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THE SCOOP ON CD-LESS WINDOWS PCs From Scott Finnie at Windows Insider
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- Information from sources at Compaq, Dell, Gateway, and several other
PC makers about how CD-less Windows PCs work on their new models. Scores
of Windows Insider readers wrote me with details about
their experiences with recent PC purchases, and a clear picture is
emerging out of the fog.
No two PC makers are implementing this change in quite the same manner,
so the actual end-user experience is not fully predictable. What's more,
I believe that some vendors are shipping more
than one solution, either with different models, or they've slip-streamed
new wrinkles along the
way since April 1, 2000, when this new deal was officially unveiled.
The point is, not everything
you read in this story will necessarily apply to you if you buy a new
PC tomorrow.
Also, I've been getting a lot of mail from people who bought PCs two
years ago wisecracking to
me that I've missed the boat and this is old news. Wrong. It's true
that HP, Compaq, Toshiba, IBM,
and other makers have sold some models of PCs without Windows CDs for
literally years.
Microsoft says the practice began in 1995. But those were experiments
those companies were
dabbling with. What's occurring now is an across-the-board change that
Microsoft has initiated
with all PC makers who cut their own Windows CDs (the so-called direct-licensing
agreement),
in other words all the biggest names, and some less well-known companies.
--- BIOS Locking Is Real ---
There is, as I wrote in Win Insider last year, a "BIOS locking" scheme
in place. Microsoft confirms
this. A source at Dell describes it in more detail, saying that the
Dell Product Recovery CD included
with new Dell computers looks for an identifier in DMI BIOS. If it
doesn't find that info, you won't
be able to perform a Windows reinstallation or recovery. But, here's
the twist: The info it's looking
for in BIOS is a generic Dell identifier. In other words, any Dell
Recovery CD should work on any Dell
PC shipped since April 1.
A Gateway source corroborates this information; he believes (but isn't
positive) that any Gateway PC
sold over roughly the last two years should be able to authenticate
a Gateway Windows Backup CD's use.
My Dell source says: "[The BIOS-locking arrangement] is an agreement Microsoft has made with all OEMs [with direct-license agreements], including Hewlett-Packard, Gateway, Compaq, and others. So, a Dell CD won't work on anything other than a Dell, and a Compaq CD won't work on anything other than a Compaq. As of June 1, all the operating system CDs Dell ships are set up like this, including Windows NT 4, Windows 98SE, and Windows 95." Windows 2000 was the first to work this way at Dell.
So, while not perfect, that's a bit less onerous than the notion that a CD would be linked to a specific PC. Even so, Insider reader Vincent Muir, who works for a European PC manufacturer, describes a slightly different scenario in his neck of the woods:
"The recovery CD must be 'digitally' tied to the PC with which it was
distributed, by means of a BIOS lock. The recovery CD contains an alphanumeric
string that it searches the PC for, and must find in either a region of
the BIOS or (optionally) in a particular sector of the hard disk. If the
string is not located
during initial execution of the recovery process, the procedure halts
with an error message. The Windows setup files on the recovery CD are encrypted
to prevent access from outside the recovery setup routine. The aim is to
prevent installation of the operating system on a PC for which it was not
intended.
"The main problem encountered so far concerns
using a recovery CD on a PC whose BIOS has been updated and as a result
the BIOS lock string has been overwritten. In this case the OS is, as already
described, not recoverable. To date there is no official solution for this
problem."
When I asked executives from two well known PC companies about this very point last December, both said that preserving the BIOS-lock identifier during a flash ROM update would not be a difficult task, and they expected no problems with that. I can also envision the bigger issue being what could happen to an end-user in a hard-drive replacement scenario. So far, I'm not aware of any U.S. PC companies who are using the hard disk sector method, although some could be. Ask before you buy.
But even the BIOS locking isn't the biggest issue. What everyone wants to know is, can you reinstall Windows, or are you left solely with the option to allow the recovery CD to do a scripted clean install, since it has control of your setup files? Can you use a retail Windows CD of the same version or newer to upgrade your PC?
--- How Do You Reinstall Windows? ---
Things may not be as bad as on this front as they seemed initially.
Microsoft's Windows Me Product Manager, David Ursino, says that OEM PC
makers have the option to provide customers who request one with a full
OEM-style copy of the Windows operating system CD, so long as it's BIOS-locked.
As you'll see in the quote from Microsoft below, however, it would seem
that such a CD would have to be BIOS-locked to your specific PC. But, Ursino
stresses, it's up to the PC maker whether it gives end users a normal Windows
CD. My advice: Ask *before* you buy, and my guess is that you may not receive.
Many Win Insider readers have demanded Windows CDs after purchase. So far,
not a single person has told me that their demand was answered. If you
got a Windows CD by asking for one, please let me know about it:
mailto:[email protected]?subject=Got_WinCD
Gateway gets some Insider recognition for apparently being smarter about implementing its recovery CD than most other PC makers. I say apparently because I haven't tried Gateway'srecovery CD myself. But Insider reader Donna Beck bought a new Gateway PC in mid-May. She sent this information from the Gateway manual that came with her PC. She says:
"Buried on page 158 of the 'Using Your Gateway PC' manual is a half-page explanation of the three options for reinstalling Windows:
"1. Install Windows -- Installs over the current Windows installation and corrects Windows problems and gets Windows working correctly by replacing files that are missing or corrupt.
"2. Delete Windows and Reinstall -- Deletes Windows from the hard drive and reinstalls Windows.
"3. Format the Hard Drive and Reinstall -- All files on Drive C:\ are deleted. Try this option if the 'Delete Windows and Reinstall' option doesn't correct problems with Windows."
My Gateway company source also spoke of three recovery options -- including the ability to reinstall while leaving applications and data in place. He also points out that the Gateway CD contains all the pertinent hardware drivers as well as the Windows Setup .CAB files. That means that you use one CD to clean install or reinstall, and either way you should get a properly configured system.
Some other manufacturers apparently also offer a reinstall option, but one ex-Hewlett-Packard tech support person wrote me a detailed message explaining that, while the HP Pavilion reinstall does preserve applications and data files, it doesn't preserve application settings in registry, so many applications won't work properly. I don't know whether that might also the case with the Gateway solution, or even whether Hewlett-Packard is still shipping Pavilions this way. A Compaq tech wrote me about similar problems with Presarios, however. I can't say this enough: Ask before you buy about how the Recovery CD works, and other issues raised in this story.
--- Reinstalling from .CAB Files ---
Placing the recovery CD, just the Windows Setup .CABs, or both on a
separate hard drive partition is an option PC makers have, and many of
them are taking that route. According to a Dell company source, in addition
to its clean-install-only Recovery disc, Dell places all the Windows 98
SE .CAB files and an unencumbered SETUP.EXE file on this separate partition.
So, if you want to reinstall the operating system from this partition,
you can -- without having to mess with the Product Recovery CD. That's
the way all of these computer makers should handle this. And it appears
that many of them do.
According to reader Garry Davis, a roving IT support person: "I have commissioned Hewlett-Packard Brio BA600's and BA400's recently and they all come with two CDs that allow you only to reinitialize the original contents of the hard disk -- not reinstall Windows over the existing installation. But all the CABs are installed on the hard disk in the C:\Windows\Options\Cabs directory. So, in normal use you do not need the Windows CD. These machines also come with the Windows serial number on a sticker affixed to the side of the machine. This is useful since my clients can't lose it the way they might have their Certificate of Authority! I think the recent changes are helpful but, if the recovery CDs allowed you to re-install Windows without wiping the disk that would be excellent."
Another reader, Bob Ballow, just purchased an IBM ThinkPad, and he found
the same thing.
All the Setup .CABs are in the C:\Windows\Options\Cabs directory, and
he is able to run Setup normally from that folder.
Larry Gennette, who just purchased 68 new desktops and notebooks, Compaq and Toshiba notebooks both came with a full suite of .CABs on the hard disk, and Setup is runnable.
But beware: .CAB directories are not all created equally. Just because you find a .CABs folder doesn't mean you can reinstall Windows from it. In some cases, they may be included just so Windows can find drivers it needs as you add or reconfigure hardware, your network, and so on. The SETUP.EXE file may not be included, or it may be encrypted in some fashion.
--- Official Word from Microsoft ---
"Based on feedback from end customers and PC manufacturers, as well
as to address new piracy concerns, Microsoft is changing its OEM media
distribution policies for Windows, effective April 1, 2000. These policies
are limited only to those PC manufacturers that have direct license agreements
with us, and there's no change for those OEMs that purchase our product
through distribution.
"PC manufacturers will be able ship, at their
option, CD media provided it is locked to run only on the PC system it
accompanies and is clearly branded as part of the PC manufacturer's system,
or to enable a variety of hard-drive-based solutions. MS will discontinue
its manufacture of Microsoft-
branded media for these PCs. "The CD
media format described above, often called "recovery CDs," was initiated
in 1995 at the request of PC manufacturers, and currently accounts for
the majority of MS' Windows media volume today, particularly in the consumer
channel.
"Recently, many PC manufacturers have begun
to include hard drive-based solutions, where a separate partition on the
hard drive can be accessed if system recovery is needed by the end user.
This is cost-effective solution for the PC manufacturers that allows them
to create a "self-healing" PC that does not require external media."
This is part of a second statement Ursino sent: "When users purchase
a new PC, they don't get a full version of Windows per se, but rather a
license to run a copy of Windows on that PC only. Microsoft's new policy
simply enforces this agreement -- which wasn't feasible before, given the
limited means available for distributing any OS with a new system. By providing
PC makers with a way to include these items on a recovery CD-ROM, Microsoft
makes resuscitating a dead system easier while preventing software piracy.
That's far better for most users than a base Windows install that might
not include
needed drivers for video, networking, or sound."
So when you buy a new PC, you don't get transferable rights to Windows. The copy of Windows you get is only legally applicable to the PC it comes with.
But what if you buy a retail version of Windows? I'm trying to get clarification
on this point, but near as I can tell you should be able to use a retail
version of any Windows CD (the same version or newer) to reinstall Windows
over itself, or do a clean install. In the reinstall scenario, though,
there might be
some difficulties that require registry editing.