HP Computer XP Home install question.

[Aztec]

I'm working on a friends computer and we want to reinstall xp home. The problem is that his computer came with one of those HP xp home recovery cds. So when you do the recovery it installs all this junk along with it. Can I use my xp home cd which is a regular cd and just use his activation code? That way all that junk wont get installed along with it?

[OPaul]

You can install any copy of XP on the machine but if I was you I would use the recovery CD and then remove the software you don't need after.

[edbro]

You can install any copy of XP on the machine but if I was you I would use the recovery CD and then remove the software you don't need after.

Then image it.

[Aztec]

We thought about doing that but would it be better registry wise to just start off with xp.

[OPaul]

No not really, makes no difference. You can always you a registry clean up utility if your worried about it.

[[Spam]]

You can install any copy of XP on the machine but if I was you I would use the recovery CD and then remove the software you don't need after.

That's the smart way to do it. The HP may have come with some proprietary drivers that can't be found anywhere else.

[jhobo4]

yeah that`s true and when I tried to do the install Iwas left with many missing drivers

went around in circles and for now going to leave it the way it is

it was reccommended if you see the missing driver from the device manager delete it then restart the pc and let it search again

[incubusdaemon]

Can I use my xp home cd which is a regular cd and just use his activation code? That way all that junk wont get installed along with it?

No- he'll have an OEM key, and you won't have an OEM version so it will refuse to take it.

[erp]

If that computer is a couple of years old and has an intel motherboard and i810 or i815e chipset (it probably does) then the drivers on the windows disk will work perfectly. I've done what they want to do and the "stock" drivers were fine.

[tkyoshi]

HP will have drivers for the computer on it's website which you can download, only thing is sometimes special software may be left out such as the CD burning stuff, etc...

[erp]

BUT if they use the recovery CD, they won't have to activate windows!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Use another windows disk and they will.

[Deciever]

actually I am willing to bet that you can install the real winxp cd without registering it, but it will require you to first make a copy onto a disc of floppy of a certain file that holds your key info for winxp that makes it valid. I do not remember the location or even the name of the file at this moment but I do believe it starts with a "w" and as long as you have a copy of that file you can delete your friends hp winxp and install yours off of the disc like normal except instead of completing your registration through ms which i think is like phone, mail or internet you chose mail I would supose. Next you reboot into safe mode and replace the "w" file with the one that you copied. I'm sorry I don't have the details needed to do this but just do a lil bit of searching on google and you should find something along those lines.