Does anyone have a copy of windows vista? My brothers computer hard drive crashed and he does not have a recovery disk or the original copy of vista. I purchased a new hard drive for his laptop and I have the activation key.
I did last month, but someone convinced me there was no reason to have 10 different copies of varying versions of Windows laying around. Sorry. Good luck.
I still use XP. 2004 version. not sure the last time i saw my back up disk. if i had one. would that help?
No, I have the vista Key on the laptop. But since he did not do the proper backups and restore options. I replaced the hard drive so with a good copy of vista home I can use his existing windaows key.
My laptop has the new Windows 8 trial and boy is it odd. I cant get used to not having a start button. It is available free online if that will help you.
I dont have vista but I have an XP boot disk I made with an embedded key…
I’ve tried this before on some other systems without success. You can download via bittorrent a copy of your current version of Vista, and save it on a working computer (as .iso). Then burn it to a DVD, and installing it on the crashed system. You’ll have to go into the install folder and configure the crack to accept your existing licence agreement. If you know what you’re doing, it MAY work . . .
HOWEVER . . .
Microsoft has spent millions of bucks to write their software to prevent exactly what you are trying to do.
My advice, buy a new hard drive (PC or laptop) and purchase a newer version of windows. (Vista has been riddled with programming errors since it’s implimentation, and will shortly outlive it’s support by microsoft)
Plug your existing hard drive into another docking port in your PC (or a portable USB hard drive storage device sold at most electronic stores) so you don’t lose your files on your existing hard drive.
In my experience, it’s better to cut your losses and go with a new software/hardware setup that may run you around $200 vs HOURS and HOURS of headache to replace an outdated OS on a possibly faulty hard drive.
Hope this was helpful. Theenx.
Yeah, I didn’t want to go that route due to malware that is prevelent in those.
If you are even thinking about buying a new version of Windows, or upgrading I recommend purchasing a Microsoft Technet Subscription. For like $199 you get 1 or 2 licenses for just about any software that Microsoft sells (Windows, Office, etc…). The only thing you have to do is promise not to use the software in a production environment or something of that sort, and promise that it is for testing purposes only.
I think the price is $199 for the first year and IF you decide to renew, the price is like $159 I think. You don’t HAVE to renew or anything, it won’t cause your licenses to expire, it just won’t give you access to new software that they release. Check it out, I love it.
I’ve downloaded Windows 7 Ultimate 64bit for my pc and laptop and Office 2010 Pro for my PC and my laptop. Easily $1500 or so worth of software for $199.