I don't have an installation CD for Windows XP - what if I need one?

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Is there anyway to put my old legit version of xp on a new hardrive.. without having the initial hard drive? my main drive has just failed, I do not have a cd. the computer was bought from a manufacturer. I believe i still have the key, but no install disk. Do I need to buy a new os?

Patrick: if you have a legal key, you can borrow a CD.

Thanks a lot! Got me going right away. Fantastic!

peter if you have the recovery discs they will work to completly install your windows xp home edition on a hp computer my pc crashed and the company sent me recovery discs free of charge. i used the recovery discs to completly reinstall the OS on 3 new harddrives already. as long as its a hp computer and a hp revocery disc it will work... i dont know how old this artical is but it is guarenteed to work

I'm trying to reinstall windows XP on my sisters computer. I can't get her computer online, and she is missing a number of drivers and updates to play sound and dvd's. What can i do if I do not have an installation cd?

thank you,
Marie

Very little, I'm afraid. You'll have to get a CD, or perhaps switch to another operating system.

Leo: what if I wanna completely re-format my Hard Drive and re-install windows without all the extra stuff the manufacturer put in the automatic recovery disk? Can extract Windows XP from it?

A recovery disk is not enough. You need an install disk.

I will be changing my Mobo/CPU soon and will have to reformat. Would the I386 folder allow me to create a cd to reforamt and install windows?

No.

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