Clean Install questions

A friend of mine gave me his vista ultimate disc. I just got a new laptop and want a fresh install. So does this disc have all versions of vista on it? so I can just use my key on the bottom of the laptop and do a fresh install?

 

A retail disc should have its own key.

 

I the the OP means that he would like to do a clean install with HIS key using a friends disk.

If you're using a retail disk, it's much simpler to do a clean install. See this and this.

The gist of the two guides I mentioned are as follows...

• Backup data
• Backup Vista key + certificate
• Use disk to do a custom (clean) install of Vista. Don't enter in key when installing
• Restore key + certificate

 

ok, so this is my question. Without having to go through all of that.

Can I put the disc in, install vista home premium 32bit using my key on the bottom of my laptop? I dont care if I have to call microsoft to activate, it takes 5 minutes. yes or no? that guide is ridiculous.

 

Hum, I think you can but I never tried this. The Ultimate version disc have ALL THE VERSIONS of Vista on it (that is confirmed). What you have to do is make a clean install and when it prompts for a serial, enter nothing. Click Next. It will prompt you the version of Vista you want to install (and here's the problem). After installing the version you chose of Vista, you'll have to enter the serial and activate it. In the case of an OEM serial, I don't know if you have to select UPGRADE or FULL VERSION. In the case you selected the wrong version, your serial will not work and you will have to reinstall it again.

My best recommandation is to order recovery CD from your manufacturer or download them and burn them so you won't misake in the many versions of Vista.

 

I already burnt the recovery disc's associated with my model, it just includes all the bloatware so that isn't the issue. I just want a clean install and remember the days of putting the disc in, put your cd key in, and it works. You didn't have to download some certificate backup program or any of that. You should still be able to do this, and then call microsoft and activate it. I'll just try it and see what happens.

 

Yes, this should work.

 

It should work if he installs Home Premium but it won't if he installs Ultimate. You can't use a WinXP Pro serial with a Home CD (I know, I tried it). But entering any serials of the same edition will work, you just have to choose the right version.

 

Well since he said he wanted to use the disk to install Home Premium, why would I assume he's installing Ultimate? I know that a Vista key is tied to a specific version (Home Premium, Business, Ultimate, etc), but not to a specific architecture (32-bit or 64-bit).

 

Because the disc he uses is an Ultimate version disc so by default, it installs Ultimate version.

 

Yes, all versions of Vista are on Vista discs, so it should be fine. Use Orev's activation tool (search the forums) on your laptop before you format and re-install though to save you the call to Microsoft.