Laptop recovery partition question

  • Thread starter Thread starter Richard G. Harper
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Richard G. Harper

Almost certainly not. Most DVDs are tied to certain groups of Product
Keys - retail works with retail discs only, OEM works with OEM discs only,
and the keys on the sticker on the PC rarely work with any media at all
unless the computer manufacturer provided the media.

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Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
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I will be ordering a new laptop in a couple of days. Unfortunately, it
has a recovery partition on the hard disk...I HATE those.

Will I be able to use my Vista OEM DVD *with* the laptop's serial
number to install Vista and still be kosher?

Cheers,

Guy

** Stress - the condition brought about by having to
** resist the temptation to beat the living daylights
** out of someone who richly deserves it.
 
and the keys on the sticker on the PC rarely work with any media at all
unless the computer manufacturer provided the media.
Click to expand...

I was hoping that this would be a straightforward OEM key, sigh.

Cheers,

Guy

** Stress - the condition brought about by having to
** resist the temptation to beat the living daylights
** out of someone who richly deserves it.
 
In the case of XP Pro I found that the OEM CD from one OEM manufacturer
worked with the key on the cabinet from another OEM manufacturer where the
retail XP Pro CD would not work.
Richard G. Harper said:
Almost certainly not. Most DVDs are tied to certain groups of Product
Keys - retail works with retail discs only, OEM works with OEM discs only,
and the keys on the sticker on the PC rarely work with any media at all
unless the computer manufacturer provided the media.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
* NEW! Catch my blog ... http://msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* The Website - http://rgharper.mvps.org/
* HELP us help YOU ... http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


Dr Teeth said:
I will be ordering a new laptop in a couple of days. Unfortunately, it
has a recovery partition on the hard disk...I HATE those.

Will I be able to use my Vista OEM DVD *with* the laptop's serial
number to install Vista and still be kosher?

Cheers,

Guy

** Stress - the condition brought about by having to
** resist the temptation to beat the living daylights
** out of someone who richly deserves it.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Absolutely, the OEM DVD will work with the OEM key on the bottom of your new
laptop. I do this all the time in my shop when doing system reloads. Just
make sure and install the proper version from your DVD that corrosponds with
your key. Pay no attention to Richard on this one. ;-)

Dan
 
Absolutely, the OEM DVD will work with the OEM key on the bottom of your new
laptop. I do this all the time in my shop when doing system reloads. Just
make sure and install the proper version from your DVD that corrosponds with
your key. Pay no attention to Richard on this one. ;-)
Click to expand...

Thanks, that's a BIG relief.

Cheers,

Guy

** Stress - the condition brought about by having to
** resist the temptation to beat the living daylights
** out of someone who richly deserves it.
 
Dr Teeth said:
I will be ordering a new laptop in a couple of days. Unfortunately, it
has a recovery partition on the hard disk...I HATE those.

Will I be able to use my Vista OEM DVD *with* the laptop's serial
number to install Vista and still be kosher?
Click to expand...

? I don't understand your question.
Vista will come pre-installed on a new laptop.
Why do you need to install Vista a second time?

If your only reason for a second install is to remove the
recovery partition, you should be able to remove it
without disturbing the installed instance of Vista.
 
? I don't understand your question.
Click to expand...

Clearly, the other posters do.

Cheers,

Guy

** Stress - the condition brought about by having to
** resist the temptation to beat the living daylights
** out of someone who richly deserves it.
 
Richard G. Harper said:
Almost certainly not. Most DVDs are tied to certain groups of Product
Keys - retail works with retail discs only, OEM works with OEM discs only,
and the keys on the sticker on the PC rarely work with any media at all
unless the computer manufacturer provided the media.
Click to expand...
UTTER BOLLOCKS. All versions of Vista, OEM, Retail and Upgrade from
Home Basic to Ultimate are all on the same DVD. It determines what is
installed when the licence key is entered.
 
The reason you are getting conflicting answers is because the way different
OEMs install Windows is different. With some OEMs what you want to do will
work and with some it won't. You won't know until you try it.
 
The reason you are getting conflicting answers is because the way different
OEMs install Windows is different.
Click to expand...

? If I wish to vape the whole h/d, are you saying that my OEM serial
number may not work with my OEM Vista DVD?

I object to restore partitions for a couple of reasons. 1) I want the
full h/d to use that I paid for (unless I can make a restore DVD from
it and then nuke it) and 2) if the h/d dies, so does my hope of a
restore.

Cheers,

Guy

** Stress - the condition brought about by having to
** resist the temptation to beat the living daylights
** out of someone who richly deserves it.
 
Dr Teeth said:
? If I wish to vape the whole h/d, are you saying that my OEM serial
number may not work with my OEM Vista DVD?

I object to restore partitions for a couple of reasons. 1) I want the
full h/d to use that I paid for (unless I can make a restore DVD from
it and then nuke it) and 2) if the h/d dies, so does my hope of a
restore.
Click to expand...


Yes. Some OEM keys can only be used with the OEM supplied Windows. Most will
work with any OEM version of Windows.

Create the factory restore CD/DVD's and you don't need the restore
partition. I'd also create at least a couple of images of the disk that
include the boot sector, restore/diagnostic partitions, and the user
partitions using a disk imaging program. Some OEMs use a nonstandard boot
sector that will get over written when you do a clean install of Vista.
 
Depending on the manufacturer - for example, HP and Toshiba provide an
"utility" which will remove the recovery partition. When the partition was
created it modified the MBR so that you see the messasge "hit F__ to
restore___" at boot - deleting or reformatting of the recovery partition
may be difficult since it cannot be accessed normally - and most likely MBR
would stay "modified".

Usually they (HP and others) provide for copying the recovery partition to
removable media, as an option, if you intend to do away with the partition.
 
Depending on the manufacturer - for example, HP and Toshiba provide an
"utility" which will remove the recovery partition. When the partition was
created it modified the MBR so that you see the messasge "hit F__ to
restore___" at boot - deleting or reformatting of the recovery partition
may be difficult since it cannot be accessed normally - and most likely MBR
would stay "modified".

Usually they (HP and others) provide for copying the recovery partition to
removable media, as an option, if you intend to do away with the partition.
Click to expand...

I have enough tools here to vape any partition <g>.

Not withstanding your comments, for which I thank you (I mean it, I am
not being sarcastic), they do not seem to be pertinent to my original
question; viz 'can the installed OS's OEM serial number be used with a
regular Vista (bought as OEM) install disc ?'

Cheers,

Guy

** Stress - the condition brought about by having to
** resist the temptation to beat the living daylights
** out of someone who richly deserves it.
 
Yes. Some OEM keys can only be used with the OEM supplied Windows. Most will
work with any OEM version of Windows.

Create the factory restore CD/DVD's and you don't need the restore
partition. I'd also create at least a couple of images of the disk that
include the boot sector, restore/diagnostic partitions, and the user
partitions using a disk imaging program. Some OEMs use a nonstandard boot
sector that will get over written when you do a clean install of Vista.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that very sound advice. Will do.

Cheers,

Guy

** Stress - the condition brought about by having to
** resist the temptation to beat the living daylights
** out of someone who richly deserves it.
 
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