Formatting a laptop

[LinktheDeme]

I have no idea how to do this and how to reinstall the things afterwards such as windows. I know I'd have to reinstall everything but other than that how does it work out. Like reinstalling windows is my main concern really because i'm not sure where my CD is and where my cd key is to verify my copy

[Furtwangler]

Depending on the brand of laptop you may not need your key, Dell, among others if you have their oem cd will automatically take the XP code from your laptop and just reinstall, although you should have the key on a sticker on your laptop anyways.

Either way you will need your CD unless you are just doing a recovery from the partition that they make on the hardrive if it even has one.

Also depending on the manufacturer you will be able to get drivers for the stuff off their website and just load from a cd or zip drive after install, most basic things like usb cd etc should work ok, network usually will not.

[Jefe]

Well, to recover the product key you can use a program like this: ProduKey - Recover lost product key (CD-Key) if you don't see a sticker on your laptop. <_<

As far as the actual CD goes what type of OS did you have? Was it like a pro version, or the typical preinstalled one? I'd assume typical one, then just call the manufacturer for a replacement recovery CD.

Make sure to get all your drivers ready.

Get your hands on formating utility (like windows washer) and it gives you a bunch of options to format your hdd.

The actual installation is cake, just make sure to do a proper format (not quick) when windows asks you.