I have a Sony LX2 slimtop PC which came with XP Professional. Last week it crashed after I tried to install my Creative Zen, and now it gives me the "Unmountable_Boot_Volume" blue screen error and I can't even get into safe mode. Apparently the only way I can get to the recovery console is via the XP CD, but I can't find it after moving house. I don't want to spend money to buy a copy of XP Pro just because my computer crashed, and I don't know anyone who has an XP Pro CD. Someone suggested I use a non-legit version but I'm scared that would somehow screw up my system (although it can't really be more screwed). What can I do to get to to recvery console and save my PC? thanks in advance! Andrea

If you are actually telling us the truth, then there is nothing really special about an XP cd per se. Just like the old 95, 98, W2K, and any other version, the CD did NOT have anything on it concerning the EULA (license) or the product key. What this means is, that I could go downtown, buy any number of identical copies of XP, throw away all the CD's except one, and LEGALLY install XP on the like number of machines, as long as I have a license (and product key) separate for each. As long as you have the same "version" IE OEM, retail, etc, so that it will accept YOUR OWN product key, you'll be fine. I did, also buy a HP "operating system cd" on ebay that seems to be nothing more than an OEM XP CD. With a good OEM key, you can use that HP disk to install on another machine--again, with a "legit" key/ license

why wouldn't i be telling the truth? i just want to get to the recovery console. i already have xp professional on my sony LX2, it came with the computer. i just don't have the OEM CD that came with it, and i'm hoping that there's a way of getting my computer to work again and retrieve my data without buying anything.

You may have a problem with your hard drive that needs to be addressed first. You can avoid many of these Windows problems with Linux. Linspire eases the transition for new users

how do address the hard drive problem without the recovery console? if i could that would be great! andrea

"""why wouldn't i be telling the truth?""" Because there is an AMAZING number of people on here who seemed to have "lost their Windows CD's" I protect my software CD's, and most especially, ones like Windows--that I've paid a lot of money for--more carefully than almost anything else in the house. I ALWAYS burn several backup copies, and wear them out instead of the original, and the SECOND thing I do, before I do anything else, is write the product key on the cd(s)

isn't the product key the one stuck on my desktop? i've never had a computer crash like this (can't even access safe mode) so i didn't even know that the CD was so important. i thought the CD was only for fresh installs. however the CD that came with the sony was a recovery CD which I don't even know does what I need.