reinstall XP pro MCE NO cd available HELP

Hello everybody I am looking for help to fresh reinstall my OS in may laptop.

I have a sony vaio VGN-FE 660G with Media Center Edition installed, 1G of RAM and 120G of HD. On hte properties it says that it is a 2002 Edition altought on the bottom of the laptop it says WIN XP PRO MCE 2005 ( pretty confusing for me) and a serial of ****-OEM-*****. The HD has got 2 partition (both NFTS), one is about 10G ( I suppose is the recovery partition?) and the 2nd the C partition. I DO NOT have any installation or recovery cd.

I would like to FRESH reinstall the same OS that came with the shipped computer ( I will uninstall later the software I do not need such as games or roxio unless you know a better way to select which one I really want ) and RESTORE my DATA and ADDED SOFTWARE back to my new OS.

I looked online 4 a while and found different posts ( not very clear all of them) about creating a boot disk from the smaller partition and a slipstream of windows XP pro but the Media Center Edition does not support slipstream, saving the registry key for the activation of windows again and other things. Can anybody give me ONE good real working way to do this? I have also Acronis Disk Director suite and all the tools needed to do the work.

Thank you all

 

Do you have a recovery cd?

 

I bought the laptop and no cd/dvdof any kind was given to me. I still do not know which is my MCE. It is 2002 or 2005?

 

Well....kinda limited in what you can do. You'll need to either recover the machine by using the recovery partition OR go out and buy a copy of MCE. The problem here is when you start the recovery operation there is no turning back and if it goes bad you are stuck.

 

So which is the meaning of the small partition in the HD? And what about the Product key provided on the bottom of the laptop? If I will buy a MCE cd (110$ by the way) I will have a new key right? so what about mine?

How does the recovery operation work? It is going to create a boot disk from that small partition or not? Does the 10G partition have an image of the OS I have installed? Can I create a boot disk from that partition as suggested in this linK:

http://www.andrewconnell.com/blog/articles/SlipstreamWindowsXpInstall.aspx

What the dang!!! what is the funtion of the samll partition?

 

screw windows, at least mac is coming with a reliable OS.

 

The small partition contains everything needed to rebuild your machine the way it came out of the factory. Usually you can boot that partition by hitting a function key upon power up. When you boot into this recovery partition it usually asks you if you want to rebuild. You shouldn't need any of the product keys because its an OEM version of the OS. The product key on the bottom of your machine is really bogus and I do not think it can be used to install XP. If you purchase a retail version of XP it will come with a product key and you would use that key when you install. BTW...I have never seen the rebuild partition burn a bootable CD. Not that it doesn't exist...I just never saw it.

So, boot into that recovery partition and see what options it gives you.

 

Googled Sony and found this: http://www.kb.sony.com/selfservice/documentLink.do?externalId=C291383 "How to create the VAIO Recovery Media Kit." I didn't find your model # on the supplied list though but possibly it could be done in a similar way as described. Keep in mind if you want to do a recovery it will wipe out all your software and personal data accumulated since your purchase.

That's why you will need the Acronis backup function to save all the stuff you want to keep and transfer it back after recovery. You'll need an external USB drive/stick (whatever name) to do that.

From what I read, Sony doesn't supply re-installation disks as Dell does upon purchasing a computer.

You probably have version 2002 of XP Pro.

Here's also a useful link of Sony. http://www.kb.sony.com/selfservice/...ES_1_1&dialogID=72959849&stateId=0 0 72969112

Good luck!!

PS: I don't think that one can make a slipstreamed disk with any OEM disk, provided one got them when the comp was purchased. If that is not the case, please correct me.

 

THANK YOU ALL GUYS, you are always people on whom I can trust.
I talk w the sony support and that`s the results:

How to perform a system recovery using the VAIO Recovery Wizard link:
http://www.kb.sony.com/selfservice/documentLink.do?externalId=C395689

How to create the Recovery Media Kit:
http://www.kb.sony.com/selfservice/documentLink.do?externalId=C395761

the tech-support guy assured me that I can create those recovery disks and use them to restore my OS and application and drivers. I am not so sure he understand my porpoise. I`d like to format all my HD, partition it in 3, in 1 put the OS and use 2nd & 3rd for my stuff.

I will let you know how is going to work out

tks a lot again