Reinstall Vista using product key on laptop?

Draeger

Draeger

Draeger

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This is one of those questions which has probably been asked many times before and one that I should know the answer to.

A friend has given me his Acer laptop to look at. Isn't booting up and all that happens is a black screen appears when you switch it on with the message 'Missing Operating System'. The hard drive doesn't show in the BIOS either. I've removed the HDD and fitted it to an external USB caddy and there is absolutely no sign of life to it. Doesn't spin up or make any sound at all so it appears to be well and truly dead. To that end I can't even attempt to recover any of his data from it which is a real pity.

However, he has said he would like the laptop fixed so we are looking at fitting a brand new 2.5" SATA HDD. And herin lies the rub - On the bottom of the laptop is the Vista OEM product key. Basically my question is how can I install a fresh copy of Windows Vista on the laptop on a brand new HDD using that product key? What Vista disc do I require? He said that as far as he recalls he didn't get any discs with it when it was new so I assume there was a recovery partition built into the original borked HDD.

Thanks for any assistance/advice! :)
 
You need the Acer OEM version of Vista too! as if you try any other OEM version, even the Retail version it won't install, I had this problem with my old HP laptop, It wouldn't let me install an OEM disc I borrowed from a friend, assuming Every OEM is the same and I just need the key on the bottom of the Laptop, but nope it wouldn't let me, I phoned Microsoft to 'splain the problem and they said "Vista is picky that way!"... I had to install it on the 30 day Demo, whilst I investigated my options (and finances)...

Thankfully a month later Win7 was released at the silly Introductory price of £15, so I just bought/installed that and never looked back! :)
 
I had to do this with an Acer laptop a couple of weeks back, and just used my retail vista disc and the key on the bottom and it activated just fine with the phone activation. It will be more than likely 32 bit that was preinstalled on the machine.
 
Draeger said:
Im not entirely sure. Doesn't indicate either on the COA or anywhere else on the laptop. :confused:
Click to expand...

Code: 
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BwaXMoQJSUU3QTFiUkozMTZNaWs&usp=sharing

Take your pick. These are official Microsoft MSDN ISO files.

Source:
Code: 
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/subscriptions/securedownloads/hh442898#searchTerm=Windows%20Vista%20with%20Service%20Pack%202&ProductFamilyId=0&Languages=en&FileExtensions=.iso&PageSize=10&PageIndex=0&FileId=0
 
budcj said:
I had to do this with an Acer laptop a couple of weeks back, and just used my retail vista disc and the key on the bottom and it activated just fine with the phone activation. It will be more than likely 32 bit that was preinstalled on the machine.
Click to expand...

Ta, good to know! :)

KIA said:
Code: 
https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0BwaXMoQJSUU3QTFiUkozMTZNaWs&usp=sharing

Take your pick. These are official Microsoft MSDN ISO files.

Source:
Code: 
https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-US/subscriptions/securedownloads/hh442898#searchTerm=Windows%20Vista%20with%20Service%20Pack%202&ProductFamilyId=0&Languages=en&FileExtensions=.iso&PageSize=10&PageIndex=0&FileId=0
Click to expand...

Cheers dude!! :)
 
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