Reinstall XP on dell laptop

[MARIN3]

I have a licensed copy of XP besides the one that came preinstalled on my dell laptop. If I install my copy of XP and then download/install the drivers for it from the dell site will my computer work correctly? I didn't know if dell had something blocking this kind of user freedom.

[bailey]

it probably would work ok, but why would you want to do that when there already is a good install of xp on the computer ?
dell has a built in restore feature that will put the computer back to to day it was new, and using a second license key to do the same thing seams kinda like wasting the original key.

[MARIN3]

I wanted to do it so I had a regular copy of XP on the machine and not the dell one - it seems like the dell XP has some troubleshooting features that it lacks for when/if the install becomes corrupt - maybe I'm wrong. Also, cant I use the license key that my current install is using with my new windows XP disk since I'm just installing the same version of XP (they do say that we pay for the key and not the disk so it shouldn't matter what disk I use).

[glc]

There is no difference between the versions other than the preinstalled addon software, Dell has not crippled XP in any way. If you do go through with it, you will have to call Microsoft to activate XP, the Dell key will not activate online.

[Dia]

The only thing I dont like about vendor installed back ups is that now adays they make the start up bloated with their partner trial software, nag ware etc etc. Even the back up partitions reinstalls all this crap since they use sysprep.

Whenever I work on someones vendor computer i use a normal XP cd to get rid of their crap.

[mickzer]

Or you could use this:

http://www.yorkspace.com/pc-de-crapifier


mickzer.