going back to vista

[badermans]

I recently upgraded vista to windows 7 on my gf laptop and its given me a headache. it wont shut down and from time to time it will not open programs or even recognise the USB ports.


I must admit I was lazy when installing win7 and didn't make a bootable version of vista. now I need to reinstall vista so I can start from scratch and perform a clean installation.

so I was wondering if I down load a bootable version for vista, will I be able to put vista back on the laptop or will I have to buy a new copy of vista? The laptop came with a valid product key.

ive asked Acer for the bootable cd but they charge 50 quid

[directhex]

Manufacturer OEM CD keys are often tied to specific CD media. You may be unable to install from non-Acer media.

[Jay]

I have been down this road whith a load of XP PCs we had, we had the safe with the manufacture CDs in it stolen and the CD keys where tied to the CDs.... they wouldn't help us so we where screwed.

[watercooled]

Check the hard drive for a recovery partition, my friend was in a similar situation recently and skipping the details formatting was the best option but he had no CDs and 7RC had overwritten the MBR so the original bootloader which offered a recovery option had gone but luckily the recovery partition was still present on the HDD (possibly in the HPA) - I just set that partition to bootable with GParted, rebooted and it worked fine.

[jim]

Do a clean install of Windows 7 instead of an upgrade.

[MaddAussie]

Do a clean install of Windows 7 instead of an upgrade.

I agree with PoshJames

[badermans]

i should of done a clean install but was lazy. looks like i will need to buy vista as i cant see the hard drive for a recovery partition

[watercooled]

Try doing a clean install of 7 first as others have said, not opening programs and failing to detect USB ports doesn't sound like something wrong with the OS rather the installation or other software on the system.

[jadamso]

Why don't you just download a copy of vista/tiny xp? If your computer had it pre-loaded all you're doing is putting it back to the state that it was sold to you as. I agree with the other comments about a clean reinstall. I remember backing up my copy of XP that had been pre-installed only to find out that its hardware specific. Advice was to contact Microsoft direct stating that the hard drive had packed up.

[jim]

i should of done a clean install but was lazy. looks like i will need to buy vista as i cant see the hard drive for a recovery partition

So why don't you do a clean install of 7 now?

[watercooled]

Also keep in mind that if some of your laptop's hardware isn't detected it's probably just driver issues and a clean (as opposed to OEM customised) Vista install will likely have the same problems as it's very similar to 7 in terms of compatibility in which case buying Vista would just be a waste of money if you end up back where you are now but with a worse OS - just have a look on the MFR's product page for driver downloads, unlike PCs laptops generally have lots of buttons/features etc that need separate drivers/software to run - the Fn combinations for example.

[Behemoth]

Acer hide the recovery partition well, to access it turn on Laptop and Press F10, it should then load into the recovery app for the Laptop and allow you to put Vista back on.

[usxhe190]

i should of done a clean install but was lazy. looks like i will need to buy vista as i cant see the hard drive for a recovery partition

Everyone one is telling you to do a clean install on 7 first. Save you money, mate.

[vti_786]

like everyone else says, clean install windows 7.

but i'm pretty sure if you download an oem copy of vista you should be able to use your product key, i have done this myself.

[jim]

but i'm pretty sure if you download an oem copy of vista you should be able to use your product key, i have done this myself.

It's pot luck really... I had that problem with an Advent *shudder* computer - their key wouldn't work with my disk. And then Advent Tech Support accused me of piracy because I had a Windows disk that wasn't supplied by them.

[CaptainCrash]

so I was wondering if I down load a bootable version for vista, will I be able to put vista back on the laptop or will I have to buy a new copy of vista? The laptop came with a valid product key.

ive asked Acer for the bootable cd but they charge 50 quid

All Vista discs are the same, regardless of the version, or whether they're generic OEM or retail channel. The only exceptions are the Enterprise version and certain BIOS-locked manufacturer-specific discs, and of course x86 and x64 discs are different.

The bottom line is, you can use *any* Vista disc with the COA sticker product key on your GF's laptop, and it should install and activate fine. It's less complicated than XP in this regard, and even simpler than 7 (which might need a bit of tinkering depending on version).

If you download an ISO, do make sure the SHA1 checksums match the official version, so you don't end up with something undesirable.

edit:

It's pot luck really... I had that problem with an Advent *shudder* computer - their key wouldn't work with my disk. And then Advent Tech Support accused me of piracy because I had a Windows disk that wasn't supplied by them.

And to immediately prove me wrong.... honestly, this is the first time I've ever heard of this happening. Did you use the product key on the COA sticker, rather than using Magic Jelly Bean or something to extract the "internal" key?