How do i get windows xp for free

Thanks for your feedback, it helps us improve the site. Hi Charlie, You don't, at least not without the installation media. What problem are you having that brings you to want to try a "Factory Reset" of XP?

That's called factory resetting which is what you asked about. And you still can get the updates and Service Packs up until when support ended for XP. In reply to Bill Smithers's post on August 7, Hi Bill, that's interesting. Reinstall Windows XP from your original installation media, reformatting the hard disk as part of that process. Subscribe to Confident Computing! Less frustration and more confidence, solutions, answers, and tips in your inbox every week.

I took your advice and updated to SP3. It took a long time but now it seems as if everything is working ok. Anybody else have this issue? How do you do the BackUp before doing the install? I clicked on the link above and keep coming up with a Verizon advertizement. I have found on two occasions that USB stuff has stopped the installation of windoze…remove all add ons before attempting to update or reinstall…!

Every time I try to install SP3 it fails very soon after starting with a message the file ntdll. A forum suggested I had a trojan or virus and told me to go into Safe Mode and empty the Windows system 32 Temp folder then reboot. I did this with no success and there are no executables in my Windows Temp folder. A complete scan with avast and malbytes shows no infection or malware. My computer works perfectly and I am loth to carry out a reinstall of my OS although I have used Macrium Reflect to back up my whole system to a USB external hard drive.

Subscribe on YouTube! Did you enjoy this tip? We cover Windows, Mac, software and apps, and have a bunch of troubleshooting tips and how-to videos. Click the button below to subscribe! Subscribe to Help Desk Geek. You'll arrive at a completely black screen. Don't worry! If the installation doesn't begin automatically, use the keyboard to navigate to My Computer.

Use the default installation location and wait for the setup to complete. Select Continue Anyway. The installation process does take a little while, needing periodic input to move past the software warnings. If you have an old Windows XP license , dig it out and enter it to try to keep the virtual machine alive. I say "try" because the Windows XP activation servers are long offline, but you can try a phone activation. If you feel devious, you could try the old Windows activation loop, whereby you reset the trial license back to its original day counter.

However, I haven't tried it with the Windows XP Mode virtual machine, so you will have to conduct a private experiment. But the easier solution is to create a snapshot of the Windows XP Mode virtual machine straight after installation.

Then, when the license expires, you can revert to your fresh snapshot but you'll lose all the data on the virtual machine, so bear that in mind. Note that just because you have Windows XP working doesn't mean you should use it!

Windows XP is no longer suitable as a primary operating system because of the security risks. If you are still running Windows XP on your home computer or laptop, you should consider upgrading to a modern operating system. Are you forced to stay with Windows XP? Using an unsupported operating system is risky, but don't despair! We show you how you can carry on running Windows XP, if you must. Gavin is the Junior Editor for Technology Explained, a regular contributor to the Really Useful Podcast, and a frequent product reviewer.