I would like to partition my hard disc into two, reinstall XP home OEM onto one and then a flavor of Linux on the other. I have a Sony Vaio laptop with OEM XP home. I have no XP installation discs or an early restore point to go back to. A fresh install will hopefully kick some of my clunkiness into touch and give my hard drive a much needed clean. How do I go about a reinstall and is it a good idea considering vendor hardware/drivers etc.
First of all, you'll need installation discs to move forward. Once you acquire the discs, then you'll do an install of XP. When you are going through the setup screen, choose to do a new installation (as opposed to a repair). When you are asked for the location, choose to delete the current partitions and create a new one using about half of the space available, this will leave the remaining half available for Linux. Continue through the rest of the setup. Download all of the drivers from Sony's website for audio, video, NIC, etc... After you have Windows setup and running, you can then install Linux. It will recommend using it's boot loader, which is fine. This will give you the option to choose which OS you want to use when you first boot your computer. Depending on your hardware, you may need to change some configuration files to make all of your hardware work properly. You'll have better luck doing a search on Google if you need help with specific devices, such as WiFi. By the way, following these instructions will completely wipe out all of your data. Make sure you backup any files that you need. Also, it's helpful if you have access to another computer in case you need further help or you need to download drivers. Good luck.
You mention you have no disks, so there will likely be a recovery partition which gives you the option of non destructive repair (reloads original software & drivers but keeps all files,folders & data intact including my documents),you will however need to reinstall any extra software like antivirus,burning software etc. Then there's full reformat option There should also be in the ALL PROGRAMS list the option to make recovery disks If you look in MY COMPUTER you should see what appears to be two harddrives PARTITION D is usually the recovery partition,unless you deleted the software from inside it,if you have, you maybe able to create recovery disks from the all progams list, or contact sony to buy them,or just get a full retail copy of xp prof,coz if your gonna have to buy xp disks why waste money on xp home EDIT: To help with a more speedy comp always install your most used proggys 1st,however when connecting to the net go direct to windows update & don't leave till the OS is fully updated free security proggys i use AVG anitvirus Spyware Terminator -realtime scanner,also has HIPS 9host intrusion detection,basicly lets you know if any progam is attempting to do a sneaky install)also has anitvirus if you want to enable it. Windows firewall-has never let me down,most probably due to i'm the only one that uses so thee's no point in making an expoit mwaaaaa *my secret* *winks*
