Stuart Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 Any experts out there who could tell me what my options are to do a clean re-install of XP on a Dell Latitude E4200 - which doesn't have an optical disk drive? I have made a bootable USB stick but, when I tried it, I got an error message. Googled this and the way around seems to be to format the HDD then boot from USB again. But I'm reluctant to try this 'cos the Dell isn't dead and if I format then still get the same error message then I could have killed it. I have the XP disk - would it work from a USB optical drive? I even thought about doing it from my NAS but am feared that the drivers will disappear partway through so the reinstall wouldn't complete IIRC XP loads without drivers then you have a bit of a job finding and re-installing them). I also know that, on some netbooks, there is a small partition with XP installation software on it but doesn't seem to be so with this Dell. Any advice very much appreciated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wile E. Coyote Posted October 14, 2013 Share Posted October 14, 2013 USB optical drive should work - at least it did on my Toughbook (XP) and ThinkPad (w7). Which XP disc do you have? Make sure it's an "installation" disc and not XP SP3 (the downloadable iso which looks like it might be a full install but is just ~500MB of patches!). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Posted October 15, 2013 Author Share Posted October 15, 2013 Thanks WEC. Will get hold of a USB drive and give it a try - def a full XP disc I have but wouldn't mind a copy of your SP3 disk as per your other thread.if that's possible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Loudon - Sponsorship Liaison Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 I wouldnt bother with XP as it goes end of life early next year and will not be updated by Windows Updates making it internet vulnerable. Windows 7 will run quite happily on an E4200 and would be my choice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wile E. Coyote Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 Thanks WEC. Will get hold of a USB drive and give it a try - def a full XP disc I have but wouldn't mind a copy of your SP3 disk as per your other thread.if that's possible. No problem at all. PM me an address and I'll gladly drop it in the post. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Posted October 15, 2013 Author Share Posted October 15, 2013 PM sent Wile. Thank you very much indeed. I love this club John I know XP loses support soon but I still prefer it to W7 so I am gonna stay Luddite for a little while yet - lack of updates doesn't really concern me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Captain Colonial Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 Would still recommend upgrading to W7 ASAP Stuart. Ran XP for ages, and W7 is much more stable and smoother. You might be happy with XP, but don't forget the time you're spending fixing it when it falls over. Best of luck though! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Posted October 15, 2013 Author Share Posted October 15, 2013 My wife's W7 seems to fall over much more often than my XP Scott. That's part of my rationale. I spent a happy hour yesterday trying to fix an erratic and annoying (popping up every 30 secs or so) login balloon on W7 which was related to a faulty hotfix causing the machine to think it needs ipv6 to connect to the internet via the new wifi extender I installed a few weeks ago. I can't recall the last time I had a problem with XP. I will upgrade just don't think it's time to do so yet. Perhaps when they have sorted W8 into something more user friendly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Loudon - Sponsorship Liaison Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 XP has been in the public domain for 11 years now. Trust me, its time to move on Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hammy Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 Agree with John - win7 much much better Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Podmore Posted October 15, 2013 Share Posted October 15, 2013 Treat yourself to an SSD as well. Massive speed difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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