Lost XP Disc, how to clear Harddrive

[Jozan]

I'm planning on formatting my Hard drive, but I've lost my XP CD, is there a way to clear everything or reset it without the CD? or do I have to have it?

[Atmat]

i think there are tools for that , like "pation magic" but it will fully clear it and there will be no data left

[Pedro]

If you still have your key for XP, then you can just borrow someone's XP cd and use your key when prompted.

If you misplaced both, then you need to buy a new cd with a new key.

Or you could simply tell windows to go back to the earliest restore point, but that will only change/fix windows to a point when it was working fine, but any virus/spyware/malware that are in the HD will remain there without a format.

[nnyan]

If you've lost the CD and your Key make sure you recover the Key before you wipe. You can use utils like ProducKey, RockXP and my fav Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder. If your PC is not bootable (but NOT wiped) no worries follow the guide here: Windows XP and Vista Product Key Recovery Dagon Design

[FluffyBunni]

If you have a floppy you can do an fdisk (however if you don't have a floppy you may be able to do it via USB now a days) couldn't tell you for sure because i don't lose my XP cds *wink* =P

[Elysium]

Once you got it sorted make sure you got all the updates inc drivers etc, install all your usual software. You got a nice clean working system and take a backup image. Then if you get the problem ever again you got a clean working baseline to start with.

[Teufelhund]

it IS legal to download an image for XP as long as you use the product key that you own to activate it.

[Pwnzilla]

Without taking the trouble to hire a lawyer to pick through the EULA for Windows I can not definitively state whether it is "legal" or not to do so Teufelhund. I do know that what you are essentially buying when you purchase a copy of Windows is the "license" to use it. I know in corporate environments where they have purchased multiple licenses they certainly don't bother to use a new CD to install the OS on their myriad machines. Generally they just create an image with the applications and options they want as standard and install the image to every machine. I would guess that using a downloaded image is acceptable so long as you activate it with a legitimately obtained license. I would think the entity making the image available for download would be more likely to be operating outside the legal permissions.