Hi All - I recently changed out the hard drive on my dell laptop and the new hard drive doesn't have an operating system on it. How do I load an operating system and make my laptop work again.

Get a windows bootable disc for e.g. windows xp and boot off the disc
Then follow the prompts if u have problems just do a Google search on how to install
Windows xp

I tried using the recovery disk of XP and it won't load is the boot disk different than this?

Windows xp install disk would be the answer

A Recovery CD should bring the system back to factory installation. If it's the Dell Recovery CD and it doesn't boot, then then make sure your CMOS settings are set to boot from CD.

If that doesn't help contact Dell.

Oops it's a compaq recovery disk, so it won't work on my dell. Is there anywhere I can download a dell recovery disk? Or download anything that will make this laptop work?

You can try at Dell.com, enter your tag #. But what happened to the disks that came with the laptop?

This laptop was given to me with a broken hard drive and I had an old hard drive laying around, I got no software with this computer. I will try the dell website and see if I can find a recovery disk. Thanks

I am not sure, but I think the disk is loaded on a hidden partition on the original hard drive. I think all the drivers for your hardware is also stored there. You should be able to get the drivers from Dell's web site.