Asus Recovery CD and VirtualBox

i had a simular problem after installing unbunto from windows you can remove the linux and the recovery willl work.

alternatively if both are working fine use acronis software to image or clone your hard drive.

your hidden recovery partions can be recovered by using disk recovery software.

Firstly to note, you're strictly speaking not allowed to move an OEM licence from one machine to another, that's only allowed for Retail (box) versions of Windows.

With that said, your recovery CD's probably look for the Asus hardware before running. Hence really you have only one option: Restore your machine to XP with the recovery CD's, then migrate that installation to a VM using VMWare's migration tool from another PC (see http://www.vmware.com/products/converter). Then reinstall Hardy x64 on your laptop and move the Virtualmachine there. I know you're using Virtualbox -- I think you can convert a VMWare virtual machine to virtualbox relatively easily.

Hope that helps.

Yeah, if you can backup your data by saving your "/home" to usb stick or dvd or something then wipe Ubuntu and reinstall Xp but try to leave a big enough partition for Ubuntu to use later (about 6Gb or a bit more is ideal). It should hopefully work. I had to reinstall Xp on a machine and the registration process quizzed me about which machine i was installing Xp to but it was pretty obvious (and truthful too for once) which answer to give and let me register fine although we had a few worrying moments - actually i think we had to phone them up to register but it didn't take much time - i think we were lucky choosing the right time-of-day.

I was wondering if you could run a virtual machine inside Ubuntu that would do the same job - or that Xp could be installed to. Sorry i'm completely clueless about virtual machines but i'm pretty sure that Ubuntu has a few packages to choose from.

All that i have that might be really useful is ...
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot

Good luck sorting this out
Regards from
Tom :)

@Andre Mangan: Just FYI, see here: http://www.vmware.com/solutions/whitepapers/msoft_licensing_wp.html#c4282
"Restrictions on OEM versions of Windows:
[...] In addition, they cannot transfer an existing OEM Windows desktop license into a virtual machine."

Also this: http://download.microsoft.com/download/e/4/5/e45c0c44-c8c3-42a5-b937-4be200304792/Virtual_Machine_Brief.doc

That said, I think you're technically OK as the above refers to the case where the VM is on another physical machine distinct from where it came from, and given that the software ultimately stays on the same physical machine in the Original Poster's question (even if it ends up being virtualized.) You would however, as pointed out above, not be allowed to move the OEM VM to another physical machine however.

If you are still having trouble with this then please post it as a new question. Only the most recent questions tend to get looked at so posting/reposting a question just before america arrives online gives the best chance of getting a good few answers.

If the problem has been resolved then please follow the link to the forum thread and mark it as Solved.

Good luck and many regards from
Tom :)

I still needs some time to test if I can make the recovery DVD a full installation one....

But I think this will be the only solution I will have.

So I think I will make it a solved issue.

Thanks you all for your answers.

Thanks Andre Mangan, that solved my question.

Nicely done, thanks. Please return with more questions anytime. It's always good to try to work out the answers ;)
Good luck and regards from
Tom :)