Installion/Reinstalltion question

[usmike2000]

OK, so I would like to reinstall windows vista, but I don't have a cd/DVD for
it becasue vista was on the computer when I bought it. I have a product-key,
but no cd. So my question is, is it possible to reinstall windows vista or
am I tough out of luck?

 

[Malke]

OK, so I would like to reinstall windows vista, but I don't have a cd/DVD for
it becasue vista was on the computer when I bought it. I have a product-key,
but no cd. So my question is, is it possible to reinstall windows vista or
am I tough out of luck?

When you buy a computer with a Microsoft operating system preinstalled
on it, the system builder legally must provide you a way to restore the
computer to factory condition. This can be done by providing physical
disks with the actual operating system, physical disks with a factory
image (restore disks), or a factory image on a special partition on the
hard drive. Refer to your computer's manual and/or the system builder's
website for instructions how to restore your computer to factory
condition. Understand that this normally will wipe everything on it, so
have your data backed up first.


Malke

 

[Bruce Chambers]

OK, so I would like to reinstall windows vista, but I don't have a cd/DVD for
it becasue vista was on the computer when I bought it. I have a product-key,
but no cd. So my question is, is it possible to reinstall windows vista or
am I tough out of luck?

It's been this way for several years, now. Microsoft requires its
licensed OEM computer manufacturers to provide a means of returning the
computer to its original, ex-factory state. The particular method of
recovery, however, is left entirely to the discretion of each individual
computer manufacturer.

Legally, the OEM has met it's contractual obligation to Microsoft
by providing a means of returning the PC to its ex-factory state,
whether it's a Recovery CD or a Recovery Partition. They are not
legally obliged to provide a true installation CD as part of the sale.
Reputable, customer-service aware OEMs, like Dell and Gateway, do
provide a full OEM installation CD, that does permit custom
installations and repairs. However, many uncaring or lower-end OEMs,
such as eMachines, Compaq, HP, and Sony, in an effort to save pennies
and reduce their support costs by having to hire support people that
need only say "Boot from the Recovery CD to return your PC to its
original condition," provide only a CD bearing a disk image of the hard
drive as it left the factory.

Essentially, it boils down to "You get what you pay for."

The computer's manufacturer will have provided you some means of
returning the computer to it's original, ex-factory state. Read the
documentation that came with the computer, or check the manufacturer's
support web site, and follow the instructions/procedures provided.


--

Bruce Chambers

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[Simple Simon]

Reputable, customer-service aware OEMs, like Dell and Gateway, do
provide a full OEM installation CD, that does permit custom
installations and repairs.

Reminds me to ask what I've meant to for more than a week:

Can Windows setup be run with a command-line switch that sponsors a conservative, broken
files-rewriting and/or otherwise "repair" install, cutting out two or three acts of the whole
Klingon opera?

I'm not speaking of a System Restore to a prior saved state, (which can too easily, and
mysteriously, be disabled anyway, to one's surprise at the last minute,) but an
options-conserving reinstall that /notices/and/fixes/ System files gone bad, and otherwise
doesn't try too hard to change things. ME (and 98SE before, if memory serves) had a utility to
fix missing or broken System files from within a live Windows session; if there's the
equivalent in Vista, that's all I need to know here (I haven't found any hint that such
exists.)

My system's fine now; this is for future use.

Vista home basic, 32-bit on a Dell Inspiron 1501