clean install of os

Hi Guy's!

Need some help with my old desktop pc. problem is that I have a hooky
version of windows Xp installed which is fine and works but because microsoft don't let me update it I cannot install windows media player 11 which you all know has a media server faciilty that can be used to stream media to the ps3.
I have aquired a genuine copy of windows xp but i THINK if i'm right that I need to format my drive to install it????
ok here a question that i need answered I have 2 hard drive on this computer C&D now i know that windows OS is running from C drive, so does this mean I can just shift all files i want saved to D drive format C and install windows again all without losing any files on D?
Any help appreciated.

ps drives are are not partitions two seperate drives

 

Yes, You can copy all your documents and files to the D drive and format the C drive and reinstall the OS. What you will need to do though is reinstall all your programs. You cannot back those up and restore them. You can also try to pop in the XP cd into the computer while it is running and see if it allows you to do an "Upgrade"

 

if i upgrade do i not need to move anything then? and will programs be untouched?.

 

Its always a good idea to keep backups of your important documents when you do these types of things but upgrade WILL NOT delete any of your documents, programs or anything. It just updates the OS. Its like what I did for my Win98 to XP Upgrade. It just changed OS.

 

if you have a genuine copy of xp... search the microsoft website for the key change utility... that was you don't have to reinstall everything

http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/selfhelp/PKUInstructions.aspx

 

Online key change utility did not work which is why i need to use cd but thanks for the help anyhow.

 

http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/
Give that a try.

 

i would just back up all my stuff and do a fresh format and install, with your new os disk. good luck