What exactly IS XP MCE 2005 and how achieved?

Discussion in 'Software' started by zapp, Jul 20, 2011.

  1. zapp

    zapp Staff Sergeant

    I continue to search for anyone in the known universe who has ever successfully, fully, installed XP Media Center 2005 from physical media. I've been trying all week to achieve this with a rebuild-project- Presario C300 which originally had [and has the COA sticker for] MCE 2005. Unfortunately it is of the age that HP/C no longer offers any parts including the discs. So I dug into my stash and came up with several different media sets. Tried them all and get basically the same results no matter which way I try to force something: I end up with a barely breathing XP Pro install [in one case with a botched dual-boot setup that I did not ask for!] with something buried in the pile that identifies my os as "Windows XP Media Center Edition 2002 SP2". Thus, if I try then to force via Windows Update a rollup to MCE 2005 it barfs and says I don't have the right installation.

    Does anyone know what 2005 edition actually is? like is it just a bolt-on to the previous MCE? How do you make that happen? And maybe the better question, how do you make it run like a good XP Pro SP3, not suffering too much from MCE hangover, and yet still have the MCE Product Key so its valid?

    pls....:cry
     
  2. Earthling

    Earthling Interplanetary Geek

    THIS Wikipedia article explains what it is, and I can hold my hand up and confirm I have successfully installed it from media on several occasions. In fact it's a boot option on this Win 7 comp and has always been problem free. I rather suspect your problems may relate to the hardware config of your rig, as MCE does expect to find a range of media devices and possibly gets a bit confused when they aren't present. Only speculation though.
     
  3. zapp

    zapp Staff Sergeant

    so, when you check your systems properties, does it call the OS Media Center 2005 or 2002 SP_ [whatever]?
    I've installed it three times in just the last 72 hours on this presario notebook and in every instance, no matter what I load on there, it comes out that way. wondering if that is 'normal', or maybe I DO have it installed right but its just more xp like than I recalled. ???
    the buggy thing is, all three installs have been very different in their behaviour. on the last one, even though it was limpy just after initial boot, and still reported MCE 2002, I installed .NET 1.1 and its SP1, ran the third disc which is the rollup/update, and it installed all the 2005 add-ons [forgot... i also had to get the graphics drivers right...]. So when all was done, it STILL is seen in properties etc as a 2002 rig.
    BUT, the COA/License its carrying is supposedly a MCE 2005 license key and its activated/validated/updated.

    I must say, by today's standards, I don't think anyone would consider than a "Media" rig.... we've come a long way.

     
  4. Earthling

    Earthling Interplanetary Geek

    Well I have to confess I've never noticed this before, but the CD says Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Version 2005 and the system properties say Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Version 2002 Service Pack 3. The CD is actually labelled as a Medion Recovery Disc, but is in fact a Medion customised full installation CD rather than what we now refer to as a recovery disk.
    Even so, most new machines don't come with built-in satellite, cable and DTV adapters, as this one did, though I have no idea whether this is in any way relevant to your problem.
     

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