dumping xp os

[deepwaterco]

Hey All!! How can I remove the xp pro on my computer with out running the restore?? I have a used dell laptop that I got with no os, someone here said to contact dell for the recovery disk,and I did $ 40 with shipping great deal! Now here is the problem! someone I know who claims to be sharp with computers loaded xp pro for me but it is not a valid copy. Now I must remove it to restore my machine!! Man am I mad, this should have been an easy deal to do, now what a pain.
                         Thanks          keith   

[soybean]

Was that person supposed to be using the recovery disk you received from Dell to install Windows?  Do you have your recovery disk now?

[Kando]

I had that same problem. Bought a restored computer from a computer fair and went to update. It was not a valid copy. There was a link in that window that lead to a page on the Microsoft site that told how to make it a valid copy. You had to either purchase a valid key or input a valid key.

If you have the recovery disk that should wipe out the installed version. That is what they do. Make sure that the cd is the first boot device, reboot with the cd in the drive and follow the on screen instructions to reinstall the operating system.

[deepwaterco]

Tried the disk but said could not upgrade from pro to home. Found out if you hit Esc. during run it will load the full version, but when I enter the key it says it's not a valid key. So I think that it is seeing the key for the bad copy!

[Kando]

If it were up to me, and the recovery cd was bootable, then I would wipe the drive and reboot with the cd in the drive. With no OS installed the recovery cd should work as expected.

That is, after making sure to backup any data I wanted to save.

But it is not me.

[deepwaterco]

OK that is what I want to do but how do I dump the drive

[patio]

Does this machine have a floppy drive ? ?
If so just DLoad a WinME bootdisk from Bootdisk.com.
Use the file to create a bootable floppy and re-start the machine with the floppy in.
At the A: prompt type in format C: /U and hit enter.
Let it run to completion.
It will ask for a Volume name...hit Enter for none.
Remove the floppy insert the Recovery CD and re-boot.
Setup should now start for you.

You do understand that ALL your data will be gone from this correct ?

[Kando]

Would a Win98 floppy work also or is that specific to ME?

[patio]

Yes.
But after you format it and the XP CD is recognised you need to have XP format it as NTFS...Win98 cannot do this.