Vista Installation DVD

Hi all, I was hoping someone could help me answer two questions.

My brother bought the Studio 1535 from Best Buy. It came with the drivers and media direct discs, but not the Vista one (Vista 64-bit Home came preinstalled). I called Best Buy and they said it's not included because the laptop comes with the backup partition. Long story short, they said they didn't have one. So I tried Dell but they said they wouldn't send anything since I bought it from Best Buy. Called Best Buy back and they told me the same thing, they didn't have it.

So I bought an XPS m1330 direct from Dell and that shipped with Vista 32-bit Home installed, as well as the DVD.

Question 1: Will I be able to use the 32-bit disc to repair his 64-bit operating system if I need to?

Question 2: Will I be able to use my 32-bit disc and do a clean install on his laptop? Will the 64-bit serial number work with the 32-bit version?

Thanks guys!

 

I don't think so no, 64-bit and 32-bit under the hood are both different. Dell does provide 64-bit discs though.

The Vista key works on both 32-bit and 64-bit i do believe. About using your dvd though, im not sure if Microsoft of Dell would like you to do this. The dvd from dell is OEM and MAY (not 100% sure on this bit) contain information that differ from normal retail DVDs that is specific to that DVD. Although in theory it should work fine.

 

100% correct.

Microsoft and Dell won't mind; they DVD means little to nothing as far as the value of the OS goes - what is worth money is the license. Dell's discs reference a section of the BIOS which contains your license key, which is why if you install whatever version came on the laptop it won't even ask for a key, but if you use the disc on a non-dell computer or use a different version Vista on the system, it will prompt for a serial.

 

ok i guess i better install the 32-bit on the Studio. I've called Dell and Best Buy numerous times asking for the Vista disc and they won't send it. I've spoken to numerous supervisors and they all say I need to contact Best Buy. I decided I didn't want to deal with them anymore so I was hoping I could just put the 32-bit version on and be done with it. Thanks!

 

Problem is, 32 bit Vista sucks in comparison to 64 bit. I'd look around, you can find 64 bit discs. In fact, you can get them from Microsoft for the ballpark of 10 dollars. Almost everyone is going the opposite direction: removing x86 and putting x64