Reformat without disks

[Kristen]

I managed to lose the install disks for Vista and Microsoft Office 2007. My
hard drive, for some reason unknown to me, is completely full, and I am
pretty sure I did the whole install wrong in the first place. I really want
to reformat completely, I have already backed up things I need and I just
want to wipe this clean! Am I correct in assuming that this can't be done
without those precious CD's that I lost? (my computer came with XP and
Microsoft Works)

Is there any way I can do this without buying the OS and Office all over
again? Thanks for any help.

 

[Carey Frisch [MVP]]

How to Replace Lost, Broken, or Missing Microsoft Software or Hardware
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/326246/en-gb


--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience -
Windows Vista Enthusiast

---------------------------------------------------------------

I managed to lose the install disks for Vista and Microsoft Office 2007. My
hard drive, for some reason unknown to me, is completely full, and I am
pretty sure I did the whole install wrong in the first place. I really want
to reformat completely, I have already backed up things I need and I just
want to wipe this clean! Am I correct in assuming that this can't be done
without those precious CD's that I lost? (my computer came with XP and
Microsoft Works)

Is there any way I can do this without buying the OS and Office all over
again? Thanks for any help.

 

[DL]

You can format without the disks, but then you wont be able to install
anything without them.
Suggest you start searching again.
If you can prove purchase of the disks you can obtain replacements from MS
NB This only applies to retail disks, not disks supplied with your PC
It may also be the case that you purchased upgrade editions, in your current
circumstances you would have to buy full retail editions of Vista & Office -
it may well be the case that a more cost effective solution would be to buy
a new PC
You could of course buy & install a second hard drive, then clean up your
current drive, & keep your fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong that
requires the disks

 

[Phillips]

Just buy one more hard-drive... they are cheap these days.

Michael