I have 3 PC's with Windows XP preinstalled, (Two laptops and one
desktop, one has XP Pro SP2 and 2 have XP Home that I upgraded to SP2)
and none of them came with install CD's in case I ever have to reformat
or replace the HDD.

I've previously built Win 2K install disks by copying the I386 directory
to a CDROM. Does that still work with XP? What do I need for booting
the machine and reformating the HDD back to FAT32 so I can do the
install? BTW, the laptops do not have FDD's, but I assume I can create
a boot CD that boots to a ramdisk or something (so I can swap the CD to
the I386 disk)

If I ever have to reinstall, will I need to call Microsoft to
reactivate, or will XP realize I'm installing again on the same machine?

Thanks,
Bob

Howdy!

"zxcvbob" <zxcvbob@charter.net> wrote in message
news:4m118uF42k7sU1@individual.net...
Did they come with a CD Creator program to make the recovery CDs?
Or have you called the manufacturer to order the recovery CDs?

Very few big-name OEMs come with CDs anymore, but most allow you to
make a CD-R or DVD-R set to recover the device with *looks at the DVD-R for
his daughter's Toshiba Laptop sitting up on top of the computer desk*

RwP

Ralph Wade Phillips wrote:
The desktop came with a recovery CD program, but it took 8 CD's and it
includes all the free crap that comes preinstalled. The laptops came
with a 2nd partition on the disk that you can use to recover, but I
don't think you can burn a disk from it. I'll check out the recovery
console and see what options it has. Thanks.


Best regards,
Bob

zxcvbob wrote:
partition for do a complete format and reinstall. I have an HP like that
and there was a class action suit to get them to send everyone CDs I
said I wanted my CDs but they never came and by time they come XP will
probably be an old program.