[muzzmellow]

Hello,
I recently stumbled upon the forum while trying to remove some spyware and the support here was just awsome so I thought I'd bring another question I have here.

I have an older Dell Dimension 8300 laptop I'm looking to do a clean reinstallation of. I don't have the reinstallation CD, but I have another dell XP reinstallation CD that I found. I think that I'm no longer using the computer which the CD belongs to since I used Magical Jelly Bean KeyFinder on my only computer running xp and found a different key than the one on the CD which I found by opening the unattended.txt file.

This is my first time trying to completely wipe a hard drive and start from scratch so I was wondering whether I would have any problems installing the operating system from a different CD. (I'm prepared to manually install drivers should I need to.)

Also, anything else I should know about the process before I begin? My plan was to use partition magic to reformat the hard drive, insert the OS CD and run the setup. Would this work?

Thanks Very Much!

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Try using the recovery partition by I believe holding the Ctrl+F11 keys on startup.
If this doesn't work then you will need the original key code that is on your system.
The recovery cd is married to the system it came with, so the other cd will not work for your system.
I suggest calling Dell and seeing about purchasing a new recovery cd.
First try the recovery partition suggestion first as this will return the system to the way the system was when brand new.
You will have to do all the updates for the system when done.
Since this is a desktop I assume there should be a little sticker on the side of the system with key code and what version original OS was.

[rshaffer61]

Try using the recovery partition by I believe holding the Ctrl+F11 keys on startup.
If this doesn't work then you will need the original key code that is on your system.
The recovery cd is married to the system it came with, so the other cd will not work for your system.
I suggest calling Dell and seeing about purchasing a new recovery cd.
First try the recovery partition suggestion first as this will return the system to the way the system was when brand new.
You will have to do all the updates for the system when done.
Since this is a desktop I assume there should be a little sticker on the side of the system with key code and what version original OS was.

[muzzmellow]

Thanks for the fast reply, sorry about the laptop/desktop mistake.
I've tried the recovery partition to no avail, and some research I did tells me the feature is unavailable on models made before 2004. I suspect this one is older, but I can't be sure as I'm reinstalling it for a friend. (I didn't steal it, don't worry .) I guess I'll call up dell. Thanks for your advice.

One last question though, I've reinstalled XP from CD onto another hard drive before, and had it work fine after entering the key code. That was with a business license though. Why is it that that is possible, but not with a home license?

Much Appreciated

[rshaffer61]

Since this is a desktop I assume there should be a little sticker on the side of the system with key code and what version original OS was.

Is the sticker mentioned above on the side of the system?
Is the OS you are attempting to install the same as what was originally on the system? Home or Pro

[muzzmellow]

Found the sticker, it was originally running xp home . I guess that's a problem, but how do people do things like switch from vista to xp and run multiple OS's on their machines? Would they be using different installation CDs that wern't tied to a specific computer?

[rshaffer61]

You would have to purchase Vista to install multiple OS's
Legally you have to own a genuine Microsoft disk for each installation you have.
That disk can only be installed on one system at a time.

[muzzmellow]

Ok thanks, got it. I'll get that re-installation disk from Dell.

Thanks for all your help, much appreciated. Take Care

[rshaffer61]

No problem and we will leave this topic open so if you need more assistance you can just post and we will respond asap for you.