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Reinstall WinXP on Dell Inspiron 1100 without original CDs

  • 10-12-2007 02:30PM
    #1
    Ronan H
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,058 ✭✭✭


    Hello. Does anyone know how to do this? I was given an old jammer of a laptop and its mad slow and full of crap so i wanted to reinstall WinXP and start from scratch, but i dont have the original CDs...

    So whats the deal...?

    Thanks...

    Ronan


Comments

  • #2
    Morlar
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,273 ✭✭✭Morlar


    Head wrote: »
    Hello. Does anyone know how to do this? I was given an old jammer of a laptop and its mad slow and full of crap so i wanted to reinstall WinXP and start from scratch, but i dont have the original CDs...

    So whats the deal...?

    Thanks...

    Ronan

    Check the dell website for the manuals for that model to see if there is a keyboard shortcut to boot to a restore menu (obviously there would need to be a recovery partition for this possibility).

    Otherwise if its in warranty dell may send you the cd's at cost - if not your going to have to buy them or get your own cd from somewhere. You could always use a free linux distribution.


  • #3
    Sea Sharp
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,593 ✭✭✭Sea Sharp


    download yourself an ISO of Windows off the net. (No harm done if he uses the proper windows cd-key on the back of the laptop).

    But make sure you get a win XP cd that has SPII on it. I had a load of problems before because dell laptops require Windows CD that has SPII integrated........


  • #4
    Ronan H
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,058 ✭✭✭Ronan H


    Thanks for the suggestions, I actually ended up using the CD from my own laptop which worked fine. In any case I wasn't prompted for an XP Product Key so I presume that its preprogrammed into the machine in some fashion, otherwise the CD wouldn't have worked. Hopefully that's the case anyway, I hope I haven't installed this copy with the same Product Key as my own machine! Time will tell with that validation stuff that Microsoft do from time to time...

    Head


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