Can I uninstall win2k and install XP in Dell C840?

I have an old Dell Latitude C840 notebook from work that I aquired and have a local Admin user/password. I would like to uninstall Win2K, wipe the drive clean and install XP. Can I do this with an HDD 2.5 enclosure, taking the drive out, wiping it and then placing it back in the notebook, then booting to CD in CMOS with an XP setup CD?

Somewhere I read that I need to call Dell for a "Master Password" in order to accomplish this. True? When and where would I use the MP anyway? I can already boot to CMOS and it does not appear to be password protected in any way.

I searched the forums for the answer without any luck. Any help would be appreciated

 

Why wipe the drive, when you can install XP. Actually I would rather have Win2k over XP for a lot of apps.

 

Why would you need to remove the HD? Is there a reason you couldn't delete the partitions on the HD and reformat with the XP CD?

 

Thanks for the info folks. Maybe I am just confused with what I want to achieve.

My thought was that I would want to have XP because I have the disk (don't have it for w2k) and my main PC is running XP Pro. At first, I did not have the password to the w2K system, so I thought reformatting the drive and installing another licensed copy of XP (home or Pro, have both) would be the best solution.

I was eventually able to obtain a local admin username and password. So I guess I could just uninstall abunch of programs to clean it up a bit and keep the admin username and password I now have.

All I need to know is what is the best method for me to get to the end result. That is, a clean system that I can pass on to my 14 y/o kid. Can I setup different users on w2k where I am the admin and the kid is not? I am more familiar with how to do this on XP.

Any other recommendations?

 

Just like you would with XP Pro.