Re: Win XP Home Ed. Install, WPA, and Partitioning Questions

From: xpyttl (xpyttl_nospam_at_earthling.net)
Date: 12/21/03 

Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2003 08:54:51 -0500

"Reticulum" <cathexis@erols.com> wrote in message
news:3fe51cf2.439068500@localhost...
> Greetings,

> 1. Will XP allow a dualboot install even if no other OS is installed ?
> ( That is, say yes to dualboot - but load the 2nd OS
later).

XP is NT, and as such, it expects another OS installed (another NT). Most
of the NT-like boot behavior is hidden by default, but it's easily turned
on, and the thing is pretty friendly to whatever that new Red Hat boot
manager is called.

> 2. If XP is loaded already(out of the box), can Dualboot still be done ?

Yes.

> 3. Will XP require another WPA if XP is installed twice - once for
> each boot option ?

Not so long as all boot options are on the same partition. However, on the
same physical box you could easily hack the activation for the other
partition. Be aware, however, that XP is pretty big, you may not want to
have 2 copies of the thing, and also keep in mind that you might not have a
useable install kit with a preinstalled XP.

XP uses quite a number of things to come up with a system fingerprint that
is saved as part of the activation file. The thing that's a little annoying
is that at some point in time, upgrades are going to invalidate the
activation ... while you probably could predict when that is going to
happen, it's enough of a pain that you wouldn't. Just be prepared for a new
ethernet card or a new video card to disable your activation. The good news
is that a single change, like a new partition, won't do it. It takes 'N'
changes, but that means when it breaks, it will be a surprise.

> 4. Whether or not the Dualboot option is used, If a HD Partition is
> created will this be a large enough "change" such that XP will
> call for another WPA ?

No

> 5. If any such additional WPA's ARE needed, is this OK considering
> I have only *one* license ? (Will MS baulk at giving new
WPA?)

They claim not, but you gotta be from Missouri on this.

> 6 Any other unruly behavior from XP I might expect on this?

The actual activation, as far as I can tell, is relatively painless.
However, there are plenty of other annoyances. I would recommend the
O'Reilley book "Windows XP Annoyances" as a help in taming a lot of XP's
obnoxious behavior.

> So you should see by now that the desired option is to leave most of the
PC
> as the Family Computer as Santa intends it -- But to create a more secure
2nd
> area/partition running DCPP or BestCrypt or such along with other programs
> of similar ilk. Since spreading passphrases,etc. over entire family is
dubious
> and not needed anyway, this seems best solution.

XP, even XP Home, is more NT like, and thus has some actual security. Ok,
it IS, after all, Microsloth security, so expect it to be hacked. But if
the point is to protect some files from the family, XP provides that sort of
capability. If you install NTFS, it's even reasonably secure. And there are
maintenance advantages to installing XP on NTFS, although there are
performance disadvantages. You can have your secured files on a second,
NTFS partition. Even without that, non-admin users don't, by default, have
access to other users' files under XP. And with FAT32, you can't just boot
DOS to take a peek. NTFS allows you to actually encrypt directories, so
that even an admin user can't see them.

Oh yes, remember, early on, to boot up the administrator's console, set the
password, and put it in a safe place. XP doesn't break daily like Win9X,
but when it does, you will need that password if you don't want to simply
reinstall from scratch.

..

Relevant Pages

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