My son installed an unauthorized version of Windows XP onto his kids computer last month. now the 30 day window has expired and the copmputer is locked up. ie: "Unauthorized" - "30 day expired" = not activated"

Using his family working computer, is there a way for him to download and burn a Linux operating system install and overwrite his hard drive with it? And if so, which Linux OS would you recommend?

FYI: He does have a Windows 98se dick with 3 1/2 floppy and license code, but has converted his HDD to NTFS, so the re-install and rescue won't work.

This would give our whole family a look at Linux. I've long considered partitioning my 320 GB HDD and adding a Linux OS, probably Ubuntu, just to play around and become familiar with, especially since I'll need to upgrade my Windows XP eventually.

Thanks for any advice and assistance.

You can download Linux Mint and overwrite Xp. You need to put the CD and boot your computer and it should take you to a boot menu and from there, it's easy. Just follow the onscreen instructions. When you get to the desktop you will see an Install option.

Yes.

Download any Linux, burn it to CD, boot from the CD, follow on-screen prompts to install.

I'm gonna suggest ubuntu, it's tried and tested, supports most hardware, and the general feedback is excellent. You may need to think about how old the hardware your son is using, if it's more than about 6 years old, consider a version of ubuntu older than the current version, I would suggest ubuntu 8.04 (hardy heron) which is the current long term service copy of ubuntu, with the most support. Take a look here: http://releases.ubuntu.com/hardy/ for download.

The last thing he wants is overwhelmed by distro recommendations. I think his top priority right now is to get rid of XP. Any distro can do that. Linux Mint is beter since it gives you out of the box media support and it looks good. For someone new to Linux [assuming here!], Mint is the best choice.

Fair point ~sHyLoCk~, my experience of ubuntu is I find it very usable, but your point regrding media support makes alot of sense. I still say play with ubuntu down the line for experience tho!

Darik's Boot and Nuke all the way. Start over!

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Why bother when data erasure isn't a requirement? There's no point to wiping the disks, repartitioning and reformatting during the Linux install will do enough.

<irishbitte > thanks for your suggestions already working on that and it do a fine job

AlucardZero et all,

Thanks for the note. Now advice please for me on my properly running computer (not my son's discussed in my original post above).

I'm running Windows XP on a 1.4 GHz Athlon with a 320 Gig Hard Drive. My HD has 215 GB free. I do NOT want to lose any of my data or programs already on the HD since it includes my music jukebox and 63+ Gigs of music (some 14+k songs). My current hard drive is backed up externally on a 1 TB Verbatim external HD.

If I simply download Ubuntu, will it option or automatically partition and install without reformatting my existing programs and files? Ditto for WINE since WINE is supposed to allow windows programs, especially my Media Jukebox, to run?

And can an old fa*t with 5 left thumbs on each hand do it easily? This will be my intro to Linux.

FYI: I haven't upgraded since my current computer is working fine and adequately meeting my needs.

Thanks.

If you have a CD or DVD burner, you can burn the downloaded .iso file to a disc. Then give the disc to your son to use for the installation.

If your son's computer is connected to the internet, you could burn a smaller netinstall image that will install the system from the internet. I used this method to install openSuSE on a Mac P5 with a flacky DVD drive.

When you burn the disc, make sure you select "burn iso image" in your XP's CD/DVD burning software. You don't want to burn it as a file backup.
Burn it in your computer, but boot to it in your son's computer.

Another option may be to purchase a Linux magazine in your local book store. Barnes & Nobles and other chains carry Linux Format magazine and several other magazines that have a DVD or CDs with a recent distribution. They may also have starter packs for a few distros such as Ubuntu, Fedora and openSuSE. The starter pack will also have printed instructions on installing as well as articles running the program supplied such as open office, gimp, firefox, etc.

When you get to the partitioning stage during the Ubuntu install, it will ask you whether you want to use the whole disk (no, you don't want that), all the free space, or manual: where you can choose the size of your linux partitions.
ImgBurn is a good program for burning .isos on Windows.

http://www.imgburn.com/

Thanks to all for your assistance. My computer is now partitioned and Ubuntu is up and running either Windows XP or Ubuntu. Am waiting to hear from my son as i gave the iso install disk to him to see if he could get his locked up computer up also.

Thanks again

good stuff tlcmd, and I have no doubt anybody who takes a little time with it can install and use ubuntu, or probably most linux distros at this stage. Most, tho not all, are an absolute doddle, if you have google and the mighty LQ community with you!

Just got a note from my son. He has successfully installed Ubuntu over the expired unauthorized Windows XP. Now he's working to get the computer back on his home wireless network. Will keep y'all informed.

Yhanks again.