I would like to recycle my unwanted (registered) copy of XP for installation on a different machine, but I'm weary of Microsoft's 'Windows Genuine Advantage' anti-piracy protection. My questions are...
1. How do I unregister XP? Can I do this without contacting Microsoft directly?
2. Does Microsoft consider Windows 'locked' to a machine after installation? If so, what's the best lie to tell them to allow unregistration (e.g. hard drive exploded, needs replacing)?
3. Will I need to use Tiger's Disk Utility to reclaim the Windows partition before upgrading to Leopard, or will a clean install automatically give me the space back?
I especially welcome replies from those who've gone through this process. Thanks in advance for your help!
Now I'd like to reclaim my hard drive: an extra 32Gb will free-up a lot of space. While I'm at it, I'll take the plunge and upgrade from Tiger to Leopard.
In principle, as I understand it, one can simply use Disk Utility to erase the partition. However, I'm also trying to persuade my parents to switch to an iMac. They "need Windows" because they occasionally run PC-specific programs. I'm the family's tech support guy, so another Mac would mean less work for me!
Anyway, I would like to recycle my unwanted (registered) copy of XP for installation on a different machine, but I'm weary of Microsoft's 'Windows Genuine Advantage' anti-piracy protection. My questions are...
1. How do I unregister XP? Can I do this without contacting Microsoft directly?
2. Does Microsoft consider Windows 'locked' to a machine after installation? If so, what's the best lie to tell them to allow unregistration (e.g. hard drive exploded, needs replacing)?
3. Will I need to use Tiger's Disk Utility to reclaim the Windows partition before upgrading to Leopard, or will a clean install automatically give me the space back?
I especially welcome replies from those who've gone through this process. Thanks in advance for your help!