Reinstalling XP on old vostro that came with xp, have retail disc, good to go?

It's an ancient computer that I pretty much just use to hook up to a tv for playing internet videos. It was fast back in the day, a core 2 duo with 2.5 gigs of RAM, but now slow and bogged down by a bunch of programs, probably malware and viruses.

So I want to reinstall the OS now. It came from dell with XP home. I borrowed a retail CD of XP. Do I just pop it in and reinstall, then reuse the same key? Anything else I should do?

 

Anything else I need? It's an old dell laptop that came with XP preloaded. I have a retail disc of XP that I borrowed. Do I just pop it in, reuse the key, and I'm good to go?

 

Sounds good. Make sure you have a copy of relevant drivers at: http://support.dell.com

 

gr i put it in, tried to input the key during the set up stage and it says it's invalid..? Is it because the computer is running and using the key right now? Do I need an OEM recovery disc? I didn't want to wait for it through the mail.

 

Did you boot into the disc or install inside windows?
Also make sure the version is the same, home edition(typical on a laptop) key doesnt work with professional version irrc.

 

If you don't have a retail key, I don't think you can use the OEM key on the bottom of the laptop.

 

So would I need to get an OEM disc from dell to go along with my OEM key then? Installing from inside windows. It's a home edition of XP just like what came with the computer. But again, it's a retail disc and I have the OEM key from the bottom of the laptop.

 

XP discs (and *most* Vista and *many* Windows 7) have key algorithms that line up with their intended target. This means that Dell's XP discs know the keys on the COA labels on Dell machines, Lenovo XP for Lenovos, HP XP for HPs etc., and these are "OEM branded" (my own term I just made up). Retail discs have retail keys which are *not* OEM branded keys, volume license discs only take volume keys.

To install Windows XP on your Dell, you need a Dell XP disc.

 

http://forum.notebookreview.com/microsoft-windows-xp-vista/628744-windows-xp-home-install-issue.html

Same issue as here

Branded OEM discs usually autoactivate, unbranded OEM discs accept all OEM keys and phone activation is needed. Actual term was Royalty OEM if I remember correctly

Simplest solution is acquiring SP3 install disc, install without key and then use Microsoft's own tool to change the key. I was told you can mix volume, retail and oem discs with that tool (but not home and pro).

 

I would take S.SubZero's advice, and borrow a dell xp restore cd from someone and then use nlite to roll in SP3, and customize however you want. You could try playing around with changing the pid code and turning your xp cd into a dell xp cd, but i never got it to work. check my post below for details on nlite.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/microsoft-windows-xp-vista/637489-xp-iso-downloads.html#post8225624