reinstalling XP?

muffinhead

I am selling my PC and want the hard drive to be clean of all my files. Is it possible to delete my files permanently and to reinstall XP without formatting the hard drive? also will i have to go through the whole activation process for XP again or can i avoid this?

if there are any simple online instructions that you know of please can you provide the links :xmassmile !

brummybloke

if you are selling the hard drive in the pc with it why not just format the hard drive and reinstall windows and dont activate it? that way whoever buys the pc can plug it into their broad band or inet and activate it with their ip.
i am guessing you will be giving them the version of windows xp ( cd) with the pc as technically you would need to purchase another licence if you were to use 1 version on 2 pc's.

formatting the hard drive is easy enough and as windows xp cd has boot up enabled on it , there are no problems compaired to win 98 and other versions.

GlennTheBaker

If you are buying a replacement PC, it is legal to install your version of Windows XP on your new machine provided you un-install it from your old one.

muffinhead

my current version of XP will be going with the PC - i'll have a new one with my new computer!

last time i reinstalled XP I had upgraded a few parts so it didn't recognise the system & I had to call Microsoft to get another activation code. Will it happen again like that or will the upgraded system be recognised this time?

thesealeyboy

muffinhead wrote:

my current version of XP will be going with the PC - i'll have a new one with my new computer!

last time i reinstalled XP I had upgraded a few parts so it didn't recognise the system & I had to call Microsoft to get another activation code. Will it happen again like that or will the upgraded system be recognised this time?

I believe that when MS activate Windows XP they do it using an activation key which your computer comiles using serial numbers (i think) from your various bits of hardware. Hence, after you had upgraded some parts your code had changed. I think so long as you havnt added any new hardware since you received your last activation code you should be alright this time round.

You could, however, just move to Windows XP Professional...

GlennTheBaker

muffinhead wrote:

my current version of XP will be going with the PC - i'll have a new one with my new computer!

last time i reinstalled XP I had upgraded a few parts so it didn't recognise the system & I had to call Microsoft to get another activation code. Will it happen again like that or will the upgraded system be recognised this time?

What I'm saying is that if you already had Windows XP, you might be able to ask whomever is supplying your new PC to not include Windows and discount the price accordingly.

intel

Best thing to do is a Factory Restore that will format the PC and give the disk away aswell as restore partions have a serial relating to the XP CD so if you kept it for a new
PC it wont be much use unless you do a pain in the neck work around.

Just pop the XP or Restore CD in the disk drive restart PC and boot form disk.
when asked to format choose yes unless the PC is restored using Ghost.