The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    clean vista install on vaio VGN-FZ21E

    Discussion in 'VAIO / Sony' started by tobi11, Oct 29, 2008.

  1. tobi11

    tobi11 Newbie

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    1
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    5
    hey guys,

    i've never read this forum before and i'm in here for 2 days and i think its great! obviously im here because ive got some problems w/ my laptop and i hope you can help me.

    i bought the laptop in august 08, didnt used it a lot and i did not knew if i want to remove vista and install xp or if i want to keep vista. somehow i decided to keep vista but it really tilts me hard w/ all that crap like norton. so i googled to find a solution and i came here. i read most how-to's but it's not working for me.

    i want you to know that i've already "abused" 2times the vista backup mode because i deleted drivers or killed service entries by mistake. however, i searched for the WAU folder but i did not find it. obviously i have unlocked the hidden folders but i have no WAU folder. in sonysys is only LOGS and in c: there is no WAUUPGRD.

    than i tried to download the vista recovery disk and i found some non-torrent and torrent sites which offer the disk for free. downloaded and mounted i started the boot-cd but it always tells AFTER i choose my location and after i choose not enter the serial that there is an error and the data sources/install.wdm (or something similar) does not exist. so i downloaded and burned about 4 different recovery cds and it always shows me the same error.

    anyone has an idea what to do?

    edit: i also tried to use the vaio recovery utility, but it does not work, similar as it wouldnt be installed. it seems like i click on a death link in help&support/backup/vaio recovery utility


    cheers
     
  2. ScuderiaConchiglia

    ScuderiaConchiglia NBR Vaio Team Curmudgeon

    Reputations:
    2,674
    Messages:
    6,039
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    205
    The discussions of downloaded (i.e. pirated) copies of Vista are not allowed or tolerated here. Doing so will get you banned.

    Without the WAU folder your only choice is to buy a Vista install disk or borrow one from a friend and use the Vista serial number on the bottom of your machine to install it. (That is NOT illegal.)

    Gary