Prepping my laptop for sale

[brock]

I have a Dell Inspiron 8500 that I'm wanting to sell -- can I just simply reformat and reinstall Windows from the original disc and send it off to someone? Are there any issues with activation or anything like that?

Never sold a laptop with pre-installed software before, so it got me a little concerned about the legalities of it all...

 

[pookguy88]

when i bought my laptop used, it came without OS...
which is good for me cause i would've just did a fresh install anyway.

i'm sure if u sold it to anyone on AT they would know what to do.

 

[vegetation]

Nope, no issues with activation since dell, like other oem's, don't use the activation process but rather the COA's serial key is tied into the hardware. So yes, it's perfectly legal to advertise and ship the system with the OEM OS.

 

[Kibbo]

For better security on your HD, find Autonuke online, make a disk, and have fun blasting away the data.

 

[ActuaryTm]

A low-level (ie, write zeros) format would be preferable prior to the reinstallation.

 

[Abhi]

secure erase the harddisk ....

and then reinstall XP..

 

[MercenaryForHire]

dban it if you're paranoid.

- M4H