Windows Vista

darich

I bought a laptop a number of months ago and it seems to be working quite well (posting from it now!).

Something that's always bugged me though is that I have Vista installed and have a system restore facility (not restore points) as is usually with pre-installed operating systems on laptops.

Since I have genuine vista with a serial number on the base of my laptop, is there anyway I can acquire a copy of the software on a cd, and get access to the 10gb or so of space allocated for any recovery?

I'm fairly good with computers but without a copy of vista on cd there isn't much I can do with my current set up. I have a couple of partitions on my hard drive but would like to be able to use the entire thing.

Is it possible to "extract" vista from a working computer?
how can I get a copy of vista without paying for it again since I bought it on my laptop?

many thanks
D

wakandem

Generally you are allowd to make a recovery set of cds , I would advise you do this. The best way is to then get a new bigger hard drive and install the recovery cds on to that. It will peobably create a recovery partition on the new drive, you sometimes get the option to stop this but even if you don't the new hard drive should give you more space than just obtaining 10gig from the original drive. You would have to make recovery cds whatever way you do it as making your dive into one will probably require a format after partitions are deleted and created so windows would need to be reinstalled

darich

Thanks wakandem

I made my recovery discs within a couple of days of getting the laptop. The problem I have with the recovery partition (and discs) is that they are unique to my laptop. If it dies tomorrow and I go buy another then I'll be buying vista again.....but I already have a genuine copy so don't need another.

I have installed XP countless times on other machines so would probably be able to install Vista. That's why I want a disc with vista on it - not a receovery disc.

Although it would be good to have the 10gb recovery partition as space I could use, I don't necessarily need a larger hard drive (I have a 500gb attached to my desktop and a 160gb portable drive for the laptop) but having it inside the machine rather than as an add on would be advantageous.

If I could get a copy of Vista on cd then I don't need a serial number - I already have one but I can't write vista to cd from my laptop since it's built in.

littlepanther

I hate the way manufacturers do this.

Just one thing I recently put Windows 7 on one that had Vista and it runs a lot quicker. But it is more cost to you.

Hammyman

darich wrote: »

Is it possible to "extract" vista from a working computer?
how can I get a copy of vista without paying for it again since I bought it on my laptop?


D

You can buy the "Anytime Upgrade" DVD from Microsoft. OTTOMH its £3. The one DVD has all versions on and what gets installed is determined by the CD key you enter during setup.

Not been on Windows for a while but OTTOMH, Control Panel, System then click on Upgrade and it'll take you to the website where you can select to purchase just the DVD.

dave2

darich wrote: »

The problem I have with the recovery partition (and discs) is that they are unique to my laptop. If it dies tomorrow and I go buy another then I'll be buying vista again.....but I already have a genuine copy so don't need another.

The Windows you have is OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) licence. It is tied to the laptop.

Legally, you cannot use it on another computer. In practice, it might refuse to activate on the new PC.

This sucks, obviously, but then Toshiba or whoever got a steep discount for OEM version so in a roundabout way you paid a lot less for it than the retail version, which can be installed on as many computers as you like (just not at the same time). The OEM discount is so steep that if you're buying a laptop you're not going to be making much of a saving anyway, though since Windows is so ubiquitous it's not like there were many options to do so anyway.

wakandem

The other option is to find someone with an oem version on dvd and copy it, totally against the licencing rules but with a legal coa on the pc you are installing to it can be done, just make sure it the dvd is not tied to a manufacturer like dell/hp etc. As far as i know it can not be extracted from the system. The xp you had must have been a corporate version as that was the only one that did not require activation. The anytime upgrade mentioned above sounds like an option

littlepanther

Darich, am I right in thinking your main concern is that if you get a new machine you don't want to pay for Vista again?

If so I'd like to think that too, but I tried this once before and they wouldn't drop much off the price as they get it much cheaper than we do.

Also you'd get Win 7 now which is much better.

But I think manufacturers are wrong to do this.

darich

Thanks to all for the tips and advice.
Littlepanther has almost got it right with what I want. I want to be able to reinstall my Os without all the guff that comes with the recovery discs eg norton (junk) kids games, various other programs that I've already removed. When I have to restore, they're automatically installed then I have to uninstall them again. A normal install could probably be done in a couple of hours at the most. But when I need to recover then uninstall loads of things (and then update them) it can take several hours

With a clean install I have the option about what to install. It would also let me buy a bespoke laptop from a local shop customised to my spec without having to go to comet/dixons/pcworld/whereever because I'd already have the OS and could simply install it from scratch on my "empty" laptop.

Dave2 - reading your post - am i right in saying then that if i did get a copy of vista and typed in my serial number, it may not work even though I have a genuine number?

How about this for an alternative -
I also have a genuine copy of XP (full disc cost me around £50 when I bought my desktop) so if I wanted to, how could I remove the "locked" partition containing the recovery files and install XP giving me a clean install using a genuine copy of a slightly older OS?

thanks (again) in advance

littlepanther

Hi Darich,

Yes, you could roll back to win xp, have done that loads of times. You need to make sure you have the drivers though, usually on the website of the manufacturer. Let me know model and I'll see if I can find anything but not a bad solution.

As a photographer have you had a look at the iPad? Photos look excellent.

LP

darich

LP

I have XP running on my desktop so I'd probably need to "deactivate" XP on that since both machines may be on the net. My laptop is HP pavilion dv 7 notebook.
I don't actually dislike vista.....I just don't want all the hassle that goes with owning it on a laptop.

not looked at the ipad at all....not really sure what it does or what it's for!!