Format and Reinstall Windows Media?

[hebronsb]

Alright Im planning on formating the hard drive and then reinstalling windows media. The problem is that they did not send me an OS disk with the computer I bought, they said that everything was on the computer already. So if I format I wipe all of that out. How do I clear everything off and reinstall without the disk?

[NeoTheOne]

It will be on a diffrent partition, Load up your computer and you "might" see something called system recovery or a synonom of that, enter that then follow the on screen instruction. For my HP computer, when i boot up the computer i get something saying press F12 for System Recovery, when i press the button it says this will isntall a clean version of windows, are you sure you want to do this, and etc.

[hebronsb]

awesome, I looked on microsofts website and they didnt indicate which button to press or how to get there, might you happen to know where to look to find out or do you even know what to do? My system restore points were turned off so I dont have any, so Id like to just get reinstall on the whole system.

[digmen1]

What version of Windows are u on ?

Digby

[hebronsb]

Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition Version 2002 Service Pack 2

[NeoTheOne]

awesome, I looked on microsofts website and they didnt indicate which button to press or how to get there, might you happen to know where to look to find out or do you even know what to do? My system restore points were turned off so I dont have any, so Id like to just get reinstall on the whole system.
Its diffrenent on each computer,its not a feature provided by MS but a feature provided by your manufacturer, for me its HP. Its basicily they do this to save Disk, they make a partition on your computer and have a installer to windows on it, Check if you have that partition, go to My computer and if you have two partion and the other one has something to do with recovery then look through your manufacturer website and see how you can recover your computer , by recovering you will have installed a clean version of windows (your version)

[hebronsb]

Thats why I am so perturbed, I go through all of that and in the support section of my Dell XPS M140 it talks about recovery and only has system restore, however I have no good system restore points which is why I have to ditch everything and do a system format and reinstall, not just restore. All they provide me with is restore options which is bugging the heck out of me.

[peat moss]

Are you sure there is no " Image " restore function ?

http://www.goodells.net/dellrestore/

[digmen1]

Why no call Dell ? a reputable company such as that should have provided you with a OS CD or at least a recovery image. It was only in Windows ME and 98 that manufactureres did nto send a CD.

Regards

Digby

[digmen1]

Why not call Dell ? a reputable company such as that should have provided you with a OS CD or at least a recovery image. It was only in Windows ME and 98 that manufactureres did nto send a CD.

Regards

Digby

[harrycary]

Call the mfg. Period. They will tell you which key to press to access the partition you need to in order to "restore" your Windows O/S.

This is a feature the hardware mfg have come up with to save money on the cost of providing restore discs.

Frankly this sucks because you will have to remove all the trialware they include(and Dell is notorious for this), reinstall any sofware you've added and you will have to install all Windows updates that have been released since you purchased your PC.

regards,

[peat moss]

@Harry , I believe its " Ctrl+F11 " and your right it's a shitty way to do business. I always delete the Recovery Partion then install XP pro for friends that go that route , mind you I give them a XP Corp. cd too .

[clocker]

This is a feature the hardware mfg have come up with to save money on the cost of providing restore discs.

Frankly this sucks because...
Not only do they save maybe a whole dime on the cost of a disk but you lose several gigs of HDD space to their partition.
Even better (if you are Satan) are the ones where the owner is "encouraged" to burn his/her own restore disks from the recovery partition which then becomes inaccessable (having already performed it's only function in life).
Naturally, these restore disks get lost immediately (joining Amelia Earhart and single socks- wherever it is they went) leaving the owner with no restore options at all.

All in all it's a beancounter's triumph.