Replacing the Operating System in Z61m

[vnirmalkumar]

Hi,

I have now my new Thinkpad Z61m Laptop IN GERMAN LANGUAGE. I would like to replace the existing Windows XP and the other softwares like Thinkvantage in English. This system has a recovery partition which is hidden, with windows XP OEM and other related softwares in it. I was not given any recovery disk.

I called to IBM Technical support and asked them about this. They said that the Windows XP serial and other details were integrated within a chip in the motherboard (since it is an OEM Version) and if I try to replace the operating system with an other one, then, I will be having troubles in softwares compatibility.

Could some one suggest me weather it is possible to replace the existing german windows XP into an english version?

Will there be any problems in the future with softwares compatibility?

Will the thinkvantage blue button work in the future if I replace it with the other Windows XP?

Thanks and awaiting for some suggestions.

[GomJabbar]

I suggest the following.

Make a copy of the C:\IBMTOOLS\ directory on DVD(s) in case you need something from it later. Go to the driver matrix page and download the Intel Chipset, Intel SpeedStep Applet, Power Manager, Intel Matrix Storage Manager, Ethernet, and Wireless LAN drivers, and save them to DVD(s).

Set the Hard Drive to Compatibility Mode, boot up off of the Windows Install CD, format the Windows drive NTFS, then install Windows. After everything is done, reboot again, then install the above drivers. To install, you have to double-click on each of the downloaded files to extract the files within, then run Setup.exe from each of the directories where the files were extracted to. Now, reboot again to enter the BIOS, and set the Hard Drive back to ACHI mode.

Next go to Windows Update and get all the critical and security updates. You may have to run it more than once (perhaps several times) to find all the updates available.

Now go to the driver matrix page and download and install ThinkVantage System Update, then run it to get whatever updates it picks up. Finally go to the driver matrix page for your Z61m and download and install anything that ThinkVantage System Update missed.

Software and Device Drivers - ThinkPad Z61e, Z61m, Z61p, Z61t

One thing that I am not positive about is if you can use an Upgrade version Windows CD to install an English version of Windows over a German version. I kind of think you have to have the Full Retail Version or OEM version of Windows to do this, but I really don't know.

After you have done all the above, you may have to run the Rescue and Recovery - Recovery repair diskette to be able to boot into Rescue and Recovery again. There are some threads somewhere on this forum for doing this from a bootable CD or bootable USB key.

[vnirmalkumar]

Thanks a lot GomJabbar. I appreciate your detailed suggestion.