Making a Vista DVD?

Hi, I have am F504EA compaq laptop with Vista Premium pre-installed. No DVD was included and I only have the option of making the recovery DVD.
I heard there's a way of making a Vista Install DVD from the files already on the HD.
Any links or ideas how to go about doing this?

Cheers.

 

Oh well, time for another google..i found a link regarding this but no detials were given how to accomplish it.

 

Check out my guide. As long as you have an anytime upgrade dvd, use that as your base image, then you can use vLite or whatever else to customize it.

 

Thanks a lot orev..i will have to ask HP for an upgrade DVD?

 

As far as I know, your laptop should have come with the "Anytime Upgrade" DVD. It looks like promotional material and you may have missed it, however there are many reports from people who didn't get one. You can try calling HP to have them send it to you.

 

Thannks but I contacted HP and they told me they couldn't send me one. Maybe because I am in the UK I don't know.

 

It should have came with it to begin with

 

I have not tested it but my guide should also work with a retail dvd of vista. Not sure the legalities of that though :/

 

I've got nx7400 with Vista Business (no luck with "Anytime Upgrade" DVD), only recovery. Also, I've got two Vista Upgrade Home Premium DVDs for my desktop computers. Can I use any either of the upgrades to make a "fresh and clean install" of Vista Business?

 

Booting into my anytime upgrade dvd, it does give you the option for Business and BusinesN. Not sure what BusinessN is, but it does appear to be on the disc.

 

What if my laptop came with Vista Home Premium pre-installed? I don't have any 'anytime upgrade' disc, only the HP recovery discs that i was able to make. Is it still possible for me to do a clean install?

 

No, you will need the upgrade disc, but a regular retail vista disc might also work. Depending on where you bought it, you may be able to ask them for a disc. I've heard that they might give you one if you show then the receipt.

 

Well seems not in the UK anyway..no chance of an install DVD..here's an excerpt from the email i received..

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thank you for contacting HP Total Care.

I understand from your e-mail that, you need a Vista operating system
CD/DVD for your HP Pavilion notebook.

I am sorry, this could be disappointing to you. Your notebook is
preinstalled with OEM version of Vista operating system. As per
agreement between HP and Microsoft, HP cannot ship vista operating
system CD/DVD along with the HP Pavilion notebook. The notebook comes
preinstalled with a Recovery partition which contains the image of the
operating system, applications and drivers. HP may not be able to
provide you the operating system CD/DVD.

I again apologize for the inconvenience caused.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cheers.

 

Maybe you asked for the wrong thing? If you asked for a Vista install DVD, that's the answer I would expect. But if you just asked for an "Anytime Upgrade DVD", and didn't give other information like, "I want to do a clean installation", you might get a different answer.
Just a thought

 

Mmm..i asked for an Anytime upgrade DVD...but that's a good idea to try again wording it differently this time..will let you know how it goes..thanks again.

 

They don't have to give you one, and I bet they won't. MS provided the disc so they would make more money when people upgrade later. Unfortunately for MS, some smart people have figured out a way to upgrade for free. MS is closing this loophole quickly.

 

Would a restore disc work?

 

I don't think so according to Orev's tutorial?

 

You may be able to work with a restore disc, but I have not tried to figure it out. The process would be very different, so I can't really say. Not much of my guide would apply with a restore disc.