Removing and installing software

13 years ago

I bought a used laptop and want to reformat the hard drive in order to install Vista. Do I need to anything different than if it were a desktop computer?

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Comments (8)

zep516
13 years ago
What operating system is on the Laptop now?
User
Original Author
13 years ago
Windows Vista is on it now. I want to install XP Pro on it.
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Usually just boot off the CD and choose the custom install, into the raw space. The win7 install will automatically make the proper system partitions and do the formatting and install. You really don't need to do anything other than click through a few screens to get it installing. Once installed you might want to disconnect from the internet so it doesn't start a ton of updates and go into Disk Management and use it to shrink the C drive partition and make another partition or two. It will have a lot of updating to do and you will probably want to look into device manager & track down a driver or two from the laptop manufacture support pages.
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ravencajun Zone 8b TX
13 years ago
ok on the first post you said you want to install Vista on it then above you said you want to install xp pro on it, which one is on it and which one do you want to put on it?

and what install discs do you have to try to install with?
User
Original Author
13 years ago
Sorry for the mixup. My first post should have read:

I bought a used laptop and want to reformat the hard drive in order to install XP Pro. Right now it has Vista. Do I need to do anything different than if it were a desktop computer?

I have the XP Pro program that I can install. I know how to reformat hard drives and do the install on desktops but just asked if I should do anything different for a laptop.
owbist
13 years ago
Grannytoo, you may have two problems - or you may not.

First you need to secure the necessary drivers for the laptop and they may not be available for the XP operating system. You especially need to get the network driver before you start so you can at least go online to search for the other drivers using that computer. Some sites will search your computer for the correct drivers this is why the network driver is so important.

The second issue is your XP program. Did it come from another computer? If so and it is a brand name computer you will probably/possibly not be allowed to continue with the install.
User
Original Author
13 years ago
owbist: Thanks for the information. Instead of formatting the hard drive I decided to restore the original software from HP. After doing that I downloaded and installed all the microsoft updates. It has IE7 and says IE8 is not compatible with this computer. This is a Compaq F500 from 2005.
owbist
13 years ago
Grannytoo I think you took the easiest and best way out with that computer. I have just done exactly that with 2 older laptops I inherited rather than try reformat and install as I had no recovery partition or disks, the risk did not seem worth the effort. Yes, I had to remove many programs,run Cceaner for both the cleaner itself and the registry cleaning section and a defrag.

Glad to read that you have the computer running with all your updates etc.
User
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks again for your help. It's running fine and the battery holds a charge. It has an 80gb hard drive and 1gb of memory. I think I made a good choice.

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Removing and installing software

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zep516

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Removing and installing software

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zep516

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