reinstalling XP MCE using serial form the COA sticker?

Hello



I recently bought a new Acer notebook which came with a hidden partition and
a preinstall program which installed windows XP MCE. A month or so later I
got a nasty virus (due to my own stupidity, I admit) which I wasn't able to
remove.

The laptop came with NO OS discs whatsoever but when the preinstall program
finished I was given an option to backup everything which I did, so now I
can go back to start.



So far so good.



Now, the thing is, I would like to do a clean XP reinstall without all the
third part software that comes along. Also, and most importantly, I would
like to be able to partition my disk any way I see fit. I don't like the
hidden partition stealing my disk space and I don't like the other two fat32
partitions on the disk which are required for the backup restore program.



I guess I could restore the OS to the day 1 setting, remove all third party
software and repartition the disk BUT I would not be able to restore the OS
if I mess something up again.



The other alternative, is to obtain an installation disc for the XP MCE (and
I have a friend who can get that for me) but will the serial on the COA
sticker on my computer work??? Which version of the XP MCE CD should I get?



Thanks in advance

/D

Getting the other disk might/might not work. It will be an OEM (MCE is only
OEM) - but who knows what Acer has done to their systems and/or what deal
they have with those product keys of theirs? You can only be sure it will
work by trying it and the only safe way to try it might also be your REAL
solution...

Disk imaging applications. Make a disk image of your laptop after you have
it setup the way you want and then if you ever have to go back - you can
apply that image and move on. That assumes - of course - you backup your
own data regularly.

--
Shenan Stanley
MS-MVP
--
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
How To Ask Questions The Smart Way

I ahve one of those lovely Acer Laptops and here is what I did.
I followed their original Install instructions and installed everything.
Then using Add&remove I removed all of the useless stuff..........then ran
defrag
I then Installed Acronis True Image and plugged in an External HD.I imaged
the 2 partitions to the external HD.I like 2 partitions.I then downloaded
and expanded to a CD BootItNG...I booted with this CD and ran the program
off the CD...did not install.This started the Partition work where I deleted
that "recovery" partition and added to the C partition..I also made the C
partition smaller and the D partition larger.you could delete the D
partition and then expand the C to include that unallocated space.
Its not that much more space added but I now have an Image that I can
restore if something goes wrong using the Acronis Emergency Boot disk which
does not need XP to run.
Peter

> Getting the other disk might/might not work. It will be an OEM (MCE is
> only OEM) - but who knows what Acer has done to their systems and/or what
> deal they have with those product keys of theirs? You can only be sure it
> will work by trying it and the only safe way to try it might also be your
> REAL solution...
>
> Disk imaging applications. Make a disk image of your laptop after you
> have it setup the way you want and then if you ever have to go back - you
> can apply that image and move on. That assumes - of course - you backup
> your own data regularly.
>

Thanks for your answer...


I _have_ tried one version of MCE and it didn't work, but I assumed it was
some

other version than the one I had, that is way I asked.



Now you say MCE comes only as OEM, which means i had the right one and

it didn't work. So that's a big NO...



Now why is this? Is it because the real product key (one that was
preinstalled)

is not the same as the one on the sticker? In that case I should be able to
extract

the original key from the backup (using some software)...

But would I be able to reinstall MCE using that key?



Cheers



Dean

"peter" wrote:

> I ahve one of those lovely Acer Laptops and here is what I did.
> I followed their original Install instructions and installed everything.
> Then using Add&remove I removed all of the useless stuff..........then ran

Unfortunately, uninstalling the crapware doesn't give you a clean system,
not by a long way.

If you look for an i386 folder and burn this to CD, that should give you the
means to reinstall. Proviso is that while this works 100% on Home/Pro, on MCE
a few other files are needed, which you may have to get from the old windows
folder- so keep a copy.