windows XP cd's

whitewash

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right my laptop is caput, something is seriously amis with it so im going to reinstall windows on it and start again.

when i bought the laptop (7months ago) i was not given an install disk for windows XP home, but obviously i could hook the code out of the current install and use another disk for the installation, i do have a copy of professional lying around but can i use that disk with a home edition code? and result in an installation of home edition?

quite why they sent me a copy of MS works (less use than a chocolate teapot) instead of a copy of MS windows XPhome i do not know.

i doubt they would take my laptop back and repair it themselves as i have deleted all the acer bumpf of it in an attempt to make it run.

would using a home code with a pro install disk work though?
 
If the laptop is from a brand like Dell or HP or something there will be a hidden partition with all the restore information on that, EG the install files for windows

If its a Dell for example, have a look for Dell Recovery :)
 
Acer

im not at home at the mo so ill see what they#ve given me in the way of documentation and cd's they might have given me a backup disk, but there definetly wasnt a windows install disk
 
You can't use an xp pro cd with an xp home key - your laptop should have the COA on the bottom with the xp home key on it, without that sticker physically on the laptop its not licensed for xp.

If you have that, I've got plenty of xp home cd's i can get access to and make you a copy of if you can hold on till the middle of next week :)
 
I think Acers have a restore partion on them.
 
You can't use an xp pro cd with an xp home key - your laptop should have the COA on the bottom with the xp home key on it, without that sticker physically on the laptop its not licensed for xp.

If you have that, I've got plenty of xp home cd's i can get access to and make you a copy of if you can hold on till the middle of next week :)

i sure have got one of those on the bottom, ill check now for some backup folder etc although i think i may have stupidly deleted it. noticed earlier that the whole laptop is formatted in fat32, isnt NTFS supposed to be better?
 
if they gave you system restore disks (CD's), they will have the entire hard drive installed within them, and will wipe the drive and install everything back to as if it had come from the factory ! you rarely get windows cd's nowadays, although i think that will have to change with Vista !
 
My HP Desktop has a restore partition. You just have to hit one of the F keys at boot up and keep it pressed , F10 I think but I've not had to do it... yet!
 
Acer will either have a dedicated system restore CD or some of the newer ones require you to make the restore disk when you first turn them on, if you didn't make them there is an Acer utility on your laptop to enable you to make them now. You will need to check Acer website to find which util it is, or try opening the acer utils on the machine and it should be obvious. If not borrow a friends XP Home disk and use your key then download the drivers you need from Acer's site.
 
The acer backup disk should run the full xp installation and do a factory restore
 
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