How to tell what version of Windows on a recover cd?

[Guest Archivist]

My mother's pc came with recovery cd's.

 

Is there a way to find out what version of Windows is on it? Without having

to run it and maybe installing a version that is not wanted?

 

Is there a file for XP that will tell me by name what verion it is?

[Guest sgopus]

RE: How to tell what version of Windows on a recover cd?

 

Right click my computer and choose properties, it will show the current

version and service pack level.

 

"Archivist" wrote:

> My mother's pc came with recovery cd's.

>

> Is there a way to find out what version of Windows is on it? Without having

> to run it and maybe installing a version that is not wanted?

>

> Is there a file for XP that will tell me by name what verion it is?

[Guest Patrick Keenan]

Re: How to tell what version of Windows on a recover cd?

 

"Archivist" <Archivist@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:23097CC5-B506-4882-871B-FE192B564A1B@microsoft.com...

> My mother's pc came with recovery cd's.

>

> Is there a way to find out what version of Windows is on it? Without

> having

> to run it and maybe installing a version that is not wanted?

>

> Is there a file for XP that will tell me by name what verion it is?

 

Typically, no. You might find a readme on it that mentions this.

Recovery disks are compressed images made in different ways and are not

based on the XP installer.

 

Otherwise, you pretty much need to look at the label on the recovery disk,

or contact the original manufacturer.

 

Actually, there is one other source of this information - the COA sticker on

the back or bottom of the PC. It will tell you what version the PC was

originally licensed with, and that will almost certainly be the version on

the recovery disks.

 

This will not mention service pack level, though, as that's not really

relevant. Unless the PC is pre-2004, I would suggest you assume the

recovery disk has at least SP1, and in the meantime download the entire SP3

file to a CD of your own, and update with that as soon as the recovery

portion is finished and you've uninstalled whatever bloatware you wanted to

remove from the base install.

 

HTH

-pk

[Guest Michael T.]

Re: How to tell what version of Windows on a recover cd?

 

"Archivist" <Archivist@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:23097CC5-B506-4882-871B-FE192B564A1B@microsoft.com...

> My mother's pc came with recovery cd's.

>

> Is there a way to find out what version of Windows is on it? Without

> having

> to run it and maybe installing a version that is not wanted?

>

> Is there a file for XP that will tell me by name what verion it is?

 

I am not sure this applies to all recovery CDs.

 

If I examine the contents with Windows Explorer, there is a file named

SQ.TXT.

 

When I open it with Notepad I see the following:

ENG_XP2_HOME_SP2_V2

 

Perhaps this is something Dell Computer adds to the CD. I just never had a

reason to check on this.