Pre installed operating system (Windows XP Pro)

s0198362

Hi all, just wondered if anyone could help me out here?

I have just purchased a new laptop, (toshiba) and it comes ith the operating system pre-loaded along with a whole load of junk programs that I just don't want. It also came with a "Product Recovery" CD. I have tried re-installing from scratch from this CD, but it just re-installs all the crap again (some sort of ghost image perhaps). I can't even partition my hard drive.

Does anyone know of a way of just installing the operating system, without any factory add ons?

Thanks

Browntoa

just delete the crap, it's easier ??

shaunc196

There is no way, with that recovery CD. What you need is a Operating System CD only, and then use your excisting Key ( should be on the bottom of your laptop ) to Validate your XP.

Thats the only problem with the Recovery CD's. You delete the crap, just for it to return.

As suggested above, just uninstall all the crap, but unless you know what you are doing, your registry will be left in tatters, then you need to download REgclean, and thats a whole new ball game.

Hope this clears things up a little

Shaun
MCSE

s0198362

Shaun, how do i get hold of an operating system cd (legally) or is it going to be expensive? Can i borrow someones, and enter in my own product key? I have read about looking at setup in \i386 folder. does that work, or willl the crap still be there.

Thanks

shaunc196

Yes you should be able to borrow someones, and you have a Legal License Key, thats not the issue. You can also download it, if you know where to look. Again, I don't mind saying this, as you have a "legal" license key.

To rip apart the I386 folder, is a bit of a nightmare, and there is so many files you have to remember, and also rememeber to make the CD bootable. You must have a friend that has one. Don't buy one, as this will cost you a very large packet.

Shaun
MCSE

Omertron

s0198362 wrote:

Shaun, how do i get hold of an operating system cd (legally) or is it going to be expensive? Can i borrow someones, and enter in my own product key?

Yes, this is perfectly legal, as what you own is the licence key and not the media the software is on.

s0198362 wrote:

I have read about looking at setup in \i386 folder. does that work, or willl the crap still be there.

It depends on how advanced you are. You can copy the i386 folder to a pre-formatted drive and then install from there by running the setup.exe file in that folder. This would involve you being about to boot into a MSDOS environment which is a bit of a pain.

You could look at a tool like nLite which will build a new system disk from one you already have, but it's complicated :rolleyes:

Sorry for the ramble, but probably the best option is to borrow a disk from a friend