Vista Upgrade Anytime DVD?

I was reading the Clean Install guide, as I want to perform this when I receive my T61p. It's my understanding that, like most notebooks these days, the Thinkpads do not ship with the Vista DVD of the version installed on your system. Does it come with this Upgrade Anytime DVD that is mentioned in the guide? Do I need to request a copy of Vista from Lenovo?

I apologize if this has been addressed in the guide thread itself, but there are over a hundred pages, and a few searches turned up nothing, so I hope you understand.

 

hey watusp man. well to be honest i never got the anytime upgrade cd from lenovo. i have called lenovo for it but they told me that they dont have it and they dont sell it. i would have to call up microsoft. and when i called up microsoft they told me that i have to use the online service and if i dont have internet i would have to pay $150 for the cd.

and then i searched online and i found out that BestBuy, Circuit City, and CompUSA had them for only $5. so i just ordered from them. that is just one advice.

or if you lucky your friend may have it. or you may find it in the torrent sites. but hey man it is totally up to you. it is just a option and a advice.

the better would to be to buy it for $5

 

Not sure what you're looking at. I searched the Best Buy sites in Canada and the U.S. and couldn't find an anytime-upgrade Vista CD, let alone one on sale for $5.

 

I'm with wrighton. Can't find it on any of those mentioned outlets. Amazon has it for 160. No thanks.

I would also rather not torrent it.

So requesting it from Lenovo doesn't go too well, huh?

 

Check out Stallen's Guide. http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=144783

Read the FAQ about what you should do about the anytime upgrade disc.
Tim

 

That's the guide I was referring to. I didn't see anything in there on where to get the disc. Did I miss it? And what FAQ are you referring to? The link just takes me to the What Laptop Should I Buy FAQ.

 

You may want to check that thread too regarding obtaining OS DVDs from Lenovo.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=227104

 

Thanks for the link. If I can't find someone who has a disc I can borrow I will give lenovo tech support a try.

 

From Stallen's FAQ:

How to download the official files from Microsoft
How to create a bootable install disc using the downloaded files

"• Can I make my own anytime upgrade disk? Yes you can make a 32-bit anytime upgrade disk using vlite. First: Install and launch vlite. Then follow these steps using vlite: Step 1. Navigate to the location of the C:\WAUUPGRD folder on your hard drive. Step 2. Select the version of Vista you own. Step 3. Click the ISO button to burn to DVD. Unfortunately, you can't make a 64-bit disk using this method since the folder on your laptop only contains the 32-bit version.

"• Can I download a 32-bit or 64-bit disk? Yes, you can download Vista 32-bit and/or 64-bit and create install disks from this website: http://www.mydigitallife.info/2007/0...download-link/
I'll probably be updating my Clean Install guide to include information on downloading and creating your own Vista installation disk for those who do not have a real vista install disk. I plan to use this and create a more user friendly guide with some better options for burning an image file when I get the chance."​

Edit: Just to clarify, you don't even have to download the files from Microsoft if you just want to do a clean install of a 32-bit-32-bit or 64-bit-to-64-bit Vista install. The Anytime Upgrade files will already be on your hard disk. So all you need to do is download vLite and follow the instructions in the first bullet I posted. I recently did a clean install of 64-bit Vista over my existing 32-bit install so I went with the method described in the second bullet point. I tried looking around for the $5.00 Vista Anytime Upgrade disc, but couldn't find a trace of it.

 

Thanks a million. I'll give this a try when I get my Thinkpad.

 

The newest versions of Rescue and Recovery allow you to basically do a clean install, putting on only the programs you want.

 

Interesting. So would this be a better, less hassle option?

 

Yes, a very much less hassle option.

 

Then would it be better to go through rescue and recovery rather than follow the steps outlined in stallen's clean install guide?

And if it would be better/less of a hassle to clean the system through rescue and recovery, how would one go about doing it?

/I'm researching as much as possible before my t61 ships to my doorstep.

 

Stallen's guide is more of a hassle but if done correctly you will have a faster system but if you do not do it correctly, problems could come up. Refer to his thread for possible answers to such problems.

In order to do a custom factory install, just press the blue ThinkVantage button upon startup at the ThinkPad splash screen to start the process. You will know what to do from there on.

 

Anytime Upgrade should be stored on a hidden directory on your C: drive.

I found mine on the root C:/ drive in a dir called MAU something. you have to show hidden files and dir to see it.

As for getting rid of the think advantage programs would it also get rid of your blue button function if you uninstall those thinkpad/thinkadvantage pre-installed software?

I just manually limit the startup programs instead of removing everything. it seems to run ok.

 

Yeah my first inclination would be to run msconfig and just manually disable processes and startup programs that I don't want/need. I want my Thinkpad to run as best it can and if it means doing a clean install I'll do it. It sounds like the custom factory install might help quite a bit without as much hassle, but does it improve performance as much as a clean install?

 

that's definitely less of a hassle than doing the stallen clean install. however, afaik, that won't help you if you have a vista 32-bit and want to go to 64-bit. it will only do the reinstall "clean" with the 32-bit.

please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Never got the "Vista Anytime Upgrade" files (C:\WAUUPGRD or anything like it) on my T61.
Forced to use those files from digitallife. Hope those work ... someday.

I'm just about to install XP and then Fedora on my machine. LOL!

 

Interesting. Well I had no real desire to install the 64 bit version. Just wanted to make sure everything is running as clean and fast as possible. There may be a point in which I want a 64 bit OS and then I may use the tutorial but it sounds like the factory install should be fine. I would imagine if you want to use the fingerprint reader and other functions like that you will need to keep some of those processes.

 

Does anyone know how well this works? I haven't seen much discussion about it.

 

If I use rescue and recovery and eliminate as much as possible, about how many processes can I expect?

 

I have a new Anytime Upgrade disc. The labeling says "Includes 32-bit software". Depending on which clean install guide that I read, I may or may not be hosed when it comes to clean installing my 64 bit Vista Business.

Assuming I am hosed, is there a R & R guide to doing a " sorta clean install" anywhere. I would like to recover some hard drive space and gain as much speed as possible. I would like to know what can safely be omitted during the R & R process.