is it safe to install a pure version of windows on a bundled software computer?

Answer 1

It is indeed perfectly safe to install a clean version of windows. You will need to go to your manufacturers website and look for the model computer that you have under the driver pages which I have provided below.

If you have a dell, go to this link:

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/index.aspx?c=us&cs=19&l=en&s=dhs

If you have a gateway, go to this link:

http://support.gateway.com/support/drivers/dlcenter.asp

If you have a HP, go to this link:

http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/support.html?pageDisplay=drivers

You will need to download all of the driver to a folder, unzip them and then begin installing. You will most likely need to restart your computer after each install.

Answer 2

Yes, you can install a retail version of Microsoft Windows onto a bundled system. The only caution is that you may want to download a copy of the hardware drivers for your system rather than relying on the Microsoft Retail CD. The retail version may or may not contain all the drivers while the bundle manufacturer includes them all on their CD.

Answer 3

Yes, it is completely safe, however you must consider several things before doing this.

1. OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) computers that have bundled software are warrantied with that software in place. Many have their "own" branded version of Microsoft software. So installing a fresh copy and wiping the old out may viod your warranty.

2. Then there are drivers. XP, and Vista are good about drivers being resident in the set up, but many times you need to get updated ones. There are times components on your motherboard may need updates to run certain hardware attached. Make sure you know what these are and how to get them before installing the new OS. Make sure you have drivers backed up. MY motherboard needed drivers to get my onboard LAN working after installing. I had to use another computer to find the driver, download it, and then move the driver to the computer I had just installed a new OS in to get the LAN card working again. It just so happened that XP did not have that specific driver for that LAN card. Point being, make sure you have access to the internet for drivers with another machine or have gone through and made a disk of all your updated drivers for all your hardware. You may need it.

3. Make sure the hardware you have is compatible with the OS you are installing. For example, I have a sound card that is very high end, says it is compatible with my OS, but in fact it "works" but many features are lost when I upgraded to my new OS. Check out what you have, what you need, etc.

4. Bundled OEM machines also come with software that many users like. For example things like DVD players, DVD movie makers, MS Office or Works, or other productivity software. Make sure you will not miss these or have a way to install them again. I had a Gateway computer once I could take the restore disk and find the bundled programs on it in folders and install them after installing a Original MS OS, instead of the Gateway loaded one. It of course expected the Gateway machine to be the one I was installing it on, but did not care I was installing it in an original XP Pro, versus the XP Media Center that came with the PC. You can do this on some machines, not all. Compaq would not allow this to happen as HP also restrcts the ability to allow this to happen, so check your restore disk and see if you will be able to salvage the programs you like out of that bundled software.

Last but not least, if you plan on using anything from your bundled restore disk, make sure it is compatible with your new OS. XP Media Center uses totally different things then XP Pro or Home, so make sure you are getting the right things.

I know this all may sound confusing, but it really is quite simple to do. You will be fine. Just remember the 6 P's

Prior
Planning
Prevents
Piss
Poor
Performance

Best of luck and happy computing!

Answer 4

Happens all the time. The big problem is finding drivers , but that is not that big of a problem

http://www.restoredisks.com/

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