* Illegal w/a different disc?

[Kathy]

Hello there:

I have an older Dell pc but I lost the recovery disc (it was Windows XP Home
E.)
and it doesn't have a hidden partition with the backup.

My question is: could I format the hard drive and intall windows XP using a
cd from my laptop and then enter the s/n from the sticker on the pc and be
legal?

If I am in the wrong newsgroup, please let me know where to direct my
question.

Thank you in advance,

kathy

[charlie]

There isn't a simple answer. If both systems are Dells, the OEM
discs/CD's might or might not work. Drivers can be an issue.
Unless there is some over riding reason, I'd make a backup with one of
the various backup utilities. Then, I'd download one of the bootable
repair/restore disks from a reputable source. Some include
backup/restore capabilities.

The original win XP versions before the SPs had some limitations
that can also impact what you should do. Too often the Original OEM
repair disks require a plethora of updates to be useful.