Clean Vista install WITH NO ACTIVATION

Acronis True Image is what they used to create the portable one dvd I recieved its a nice clean install but it looks like I have to call MS each and everytime I restore my disk which is BS, I would love to create a new drive image with all my programs installed so I can have it ready incase I upgrade to a bigger disk or SSD and not have MS telling how many times I can activate something I paid for. I have Ghost 12 only way to test this is to buy another drive after creating a image and attemped an restore

 

hhmmm, let us know if you figure it out

compusa closing, bummer. i liked going there when i went to okc.

but hey, i'll still have my copy of the Vista AU disk up on the net

 

If you have Ultimate you can use completePC backup to make an image of the system, just like you would with acronis. Or you could use acronis right after you activate, then always use that image to do your clean install.

 

Just did a clean install to my HP dv2500t. The whole thing went smoothly without any problem. Thanks for the great guide!!

One thing I wish HP would do is to provide very clear instruction on driver installation (like Lenovo). It was a pain to look through each folder in Swsetup to find the appropriate driver/software. Also the HP DVD burner seems to be VERY picky to disc quality. It won't burn on expensive Kodek DVD-R but seems to like those cheap Staples Brand DVD-R!!!

 

Glad you had no problems. You can determine or get the drivers from HP's web site, which is somewhat easier to figure out, instead of going through each of the numbered folders. The way they do it is really annoying, but it's not unique to hp. I go on a rant about it here: http://directedge.us/node/21

The recovery software is looking for DVD +R, not DVD-R, so that might be where the problem is. What's the difference? The staples ones might have been so cheap it couldn't tell

 

Thank you for this guide!

I just purchased a HP Compaq C714 and will be doing this in the next few days. I went ahead and downloaded all the drivers from HP's site to have the most up-to-date versions and have a question.

Regarding the Intel SATA AHCI Controller Driver, I'm very confused by the instructions. It's asking to create a floppy disk and so forth. Do I need to install this driver after all?

The clean install instructions are perfect, I've done this before. The driver issues though confuse me a bit.

Thanks for any help.

 

The drivers that are asking for a floppy disk you don't need. Those are in case you need a floppy disc when you are installing windows and it can't find your hard drive. There is a description of this on the page for the drivers, which you can read here: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/...&cc=us&dlc=en&product=3548227&os=2093&lang=en

I think Vista should already work with this, so I'm not sure why they have it on the page -- usually that's an XP thing.

 

Thank you, orev - I was thinking that was the case but wanted to confirm.

 

stupid question but do i need to buy a Vista Anytime Upgrade CD, or is not nessary if i burn recovery discs?

 

Please read the "Disc Definitions" section of the guide. This is all spelled out there.

No, you cannot use recovery discs.

 

both. the upgrade cd is what actually re does everything. the restore disks are in case anything goes wrong. restore disks will just bring your computer back to the state when it was brand new

 

Thanks. so were can i purchase this?

 

Please read the entire guide. This is in the F-A-Q. If you're lazy you won't be successful.

 

LoL. whats geek squads' number again?

 

u never said were to buy it. just give me a site. your so difficult

 

Are you kidding?

 

i forget exactly which page number its on, but the link directly for the compusa deal is in one of the first few pages of this forum. a bonus is that if you order it now you'll get free shipping cause the business is closing down after the holidays.

well, bonus for us anyway

 

i forget exactly which page number its on, but the link directly for the compusa deal is in one of the first few pages of this forum. a bonus is that if you order it now you'll get free shipping cause the business is closing down after the holidays.

well, bonus for us anyway

 

thanks guys

 

and by the way, after looking through his guide again, he links to the compusa site and the microsoft (downloadable) site in the guide itself, so you don't have to go searching around.

 

i have a backup copy on the net................

 

Creating these Recovery Disks is taking FOREVER! I hope this isn't a sign of things to come...

 

Make sure you use DVD +R discs (note the plus + ). It does take an hour or two to make the discs.

 

I remember when some of the earlier Vista laptops only had CD-ROM drives. 11 CD's and 4+ hours. Oh boy.

 

I just bought a Compaq C714NR laptop from bestbuy. It does not include Window Anytime Update DVD. Microsoft doesn't sell it anymore. Compusa took too long to ship and they are about to go out of business.

where did you get your Window Anytime Update DVD? any idea where I can get one?

 

Any vista disc will work, retail or oem. You just need to get the install media. You might also have it on your system (windows anytime upgrade (WAU)). Check the f-a-q in the guide for information on using that and vlite.

 

thanks for the quick response.

I have a desktop Window Vista Ultima OEM. Can you use your method with this disk?

Did you mean that my Compaq laptop (C714NR) has WAU folder on the HHD? I read your guide but my concern is that my laptop don't have this WAU folder. I don't have my laptop with me yet.

 

I am going to try this on my Sony. If I obtain the key used during the factory setup. Then simply enter this key whilst reinstalling vista from anytime upgrade disc i have. If I wanted to would I be able to reactiave online without running any additional software? Legally this should be ok?

 

Hey Orev, thank you for taking the time to write this guide - it's exactly what i'm looking for.
I've just bought a new notebook and it will be arriving shortly, i've read that Toshiba P200-1B6 has a lot of bloatware and i'd like to start 100% fresh. It comes with Vista Home Premium and I would assume either a recovery dvd, oem install dvd or wau dvd.

I think I should be okay on most of the steps, but this one got me:

14. Partition the disk how you like

I don't really know what a disk partition is.. Well, I know it kind of 'splits' the hdd up. What are the differences between the options I will get, and is there one that is best for what I want? (Completely fresh, nothing but vista.. i'll sort out drivers myself after that)

Thanks in advance [:

 

Yes, your OEM disc will work for this. The disc is not an "ultimate" disc, because it contains all versions of Vista. It's the license key that you have/use which makes it install ultimate.

As far as WAU, I'm not sure if you have it, so I was suggesting that you might have it. If not, then you have the other disc, so you don't need it.

 

No, that will not work. You need to use the ABR tool to backup and restore both the key AND the activation certificate. If you just use the key, it will not work. The factory key cannot be activated at all, by phone or online.

 

A partition is a space on the disk that holds files, and shows up as a drive letter. Most of the time you have 1 main partition which is your C: drive. Many laptops will have a second partition for "recovery". When doing a clean install, you can delete both the C: and D: partitions, and make 1 big one which will be the C:. That way you can use all of the space that you paid for.

If you're going to do a clean install, you don't need the recovery partition because that will reinstall all the bloatware, etc...

 

Gotcha, thanks for clearing that up for me!

 

I am a little confused. Here is steps I will take:
0) ....
1) back up Home premium key using your program
2) do clean install using Ultima OEM disc with Ultima OEM key
3) restore Home premium key using your program.
4) ....


will the home Premium Key from step (3) override the Ultima OEM key from step (2)?
Since your program back up key from Vista Home Premium, can it restore this key to Vista Ultima?

 

Why would you install using the Ultimate key if you are trying to install Home Premium? When you install, do NOT type in ANY key at all. Forget that you even have an Ultimate key (I assume it's from another computer). The disc you are using is just installation media, the key that you type in determines what Vista version you install. You will be given a choice of which version of Vista to install during the install, and choose Home Premium.

Unless you have an OEM disc (probably Dell) that does not give you the chance to chose, and forces you to use the Ultimate install. In that case, you can't use that disc, as of yet.

 

Hi. Thanks for this guide..worked very well except for one problem. My buttons dont beep, checked the bios and they are enabled. Any suggestions

edit: NVM I updated the buttons driver and all is well

edit again: New Problem. No sound. First I got sound through the speakers but when i tried to play back a song nothing. Gives me an error saying it cant play it back (error C00D11B1 in WMP). I could hear system sounds but no playback from mp3. Also the microphone would work. The standard High Definition Driver was installed first.

Now I went to the setup on my disk and searched for drivers and it found the realtek drivers and installed them. Now im getting no sound through the speakers at all. Im using aim to talk to a friend and now the microphone works, She can hear me clear. Any suggestions? I have a dv6500. thanks

 

Hey I saw this article about Vista SP1 and Activation Exploits... I followed this install process- is this an Activation Exploit?

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2227513,00.asp

 

No, this procedure is not an activation exploit. It activates Windows exactly the same way as OEMs do when they install at the factory. Since this only allows you to reinstall the same Vista version you already paid for, it's not a problem.

The exploits that SP1 fixes are some other things that involve tricking the BIOS and resetting the expiration counter, which are techniques people use to get around activating in the first place.

 

Thanks Orev. Works exactly as described.

 

1. What's the difference between 32bit and 64bit?
2. How do I know my vista home premium is 32 or 64?
3. I have a new compaq C714R with vista home premium. there is a lot of junks with the system. I wonder how much space those junks take. up to now ~35GB space on C: drive has been used. This doesn't include any other application softwares.

 

32 and 64 bit have some small differences. The biggest difference is 64bit supports 4GB of RAM. If you don't have 4GB, you probably don't need 64bit, but in the new few years everything will transition to it.

If you ordered 64bit, you would have to tell them, and you'd know about it. The default is 32bit. You can always check the "system type" in the system control panel.

Other than software, there's also the Volume Shadow Copy. Take a look at the "where's my disk space" guide in my sig.

 

I ordered a WAU DVD from compusa last weekend and it was delivered today. Actually pretty darn fast. Only $5 plus tax. Nice DVD, official Microsoft, free USPS. Now to get the time to do it on my Compaq F572US. But of course need to make the recovery disks and get the key/activation I have now extracted..........
YB My 2¢

 

I am unable to access the special "fn" functions on my dv6500t's keys f4 (ext monitor), f6 (lock), f7 (brightness down), f8 (brightness up).

Is there a driver for these functions? I can't remember if I had access to them before I performed the clean install.

BTW, the other special functions on, for example, keys f2 (print) and f3 (internet browser), work.

 

As far as I know there is no special driver for those keys, but make sure you install the quick launch buttons driver to be safe. Otherwise, I'm not sure what it could be. Brightness up and down works for me, but it's pretty subtle and slow, so maybe you just need to hold it down longer? External monitor might only work on the VGA port, though I always go into the control panels when I'm hooking up an external display.

 

how much faster does vista load for you with a clean install? Has anyone done benchmarks to compare the system with a clean install vs the system u get shipped from HP or w/e

I'm trying to decide if it's worth it

 

Some things can't be measured in benchmarks. For me, I want to know that everything that's running on my system *I* put there, and IMO that's the main reason to do it. Boot time noticeably is faster, and getting rid of Norton alone is worth it.

 

Orev is right about this, no doubt about it. hp puts so much Cra.! on their laptops it's really unbelievable. a clean install is just sweet, after you're used to all that worthless bloat running on your system.

i also want to let you know about another problem if any of you are setting up your lap and running Vista "Ultimate" and creating a Backup and Restore Image. If you make the image, be sure to place it on the Partition closest to your C: drive and that the partitions you create are nearly identical in size. The reason I say that is that the "Vista Restore Image" in Ultimate, doesn't like to really restore, ESP. from a USB Hard Drive if you store the image there. I can't tell you how may laptop's we've worked on that the owners created the Restore Image w/ Ultimate, saved it on a USB drive (sure, why not) and couldn't restore it. If you use the Vista Image Route, don't be surprised if you can't restore the Image(personal experience). It has to be on almost an exact copy of the C: partition when you make the image and must be exactly like that when you restore it. The internet is FULL of threads complaining about this problem- and it shouldn't be a problem. Lots of people like V. Ultimate because it has the 'System Restore " feature. They can back it up w/ an image and restore it when needed- NOT!!!!

If you want to make a good Image to restore from, TRY "Acronis True Image Home v. 11"- it is a very easy program to use, makes a "Perfect" image and is easy to restore!! No hassles like the Vista Restore Image(if you can even get it to restore). I'm sure there's other good software out there for just this, but Acronis is the one we like. A quality product. Norton Ghost 12 comes to mind, not sure how it does on this function.

 

Good information. I've used Ultimate to make an image to a USB drive, then restored it from there just to see how it worked. I didn't run into a problem, but as you said I was restoring to the same drive I made the image from, and I haven't been using it extensively, and of course every machine is different.

I bet if you were trying to move to a bigger disk, you should make the partition the same size as the old disk, then once the restore is done, resize the partition.

 

When I ordered my dv2500t, HP offered to provide a copy of the Vista Premium DVD for $20, turns out it's just the Recovery disk and not a real Vista one. Disappointing, but I've ordered a WAU from CompUSA ($5) and will try this out as soon as it comes in. This is a great guide, thanks.

Oh yeah, question. A clean install won't have the bloatware, but what about the other programs? Am I going to have to download the Lightscribe software, etc. again?

 

"Bloatware" means "the other programs". Unless it comes with Vista like if you bought it from Microsoft, then it won't be there when you do the clean install. That's why you need to save your c:\swsetup folder.