Reformatting with pre-installed WinXP Home?

[Apollo]

OK so my PC is a stupid HP Pavillion with pre-installed WinXP ( no discs came with the PC, bastard PC sellers but I'll know better next time ). I want to reformat the whole damn thing cause it's just clogged as hell. I have a copy of WinXP home that I bought myself and installed on my MAME PC in my cab. Can I reformat and use the same XP Home discs that I used on my MAME PC?
Total noob question I know but I'm not to flash on the PC side of this hobby.
Cheers all

[Mameotron]

Um, if you're referring to using the same product keycode again, yes it is possible.  I don't really know the legalities, but I have four pcs at home all using the same copy of Windows 2000 I bought.  They're even networked and it causes no problems.  There is only one copy, however, that I get on the internet with and update.  Don't know if that matters, though.

[Apollo]

Cool thanks for the quick reply. I guess I can go ahead and go for it. Cheers.

[abrannan]

You should have gotten a registration code with your PC, even if you didn't get discs.  Look for the CoA (Certificate of Authenticity) in your paperwork.  You can install from the CD you bought and use the code from the PC and you'll be perfectly legal.  If you've got two XP systems on your home network with the same code, it can cause problems.

[Goz]

If you are using a legit copy of Home, you will not be able to use the product key on multiple machines as Microsoft identifies specific machine hardware with product keys. You might be able to get away with it if the the 2 machines have the same name, bios rev, and exactly the same hardware. If not, then likely you will get a popup in 20 days telling you to purchase another copy.

You should be fine as suggested above if you install the same version of XP that came on the machine and use the product key that came on the machine. If you cannot find the product key, there are a number of free apps that will display this info for you.

-Goz

[shmokes]

Your HP Pavillion probably has the product key on a sticker right on the computer.  No need to sort through all your old manuals.  As mentioned above, when you install Windows XP on the computer it will require you to go through Product Activation with Microsoft, in which MS associates your computers specific hardware with your product key.  It already has your MAME PC associated with that copy's product key, so if you can't get another valid product key you'll have to buy a new copy or procure a pirated copy with product activation stripped out of it.

[Sephroth57]

i have another old computer with the same situation i wanna format the whole drive. how do i actually format it, do i have to use DOS, can u even get to DOS on XP?

[Mr. Dude]

Sephroth,
You have to use a boot disk (startup disk) it will give you a couple different boot options...  It'll take you to a DOS prompt where you can do an fdisk and format.

Apollo,
I've used the same windows disk and code on all of my PCs and have never had a problem.  I've also used it to install on some of my friends and families computers and they've never had problems either.

[shmokes]

No, you had to have a startup disk with Fdisk on it before Windows 2000, but with Win 2000 and Win XP you can do all that stuff from within the setup program (as long as you boot to the CD rather than running setup from within Windows).  

Just go into your BIOS setup and make sure you computer is set to boot to the CD before the hard disk.  Boot to the CD and choose that you do not want to repair your existing copy of Windows.  Then you'll get the option to manage partitions (you can delete your partition and create a new one(s).  After that it will ask if you want to format the hard drive.  Absolutely format with NTFS and not FAT32.

Also, if you choose to delete your partitions and create a new one(s) you will be required to format the new partition as deleting the partition wipes out everything on the drive.

[Mr. Dude]

you could still use a boot disk too though.

[Darkstalker]

Unless XP is using NTFS partitions, which I don't think DOS can read.  You *might* be able to delete them, but I'm pretty sure fdisk can't see them.  Your best bet is to wipe them using the XP setup process, or grab a Linux installation disk and nuke your partitions during its setup process.

Once you delete them, the XP Home install process will prompt you to create a new partition, and you can choose your partition type:

FAT32 = Faster, and files take up less space
NTFS = More secure and adds file-level permission system

[Jakobud]

As far as I'm concerned, if a PC manufacturer is lame enough to sell you a computer with preinstalled WinXP and not give you the disc, that gives you a right to pirate WinXP off the internet to install later.

[missioncontrol]

WARNING.....better make sure you can get drivers for everything inside the HP. If you don't you may not get everything to work right once you do get XP installed



I got a compaq for my son real cheap did not come with the XP CD or any drivers but had a function to create your own...you may want to check any of your documentation to see if you have that too...



Added: I just checked my sons documentation and there was a program under:

 --->Start--->All Programs---->Compaq--->compaq pc tools---->Compaq rcovery CD creator

You may check to see if you have something similar