PC World not giving VISTA license CD

cnrathi

Hi people...
I need advise on what should I do in my situation.

My situation:
I bought this Advent refurbished laptop from PC World in May 2008. It had Windows Vista operating system. That means, with my laptop price I paid licese fee for VISTA as well (as VISTA is not free) and I have full right (I think) to get the CD (in case I want to reinstall the system in future).
When I talk to PC World, they say that they do not give out the CD and I should do a system restore when ever I want to reinstall. I understand that I can do system restore.
But what if I want to do a complete format of harddrive and then reinstall VISTA... I can't do that as I don't have a CD of the software for which I paid :mad:

PC World says that it was mentioned in the terms n conditions which I must have received with laptop. I did not received any terms n conditions. All I got was laptop with a paper giving out instruction on how to start your laptop.

Now this is like PC World is bullying... - "do whatever you can, we don't care".:eek:
Can anyone help me on this. How do I get them to give me Windows VISTA cd.
I know they should because in 2005 I bought laptop from Dell having Windows XP and they happily sent out a CD when I requested them in 2007.

Please help.

Thanks.

closed

Normally you either have a restore partition, or a method for creating the CD/DVD, or both in this scenario - not sure about Advent, but that is the norm for a lot of manufacturers. Alternatively you can use the restore partition, then image the drive to a DVD or 2.

What Dell do is a different case.

macman

Things have changed since 2005. Most manufacturers do not now supply a full copy of the OS, or if they do it is at extra cost. All PC's come with either a restore/resource disc, or a hidden recovery partition on the hard drive that enables you to do a factory restore (I think that is what you meant to say when you said 'system restore').
Remember, you did not buy the software, you bought a licence to use the software that was already installed on your laptop.
If you want to do a clean install you would need to borrow a Vista DVD from someone, otherwise you can do a factory restore.

asininity

Its an oem install of the OS and in that respect will have a recovery partition from which you can reinstall vista. If you want the CDs you'll have to pay for them.

jamespir

on the advent laptops the windows restore is on the hard drive its self

nomoneytoday

The idea is to make a backup disc from the recovery partitiion.
Then if the HDD fails you can use the disc to restore the pc

JasX

you could try one of the various 'free windows/vista key finding' programs on the web.... never needed one myself so no comments on reliability/security but a quick google will bring up several links and articles on how to use one

scottishblondie

while i completely agree it's unfair, it's also not unheard of. you may have gotten a copy from dell free of charge, but in 2003 they said i would have to pay £30 for an xp disk with my laptop, even though i had also effectively paid this licence fee when i bought the laptop.

however it is pretty easy to get around so probably not worth the effort and agro of arguing with them! if you have a licence sticker on the laptop all you need is a copy of the install disc, which can be fairly easily obtained by borrowing and copying a disk, or by other means. just watch out if it's an OEM licence though, as they generally require an install disk which is specific to the manufacturer, ie to reinstall windows on my dell laptop i had to use a dell xp disk rather than the copy that i got for my pc.

RobTang

The bad news is they probably dont know the CD-Key anyway and thus cant just give it to you.

the thing is one of the terms and conditions of any microsoft oem licence is that the COA sticker (with the cd key) HAS to be placed on the laptop by the system builder / manufacturer.
Its usually on the bottom of the laptop buy might be under one of the removable bays. If not dob them in for selling you unlicenced software.