Here's Windows Embedded POSReady 2009, directly from Microsoft!

Maybe this can be added to WinWorld's OS library, as the ISO is available for free from Microsoft's website.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=11196
Just go to that page and click the download button to download it. It will then take you to a download confirmation page and start the download. The download confirmation page is at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/confirmation.aspx?id=11196 and if you go there directly, the download will start automatically. Note that as Microsoft phases out this (and other Windows XP products), they may remove these download pages. If they do, there's still the URL from the link on the confirmation page that says "click here to download manually". That URL is https://download.microsoft.com/download/6/3/6/636E5B38-EA04-4F25-A059-CA6EDF773F79/POSready2009_CD.iso and is a direct link to the ISO file on Microsoft's server. I've discovered in the past that Microsoft tends to not delete the raw files off their server for a long time after pages that reference the files have been removed. So this direct download link should work the longest. Even so, the ISO will probably be removed from their server eventually, so hopefully this ISO will get uploaded to the WinWorldPC OS library eventually.

Unfortunately, installing POSReady 2009 from this ISO requires a product key, even for the 120day free evaluation version, and the pages on the MS website that contain this ISO don't also contain the product key. Doing some research I found somebody else was asking the same question at the official MS forums here https://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/ie/en-US/2eb96fe7-a165-499b-b315-c912b84f0b03/product-key-for-the-pos-ready-2009?forum=posready . One link there was provided https://www.microsoft.com/windowsembedded/en-us/downloads.aspx which should get me to a page that has the key, but that page now redirects to a new page for Azure IoT. Fortunately that page was available in web.archive.org which is the Wayback Machine. Unfortunately, it required having a Microsoft account to access it, and while I do have a hotmail account (which would have worked) because it was on the Wayback Machine, they don't have a copy of the user database so no login would be possible.

I found a solution to this problem, when I discovered that in the user-uploads section of archive.org somebody had uploaded the ISO along with an evaluation version product key. With it, I was able to install POSReady 2009 in a VirtualBox VM. I also was able to verify that in fact it was an evaluation version by setting the date over 120 days ahead, and noticing that it refused to boot after that, warning that the evaluation period had expired.

The evaluation version product key I found on archive.org is
KFF8R-TMHF4-GKT2P-KGDHH-FXPMB

It seems that Microsoft issued 2 different evaluation version product keys, as I also found another one on two different sites (Facebook and Blogspot). This one is
D4GQ7-HG48K-7YP6R-6JM4C-33FMQ
I have also verified that this one works.

Note that there's a 3rd product key that exists (also found in the user uploads section of archive.org), and it's for the full version (not evaluation version) that also works with this ISO (doesn't require a separate full version ISO), and when you use that product key, you get the full version that doesn't expire (and yes, I tested it to make sure that it didn't expire after 120 days). However, I will NOT be posting that here, until Windows XP is allowed to be hosted on WinWorldPC, as I don't want to be banned for posting a full version product key.

Comments

  • What a bummer... I had this installed on a VM for my own curiosity and after several minutes of installation, I can't log in to it. And my username and password that I specified during the setup are correct. What's going on? :| Hope it's not just me...
  • @Bry89
    I seem to remember that the password needs at least one numeral and at least one capital letter. Could this be your problem?
  • As Microsoft is in fact providing the ISO for this specific version of Windows (POSReady 2009) for free download, could you @SomeGuy put this in the WinWorldPC OS library? It might be a good idea to get it posted there now while you can still get a copy from the Microsoft website to post there, before Microsoft completely deletes the ISO from their server as part of their effort to stop providing outdated OS's.
  • @jonirob My password does meet that criteria, and it's also longer than six characters.

    Even though I can't have the chance to experience POSReady itself yet other than knowing the updates for it to XP via a registry hack some desperado wants to have, I would expect it to look and feel just like XP even if it was made for cash machines.
  • @Bry89 you may have accidentally typed the wrong key when entering the password initially or had caps lock on or something, so from then on your password that you THINK is the right one is not actually the right one. Try reinstalling it and setting up the password again.
  • "As Microsoft is in fact providing the ISO for this specific version of Windows (POSReady 2009) for free download, could you @SomeGuy put this in the WinWorldPC OS library? It might be a good idea to get it posted there now while you can still get a copy from the Microsoft website to post there, before Microsoft completely deletes the ISO from their server as part of their effort to stop providing outdated OS's."

    It's an XP based OS. In fact, security updates were still being provided by MS in 2019, and XP fans have been applying these to their XP retail machines. WinWorld has already quite clearly stated the situation on XP and O2k.

    https://forum.winworldpc.com/discussion/9882/rule-do-not-request-windows-xp-or-office-2000

    But here's the good news: both the small ISO you referenced, and the larger DVD that it is a subset of is easily available through other sites.

    Also readily found are full product keys, which of course will work with either media set.
  • Yeah, XP isn't allowed as it's still somewhat supported, but POSReady is even worse as it came out 8 years later, which means it's definitely still used and maybe supported today.
  • edited January 2021
    @Videogamer555 Already had to reinstall it the one time but that was when I forgot to memorise the password I gave to myself. The second time, I even wrote down the password for the next installation after I keyed it in first time and I'm not going to waste my time reinstalling it a third time because of that. Unless there's a way I can bypass it (like that Windows 2000 logs you in with the password automatically), which I highly doubt.
  • edited January 2021
    @02k-guy you mean that ISO was NOT the full version of POSReady 2009? I assumed that since the full version key worked with it to unlock it without an evaluation period or expiration, that the ISO from MS was the FULL ISO, and was just limited (or not) based on which product key you used. You're saying that there's an even BIGGER ISO for POSReady 2009?

    @SomeGuy what do you think about this? As the ISO I linked to in my opening post is officially distributed for free from MS (and in fact my opening post only linked to its microsoft.com download location, not 3rd party), then it makes sense that it's not piracy to redistribute that specific ISO. Therefore wouldn't it be ok to upload it to WinWorldPC's OS library, or at least email a MS official and ask if it would be ok to do that?
  • First of all, since they are distributing it themselves, there is not really any need for us to mess with it.

    Companies can be weird about mirroring content like that. Especially if someone might get ad revenue from it.

    How about a nice copy of Gazelle Systems Back-It 2.0 instead? https://winworldpc.com/product/back-it/2x
  • @SomeGuy huh, that screen shot looks so familiar ;)

    (it should be noted that dump were files I found on a disk and weren't the OEM disks or anything like that, it was on a set of junk disks I bought to test my 5.25 drive).
  • So I've reinstalled the OS a third time and once again I can't log on to it. Username and password are correct as I specified in set-up, and password in the correct casing I specified.

    Might as well just leave it... not unless some generous soul can provide me with a pre-made VM of it where I'm able to log on with it perfectly. Even if it's one with a minimal set-up if it's more convenient.
  • edited February 2021
    @Bry89 Edit: Removed link.
  • Sorry, but I don't use VirtualBox. I use VirtualPC 2007. I should've said this upfront. If you can convert that VM into a .vhd file via VBoxManage and provide the download link for that then that would be great (though I would've converted it myself if VBoxManage came as a standalone program rather than be bundled with VirtualBox).
  • edited February 2021
    @Bry89 I have a virtual machine of POSReady 2009 and I use VirtualBox but I always create my virtual disk drives in .vhd format (a habit from the days of Virtual PC). It's basically a clean installation. Let me know if you want me to upload it. Probably best PM me so I get an e-mail notification as I don't visit here too often. Anyhow why are you opposed to using VirtualBox? Virtual PC is far outdated compared to continually updated hypervisors and was basic even by the standards of the time it was released. Chances are your login issues are down to using that as I remember some quirky behavior in even the most basic of functions back when using Virtual PC.
  • I'm opposed to VirtualBox because generally, I found it more awkward to use than I am with Virtual PC, especially regarding drag-and-drop. Also that I prefer the idea of undo disks rather than snapshots. It's a long story.

    And I'll drop you a PM about that. Thanks.
  • @Bry89 I've replied to your message!
  • Okay, got it working finally but, as by the conversation between myself and @Dell Boy had, I should share something... when you log in, the username is always "Administrator" even though it gives you the username that you specified yourself during installation. That's the main reason why I couldn't log in after installation.
  • By the way, to anybody who reads this, if you are reading this at some point in the future after Microsoft removes the ISO from their website, I've just gone through the Internet Archive Wayback Machine's to make sure it saved the URL and file for the ISO.
    Here's the direct link to download it from the Wayback Machine.
    https://web.archive.org/web/20210327203714id_/https://download.microsoft.com/download/6/3/6/636E5B38-EA04-4F25-A059-CA6EDF773F79/POSready2009_CD.iso
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