recovery/restore discs to full install?

[mat7h3w]

I've recently purchased an HP Pavilion a1700n which came with Windows Vista Home Premium edition preinstalled. Unfortunately it also came with a ton of garbage software that I have absolutely no use for whatsoever. As expected with any big company prebuilt system, the OS itself was not included on a disc, just a set of "restore" discs that contain all the garbage software I'd rather not have on my system. Is there any way I can convert these restore discs into just a full install of the OS itself? If so, which files do I need to copy from the discs?

On the first disc the following folders/files are listed when set to show all files, including hidden and system files;

Boot

HP

Preload

Sources

boo.mgr

hpcd.sys

master.log

The second disc on the 2 DVD set contains the following files/folders

HP

Preload

HPCD.sys

master.log

Which files/folders out of those would I need if I were to attempt converting these restore/recovery discs into a full install of just the OS? Any assistance with this would be appreciated. Thanks for your time.

[Bezalel]

Just use the Anytime Upgrade DVD.

[boow]

Aren't restore disk encrypted?

[ButchN]

Just use the Anytime Upgrade DVD.

My HP came with 64 bit Ultimate & I also got that anytime upgrade DVD.

So what's in it, what's it for & should I use it?

I haven't touched it since I thought I didn't need to being I have Ultimate.

[Bezalel]

Just use the Anytime Upgrade DVD.

My HP came with 64 bit Ultimate & I also got that anytime upgrade DVD.

So what's in it, what's it for & should I use it?

I haven't touched it since I thought I didn't need to being I have Ultimate.

The Anytime Upgrade DVD has the same bits as you would get if you purchased a PC from a System Builder or a retail copy. It is provided in order to allow you to purcase licenses for additional PCs (if you have Ultimate) or to purchase an upgrade to higher version (if you don't have Ultimate)

You can extract the XRM-MS file and license key from your PC and add them to the Anytime Upgrade DVD to create a DVD that will preactivate but will perform a generic install without all the junk that normally gets bundled with new PCs.

[ButchN]

You can extract the XRM-MS file and license key from your PC and add them to the Anytime Upgrade DVD to create a DVD that will preactivate but will perform a generic install without all the junk that normally gets bundled with new PCs.

Where is this file & how do I use it??

[Bezalel]

You can extract the XRM-MS file and license key from your PC and add them to the Anytime Upgrade DVD to create a DVD that will preactivate but will perform a generic install without all the junk that normally gets bundled with new PCs.

Where is this file & how do I use it??

In the directory c:\windows\system32\oem\ there should be a file with the extension XRM-MS, copy this file to the \SOURCES\$OEM$\$$\SYSTEM32\OEM\ directory on the DVD (you will need to create this directory). Also extract the product key that HP used to install in the factory NOT THE KEY ON THE COA STICKER using the magical jellybean keyfinder and create a file called PID.TXT in the \SOURCES\ directory. The contents of PID.TXT should be in the following format:

[PID]
Value="XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX"

[Andromeda43]

Any disks coming from the hardware manufacturer are out of date the day you first turn on the new PC.

What I do for all my customers, when setting up a new PC:

First I clean off all the Games, demo's, trials and spyware,

then setup the desktop and install all the Security software,

like AV and AS software, cleanup utilities, etc.

Then I set up their internet browser and email program,

address book, etc.

Finally when I have the new PC all cleaned up and set up,

I boot from a Ghost boot disk and make a copy of the C: partition

of the HD to another location like an external HD or even DVD's.

Those DVD's now become the official Restore Disks for that computer.

If the customer elects to go along with my 6 month inspections, I'll

make new restore DVD's at each inspection interval.

In a business environment, many users will elect to do their own Ghost

backups on a weekly basis. I even had one Corp. CEO who did a Ghost

backup every day, before leaving the office. It was a drive to drive

backup and only took a few minutes.

Factory Restore CD's become Impertinent after the computer is fully installed.

Just my technical opinion, of course.

Andromeda43