No Win XP disk to reformat PC.

[198x]

My computer has recently been freezing for no apparent reason. I've cleaned out the insides with an air cannister but it stills happens.

This isn't a really big problem for me, my only problem is that if I choose to reformat the whole thing and start from scratch I don't have a Windows XP installation CD to do so.

I bought my PC from PC World about 1-2 years ago, and it was the last in stock so it was a display model. They have given me a Microsoft Office installation disk but not a Windows XP disk. At the moment my current OS is Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, but I have got in contact with Microsoft about this and they confused me with their answer.

How would I go about getting a Windows XP MC Ed 2005 installation CD as I've got a legal product key on the side of my PC but I don't have a CD. And I don't really want to buy a new one as I should have had the CD when I bought the PC.

[vehelpfulguy]

Have you got any other CDs apart from the MS Office CD ?

Most new PC purchases DONT come with a "proper" Windows XP install CD (Microsoft stopped companies doing it because people were installing their Windows CD on other computers).

What you normally get is a "recovery" CD which is an special image of Windows that will only install on that PC.

Check to see if you have a "recovery" CD.

If not maybe you have a hidden partition on your hard disk that contains the Windows image.

Some companies, rather than supply a Windows recovery CD, put an image of Windows on a hidden partition of your hard disk and you can re-install from that.

Check the documentation that came with your PC to see if it tells you how to do a recovery of Windows.

If neither of these are available to you (the recovery CD or the hidden partition) then you MAY be able to get a recovery CD from the company that makes the PC.

Phone up their help line and see if they can supply you with a recovery CD (or maybe go into PC world).