Windows XP Professional 2000 - Old IBM Thinkpad Format & Installation

Ninco! · 31 Mar 2018 at 18:33

I recently purchased a second hand IBM Thinkpad X31 from eBay, mainly for retro gaming.

The previous owner sent the item and all is well, only I would like to undertake a clean format as the laptop still has quite a few programs left over. The laptop is fine although it came with no disks which is understandable.

Its been a while since I have dabbled with XP. I just wondered what is the best way to approach restoring and making sure I can reinstall Windows and load the original Thinkpad drivers. It looks like the drivers are still available for download from IBM which is a relief!

Also the laptop was sold with Adobe Photoshop 7 and Illustrator 10 but no disks. They are registered versions. Is there anything I can do to install these again or is this a case of righting off from a legal perspective?

I would be grateful for some advice as to the best way to reinstall without connecting to the Internet, as I would imagine this would not be a good idea.

Thanks in advance.

Duke · 31 Mar 2018 at 21:03

Magic Jelly Bean should grab most of the licences for you from the registry.

https://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/

mrbazmondo · 1 Apr 2018 at 12:03

If you have issues I'd consider running win2k in a virtual machine.

brendy · 1 Apr 2018 at 12:21

Adobe were giving legacy cs2 software away a while back, I have the keys and cs2 apps if you want that? photoshop cs2, Adobe acrobat pro v7 etc.
I'd say you should have no issues getting drivers.

Ninco! · 6 Apr 2018 at 22:08

Apologies for the delay replying - I lost the thread!

Thanks for time and help everyone, advice really appreciated & gratefully received. Very helpful and solved issues. I forgot CS2 back in the day (thanks for the offer Brendy mate). Jelly Bean is a great program!

Thanks again all, really appreciated.

ExoMale · 6 Apr 2018 at 23:42

i assume you needed xp? as id have thought windows 7 would run on that laptop.

Ninco! · 7 Apr 2018 at 01:06

ExoMale said:
i assume you needed xp? as id have thought windows 7 would run on that laptop.

Yes, keeping it as an XP set-up so I can run old games as they were meant to be (within reason). Whilst many retro games can be emulated or have patches, there is the odd game I like; which simply refuse to work and yet to be released on GOG or similar. Running in DOS Box is great if supported, but on modern wide screens can look awkward.