Complete PC Restore in OEM Vista

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Hi Greg,

Man, I wished I had seen your post before experiencing EXACTLY what you did.
Unbelievable to me that my OEM did not include a way to restore the Windows
Complete PC Backup and then insisted that this was not their problem. I paid
approximately $100 to get have Ultimate pre-installed instead of Premium. I
called Microsoft and they seemed oblivious to the issue.

That's one of the downsides of OEM version licenses. Microsoft doesn't
support them, and your only recourse is with your OEM.

I lodged a
complaint to make it official but I have my doubts as to whether I will
receive a response.

I would suggest that everyone call and place a complaint because either they
do not understand that OEMs are not including a way to Restore in Ultimate or
Business

No, that's not at all correct.

First, not all OEMs do the same thing.

Second, what they do is almost always the same whether it's Ultimate,
Business, or any other edition.

Third, OEM vendors are required by their agreement with Microsoft to
give you a means of reinstalling, should it be necessary. They can do
this in one of three ways:

1. An OEM copy of the Windows installation CD/DVD (increasingly rare
these days).
2. A restore CD
3. A hidden partition on your drive, with restore information.

If you don't have 1 or 2, you should have 3, but you should contact
your vendor to find out.

 

[AlexB]

Perhaps it is peculiar to a specific manufacturer. I got my OEM Vista
Ultimate from DELL 3 days ago (T7400). It DOES have the restoration disk.
It was a part of the package.