Use legit XP SP2 or community Integral Edition?
 

So, I work in IT and my boss and I were talking and I mentioned I was on the lookout for an unused Windows XP OEM copy. He said, "Hold on a second," and proceeded to produce a still in shrink-wrap copy from his office closet and gave it to me, with an unused activation key!

I've read about the community Integral edition and was curious; is it better for me to use my legitimate copy or the third party version? My gut instinct is to use the former but I would be interested in reading the responses of others here.

From what I've gathered, the integral edition has loads of drivers not included in the original (including NVME drivers i believe, but you might want to double check that.)

If you plan on using any sort of modern hardware I would probably go with the integral edition, but my experience is limited. I would wait for someone more experienced to come along and chime in, but I thought my :2cents: would be informative. Good luck!

So far, I'm going to be using gear from the early 2000's (Gigabyte motherboard with 2x SATA II ports, which I thought was interesting). That, and I purchased a hot swap drive bay that lordsmurf recommended for transferring large volumes of data to and from my capture system to my editing system.

Put the sealed box version in a drawer/closet/attic, keep it as your legal copy.

Install Integral Edition.

Post a new thread in the Premium forum, and I'll discuss your full build with you. I'm currently wrapping up some of my own builds. I'll share some tips with you on what to get, where to get it, etc. How to set it up, what to watch for.