I can't imagine anyone even trying to use an HP disk on a Dell. I suspect you'd get nowhere at all. When I get stuck, I use my OEM disk and the Windows license key on the computer in question. This seems to be controversial, and windows licensing seems to be quite arcane. I also service Dells (and others) for a living. The Company specific installs of Windows usually contain chipset and other drivers that are specific to that brand of computer. If you install say an HP branded windows on a Dell, you'd have some drivers to fix before it would work. PCBUILD maintains hundreds of useful files for download visit our download web page at http://freepctech.com/downloads.shtml