HI all, this might seem like a silly question but if I have a laptop with Vista pre-installed and I need to completely reformat and reinstall, what do I do about activating Vista again? Many thanks Garry
Depends on the manufacture. I got a Dell Studio with Vista Home Premium and formatted it right out the box and installed Ultimate. I Decrapified it immediately! Just need the Cert and OEM key for Dell. (Use Key when installing, Insert Key after bootup.) There is another thread here on "how to insert oem key and cert"
Hi guys thanks for your help. It's a HP notebook with no recovery disk and I didn't realise about the recovery partition until too late..... I have a Retail Vista DVD that my buddy can loan me and I have my serial key on the underside of the machine. Can I install it this way and will it activate?
OK doktornotor, is talking garbage because i knoe HP machines don't come with recovery disks you have to make them and you only get one shot You can modify your buddies dvd just read thread here on how to make your own OEM vista dvd http://forums.mydigitallife.net/threads/2389 also look at this thread for OEM keys http://forums.mydigitallife.net/threads/2581 you will also need a certificate if your machine is still up and running go to windows\system32\oem folder you will find it there but dont worry certificates are available on the forum