Clean Install Media from OEM?

  Greetings!

Just bought a laptop from HP that came with XP Media Center Edition.

There's no install media, just a "recovery partition."  Is there a
simple way to get an install disk that:

1. Doesn't require me to keep the recovery partition on the drive?

2. Doesn't require me to install all the crapware that the OEMs love to
stick on consumer machines?

I suspect nliteos.com might be part of the solution, but figured
someone else might have done this before and could give pointers.

Thanks!

 You should be able to make a recovery CD/DVD with the software on your PC.
However, it will, as you say, reinstall all the crap that the machine
shipped with. You'd be best off using something like Ghost once you get the
PC the way you want it.

Dana Cline - MCE MVP

  Have you tried running the HP recovery?

I've had some HP machines that allowed you to restore just the apps, just
the OS, or a factory install (all the crapola). You might be able to make
recovery CD's, get rid of the recovery partition, and use the CD's to just
install the OS.
--
James
Orlando (Goofy says "Hey!"), Florida

 I've removed the crap, so that's a non-issue at this point.  I'm just
thinking for down the road.

Once I've created recovery disks, can I delete the recovery partition?

And as far as ghosting the machine goes-- I'm something of a renegade
in that I don't believe in imaging machines-- maybe it's just me, but
once it's been imaged, a machine isn't "quite right" afterwards...

 Once you've created recovery disks, you probably can delete the partition.
However, without some partition management software, you can't add that
space to an existing partition. And you'll never know until you try whether
those recovery CDs actually work. I'd leave that partition there, if for no
other reason. You can always buy a second hard drive cheap (CompUSA was
selling a Seagate 250Gb disk for $59 after rebate just a week ago).

Dana Cline - MCE MVP