Compaq Evo D500 (2001): A PC with recovery media for four OSes?

(24 March 2026) Often, computers have recovery media for one or two (or three, if from the early Windows 7 era) OS options. Sometimes there's outliers, and one good example of such an outlier would be the Compaq Evo D500. A PC I bought a few months ago in my neverending search for a Socket 423 computer, it is instead an early Socket 478. But it DOES have four unique OS options in its recovery media, or five TOTAL options: Windows NT 4.0 Workstation (on a 2002 PC, mind you!), Windows 98, Windows 2000 Professional, Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Professional. So what would the OEM Windows XP install be like? I am likely ultimately going to put Windows 2000 on this desktop, but for now its an XP desktop.

Watch on YouTube

Software used

- Paint.NET 5.1.11

- Audacity 3.7.7

- DaVinci Resolve 20.3.2

Music (in chronological order)

- Synergy by Geographer, YouTube Audio Library.

- It Devours by Chasms, YouTube Audio Library.

- Leveled Up! by Bad Snacks, YouTube Audio Library.

Works Cited

- [1] "Altiris", English Wikipedia. Last edited 30 December 2025, accessed 18 February 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altiris

Media used

No licensed media used except for two Windows logos used under fair use.