So i bought a new sony vaio from best buy, but want to format and do a clean install of XP. My PC didnt come with an XP disk. Why? How do i get the disk? Thanks.

cnu182, More than likely , your system came with a manufacturers restore disc. This disc will restore your pc back to it's original presold condition if you need it to. It may have some repair options, for repairing some start up / boot files. Other than that you are stuck. It is VERY propriotory and will not allow you to do just anything. You may purchase an oem M$ xp home or pro disc from various vendors and then use it to do what you want. Home cost abot $90 and pro cost about $150 for the oem versions which means you get all the updates but you do not get any M$ tech support for them. If you want the tech support you will have to purchase the retail versions and expect to pay an additional $40/$50 more. Hope that helped, rc

most new pc's don't come with discs, new anti piracy method. your pc prolly has a hidden partion on the hard drive, on boot up it may brefly ask if you want to press F11 or some such to reinstall the os. but it goes by quick, you have to watch for it. this will format the drive and you will lose all the data on it. but it will put the pc back to the orginal condition like new from the store.

Before reformatting and reinstall - try system restore. For xp disks, contact your computer manufacturers support line (the number is in your paperwork) and tell them that you want the disks. They have to send them to you free of charge. I would also suggest that you read the manual that came with the computer and it will explain about system restore and the partition that contains your xp system files.

Sony ships a set of restore discs with every PC. It would be a package of between 4 and 6 CDs. They're usually two seperate sets in the package, one for the OS and another for the applications. Every Sony I've ever bought was loaded with a ton of junk I didn't want or need, so I've always immediately run the restoration set for the OS only. This way, you don't wind up with all the junk they install. You can then pick and choose from the apps disc any software you wish to install (some of Sony's graphics/video apps are pretty cool!). Sony will not ship an XP disc. Don't even bother to ask - you've got all you need with the system restore CDs.