Can i reformat my computer with someone else's startup discs if they are both Dell computers?

I need to reformat my laptop. I have a Dell XPS, but cannot find the discs. My wife has an Dell Inspiron and we have the discs. They both have Windows Vista Home ed. Will this work?Can i reformat my computer with someone else's startup discs if they are both Dell computers?No you cannot. Because the recovery/ installation disks along with the Operating system also has drivers for the motherboard. Since they are not the same, there will be conflict.Can i reformat my computer with someone else's startup discs if they are both Dell computers?No you can't because you have to have the original discs to work because the serial number has to match the same operating system to work. A pirated version of Windows will work because a pirated version has requirements that original discs for your computer don't have.

Report Abuse