Many thanks for the replies to date. I had no XP disc as such, with the computer, it came pre-loaded and I have mislaid any discs which came with it; thery are probably in the Jurassic layer of one of my filing drawers! I have an unpartitioned hard drive which was completely cleaned out and then re-loaded with the XP system but I do not what source they had. I will give your ideas a try when I am home and report back.