Where to Buy Windows 2000 etc

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pennypincher

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I'm trying to upgrade a few school PCs from Windows 98 to windows 2000,it's a freebie to the school but I can't seem to buy it anywhere,cost is the major issue I'm thinking windows 2000 will be a lot cheaper than XP and will do the job.Can you buy it second hand,or if you're recycling a machine use it's software??Amazon sell it new for 170+Euro but that's way to expensive...
 
Microsoft have special license options for academic use in case that's of any use? I'm surprised to see that Micromail no longer seem to sell Windows 2000 but perhaps MS resellers are restricted in what versions of the OS they can sell or something? To be honest I would have expected a retail copy of W2K to cost at least €170. If cost is an issue and there is no strict attachment to Windows why not try something like Ubuntu?
 
Cheers Clubman you have some excellent web sites,obviously an IT worker,maybe you can help me a little further,I'm upgrading some of the schools (Windows 98) 2 Gig drives to 20 Gig drives and I have free cloning software that makes a perfect image which works fine but the PC still only sees a 2 Gig drive...is there some way I can make the rest of the disk volume available,spent an hour looking for software that would do this but can't find anything.....
 
Two issues come to mind:
  • If the cloned image is 2GB then you probably need to resize the partition after duplication to extend it to span the whole 20GB (or whatever partitioning arrangement you prefer). There are lots of tools to do this but one way that I've used is to download a live bootable CD version of GNU/Linux (e.g. Ubuntu, Kanotix, Knoppix etc. - or maybe even smaller versions such as DSL (not sure if it includes the required s/w?)) that includes QtParted and use that to do the partition resizing. There are other commercial and possibly free Windows native applications for doing the same thing but that's just one suggestion. In fact I have also booted from a live bootable GNU/Linux CD and used dd_rescue to clone one hard disk to another including both internal, one internal one external USB etc.
  • It is possible that older PCs may need a BIOS upgrade (if available) to see disks larger than specific capacities - see here for example. What make/model of PC and type/version of BIOS?
Post crossed with johndoe64's.
 
Thanks guys,Partition magic would have done the trick but as it's only trial software when you go to finish the application it tells you to buy it on their web site.The System is a siemens xpert running windows 98,2 partitions which come to 2 Gig.I would be sorted if I could actually resize the partitions,to take advantage of the new 20 Gig drive they are on...
 
Everything that I mentioned above is readily available and free. If the system partition (the Windows installation partition) is only 1GB then you will probably want to extend that and organise any other partitions as suits your needs.

You didn't post enough information (specific Xpert model number and ideally BIOS type and version identification info) to comment further on the possibility of the BIOS being restricted in terms of how big a drive it can address or the possible need for a BIOS upgrade.
 
Hey Clubman,unfortunately I can't find any model number on the PC,originally I had a working version of win98 on a larger drive(Different PC) and was going to build it up using drivers for the Siemens machine but could not find what model the siemens xpert was..no number,name or serial...I looked up a good few of those sites but they're all Linux?No windows equivalent...I did find free trial ware at snapfix called paragon installed this onto my Win2000 Drive then tried to merge and extend my win 98 drive..which was running as a slave...but it will only work on a primary drive...which means I have to download it onto my Win98 drive..which means installing nic card to download via broadband...might just get a lend of the partition magic and merge and expand tomorrow...lesson to be learned about offering freebies!
 
Hi
I have been in your position a couple of times. You seem to be sorted on the hardware side.

On the software side: If it is a school for children under 18 and the computers are donated, Microsoft will provide OS (W2000, XP) free. However, if the pcs were bought by the school, you may be out of luck. I would apply anyway, you never know.

Link to MS Freshstart programme:
 
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