Windows XP?

Question

I use Windows XP Home Edition on my computer.
I want to reformat my computer but haven't got te CD.
Is it possible for me to reformat my computer without using the CD?

Answer 1

NO

Answer 2

Of course not. How would you install without the CD?
If WinXP was "bundled" with your computer, you can contact the seller to see if they will sell you WinXP on a CD.

Before you call, get out your purchase order, sales slip, customer number, anything you can think of to prove this was a legitimate deal.

Also, you cannot "borrow" a CD from a friend. It will not fly, and here's why:

When you buy Windows XP in a shrink-wrapped box, you are allowed to install one copy on one PC. When Windows comes pre-installed on a new PC, it stays with the PC. You cannot transfer it from the bundled machine to a different machine. MS uses a technique called “BIOS locking” to make sure the copy stays ties to that specific PC forever.

Windows installer makes you type the 25-character code that’s printed on the case. The Product Activation program looks at various serial numbers inside your PC – the processor, network card, disk drives, etc. – mixes them together, and produces a second 25 character code that identifies your PC. These 50 characters, together, are called the Installation ID.

When you activate XP, you give MS the 50-character Installaton ID. If nobody else activated that 25-character code or if it has been activated with that specific Installation ID (which means you activated this particular copy of XP from the same PC twice) MS send back a 42-character Confirmation ID. The Installation ID and the Confirmation ID are stored on our PC.

If that 25-character code has been already been used on a different PC you will be notified that the number of times you can activate Windows with this product key has been exceeded.

Source: paraphrased from p. 18, Windows Gigabook for Dummies, by Peter Weverka et al.

Answer 3

If it's a newer machine, you might have the CD stored on a hidden partition on the hard drive. Go to the manufacturer's website and look for answers there, or if you got a book with the computer, look in there.
A Dell is a key combination when the machine first starts. I think HP's have that, too.
Some of the companies want you to purchase the CD separately.

Answer 4

Get onto Microsoft if it's a genuine bit of business they will get you out of your quandary just tell it how it is and give them all the info they ask for. No problem if it's not the real thing your computer or any computer will never start again from that address your line will be disconnected that's if it's a Desktop PC. If it's a Laptop?????????

Yours Bill Gates.

Answer 5

If you have system recovery, open it and click advanced options, destructive recovery. This will reformat your computer and reset everything to "new out of the box" condition. Be sure to save anything you don't want to loose first as this will wipe out any saved files or documents.

Answer 6

No, if you reformat you'll have a blank computer with no operating system (unless the OS is stored in a partition on the hard drive, which is fairly unlikely).

Answer 7

if you reformat the harddrive without the cd how do you plan on reinstalling the program

Answer 8

No. Without the CD you won't be able to install Windows anew.

Answer 9

No, not unless you have a recovery partition on your hard drive.
Hit F8 at boot to find out.

Answer 10

you can format your pc.. but you cannot install back your windows.. you got to have a cd

Answer 11

*yes you can do it with your xp disc
this will tell you how
http://www.ehow.com/how_6026_format-hard-drive.html