reinstalling XP without cd

Dist · 17 Aug 2008 at 22:24

Is there any possible way of reinstalling windows XP without the XP CD? i ask because im about to attempt to run vmware server for my first time to set up a virtual machine to play around and learn about linux on, but just incase i somehow do something wrong and ruin my XP installation, i want to know if somehow i can restore it or reinstall it back to a usable state without having to have the CD.

Now, i hope nothing will go wrong, as i dont see how vmware could mess up the host OS, but i just want to cover all bases, as my laptop is essential for my coursework.

The reason i dont have the XP cd is that the competitor i got the laptop from (and it is a big, proper company, not just some small highstreet retailer) didnt supply my thinkpad with any software CDs (other then the lenovo thinkpad one with the thinkpad software/drivers on). My laptop does have a legit version of XP, as it does have the microsoft sticker with product key on im just not sure why it didnt come with the CD.

Dist · 17 Aug 2008 at 22:35

Im not sure of how VMware works exactly, so i dont know how virtual servers interact with hardware, or the host OS and its files. I wasnt sure if while playing around on linux on a virtual machine, trying to learn it, wether i could alter the windows files by mistake, causing it not to boot.

While using MSN, i wont expect me using any of its features will alter any of the main windows files. Linux is an OS though, so would have access to all files on the HDD, so it could potentialy change some of those files by mistake.

Dist · 18 Aug 2008 at 16:42

Well, it seems like either VMware or DAEMON tools (which i used to mount the ubuntu installer) has degraded my system. After i swipe my finger to log in to windows, it takes a good 60 seconds longer then normal when loading user settings. Its hard to tell if any extra stuff has to be loaded on startup because task manager shows a good 30-40 .exe files running, so if the slowdown during startup is due to a new exe having to be loaded, it will be hard for me to see which one it is.

Dist · 18 Aug 2008 at 17:37

Well i just got rid of daemon tools, as i dont need it now that i have used it to install ubuntu onto a vmware virtual drive. Seems like i will also have to remove vmware and give up on my attempt to learn linux too.

Several min ago i started shutting down, so i shut down my virtual machine as usual, closed vmware, then went to shut down XP like i normaly would. While shutting down i get a box saying it cant close Apoint.exe (from what i understand, its something to do with my touchpad), i choose end now, but nothing happened. I tried to open task manager but it wouldnt pop up, ctrl alt del did nothing, and i couldnt open any other program as it said windows was in the process of shutting down, so wouldnt let me run anything.

In the end i had to hold down the power button to force my laptop off, because the shutdown process was stuck (first time ive had a situation where ctrl alt del did nothing at all).

Before i installed vmware, daemon tools and linux, i had no such problems like this.