Vista CD???

[xpuser357]

My wife was given a ACER laptop for a gift. When we turned it on and registered to Acer, I thought we had to register windows as well, Did not. Also no CD`s, (With my laptop XP, I received two cd`s, operating system
and driver cd). Question Can they do that?? (load system and keep CD).
Yeah I guess they did:eek: And they probably bought a bunch of licenses
from micro soft. Vista home basic. is the operating system. I just think ahead
and what if the harddrive has a problem and needs new one. Or needs reformatted because there is some problem that antivirus programs cannot clean it up?? And of courseThis would happen after a year and out of warranty. RANT RANT RANT

[Platypus]

Yes, bulk licensed systems can be supplied without hard media. There should be a restore partition or folder on the hard drive. Check the system documentation, you may be provided with a way to generate your own recovery media. Or depending on your legal jurisdiction, Acer may be required to provide disks if requested (maybe for a fee).

[xpuser357]

Thanks for the input Platypus. I visited there site and was going to e-mail them, They have a place where you put your name and so on, and then it asks you where you are, tab to a selection of places except USA, there is
a line right down below tab that reads USA, or Canada press here and then a white page that stay`s only white. I waited for at least 5 minutes, then got out of there. Did obtain Phone #`s on a previous search. I will find out tomorrow how much of a fee:eek: :wave:

[Guts3d]

You could also use a program like Acronis or Ghost to make a bootable image dvd and keep that handy right next to the regular data backups.

[NooNoo]

Acer is pretty decent on support - contact them would be the quickest way to solve the problem.

[xpuser357]

I e-mailed them waiting for responce:) Should receive it tomorrow on what may occur. Product key and sticker is on bottom of laptop. I actually could not find the state #, but I navigated to usa on E-Mail. and received auto responce. just waiting:)

[NooNoo]

That is your proof of authenticity - it proves you have a licence so therefore you can use any vista cd of the same type (home basic oem). If you use a business, premium or ultimate, it will assume you want to upgrade.

[xpuser357]

Well I am a little confused. You said any vista cd of the same type. All
microsoft operating programs that I know on installing,Reqiuries you to accept
license and then enter product key. Each CD (windows). Are you saying
vista will not ask for different product key when you install a different licencse:wave: I do not know about vista yet. I did check it out and there is a button to upgrade. also A DVD WRITER RW, that has a back up program,
only thing bothers me, If you back up system and do not use it for a while
it may fade out. when if you have windows Cd they do not fade. I have
win 3.1 cd and it still retains:cool:

[CCT]

http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/selfhelp/PKUInstructions.aspx

[NooNoo]

There are different types of vista (at different prices). Hence you must use the right type installation CD. Kinda like the difference between XP home and Xp Pro.

You have a licence for home basic. If you use a vista ultimate dvd, it will see your existing installation and assume you want to upgrade it - for which you will have got another key... but if you just borrowed the disk, you won't have another key. Once you have the upgrade in place it will run for 30 days before you have to give it the key (which it will helpfully offer to get for you online).

Shop bought DVDs and CDs are stamped, not burned, so they will last longer... but not forever.

[xpuser357]

Thanks NOO NOO for explanation:thumbs:

[format c:]

Since the media is cheap, Why can't they supply the disk ,I agree with Noo that factory pressed CDs last longer since they are stamped, My friend bought a nice lappie by Asus and no disk, He had Home Premium, So I copied mine for him and told him that as long as he uses his product code it is legal , No I did not give him my product code, I know better
If you know some one with home basic, Burn a copy of their disk and use your product code if your OS goes south:)

[Ferrit]

Acer provides a complete restoration cd/dvd making routine that runs when you first start the laptop.
It is also under start programs.
Ordinarily on the 10 or so laptops i have gotten in the last 6 months from acer with Vista all have come with the Vista Upgrade cd.

[xpuser357]

No upgrade cd or anything except power plug to transformer, and battery.
Did receive E-mail and they said could not ship recovery cd per license
with MICROSOFT. So I can assume that they purchased one physical
vista CD. And loaded a bunch of laptops and maybe desktops. of course they paid microsoft for each one to obtain sticker with product key.Yeah they told me about how to back up. first computer I know of that did not come
with cd. when loaded with windows.:eek:

[CCT]

You never did say what Acer model!

The Microsoft site I linked basically says 'Hey - if you are screwed up, just load someone elses stuff and key, then, within 30 days, change the key'.


edit: and the other stuff HAS to be the same stuff you had

[Ferrit]

No upgrade cd or anything except power plug to transformer, and battery.
Did receive E-mail and they said could not ship recovery cd per license
with MICROSOFT. So I can assume that they purchased one physical
vista CD. And loaded a bunch of laptops and maybe desktops. of course they paid microsoft for each one to obtain sticker with product key.Yeah they told me about how to back up. first computer I know of that did not come
with cd. when loaded with windows.:eek:


That sounds pretty unreal because in the last 2 years i have sold 30 Acer laptops and all of the xp ones came with restore cds and driver cds and as I said all of the vista ones had the vista upgrade cd

[xpuser357]

You never did say what Acer model!

The Microsoft site I linked basically says 'Hey - if you are screwed up, just load someone elses stuff and key, then, within 30 days, change the key'.


edit: and the other stuff HAS to be the same stuff you had




Aspire 5315, I do not know anyone that has Vista home basic, that has a CD
even. that I could borrow and burn a copy. :wave:

[xpuser357]

That sounds pretty unreal because in the last 2 years i have sold 30 Acer laptops and all of the xp ones came with restore cds and driver cds and as I said all of the vista ones had the vista upgrade cd





Yeah definately unreal. It say`s in e-mail that I can make restore cd
that will put laptop back to factory condition. I used DVD`s since DVD burner
but program does not give you time stamp (how long it will take ) 7 cd`s
or two dvd`s It promps. And when using dvd, after I will say 8 minutes it will eject cd and ask for next cd, I push it back in and hit ok and off it goes then pops out after another 8 minutes, Very screwy when you do not know how much is left to put on cd. there is a next button but it is greyed out until
you finish burning. I will keep trying.

[NooNoo]

It should only let you burn one copy of the restore image (which you can then do a disk to disk copy if need be).

If it's not working, get back on to them and find out what you do next. BTW I don't think that Microsoft say you cannot have a OS disk. After all, what happens if the hard drive dies?

[xpuser357]

That was my first question:) They do state that back up will reformat computer if need be. But on new drive Does the disk have a AUTO RUN exe.
or do you have to go D: setup. I am going to contact them again, they said
on e-mail I can open case if not satisfied.

[NooNoo]

The cd should be bootable and it should have an option to back out. I would test it if you have sucessfully burned the cds.

[xpuser357]

Called Acer tech support and was told. recovery disks will be shipped
They have a backorder. Should get them in 6 or 7 day`s. :)

[Ferrit]

Called Acer tech support and was told. recovery disks will be shipped
They have a backorder. Should get them in 6 or 7 day`s. :)

great news I figured they would cough up.
There are supposed to be the disks you need.
All of them i sold as I said had the disks

[xpuser357]

great news I figured they would cough up.
There are supposed to be the disks you need.
All of them i sold as I said had the disks

It`s like the noisy wheel gets greased.:thumbs2: What about the ones that do not call for the CD`s. I guess they are out of luck.

[merlinsghost]

There are different types of vista (at different prices). Hence you must use the right type installation CD. Kinda like the difference between XP home and Xp Pro.

This isn't entirely accurate any more.

With Windows Vista, MS changed the way Windows installations work; it now uses a Pre-boot Execution Environment - or PXE (Pixie) - to load Windows using "WIM" files (Windows Imaging Format) and ImageX. Instead of sector-based image formats for their DVD's, WIM is file-based. Given this, they are able to cross-reference files, folders, and settings (among other things) in their WIM files, so that they are able to include every version of Windows Vista on the Windows Vista DVD without having to store the same data twice (there are reference pointers as-needed for files needed by one installation; so, in essence the files are stored once, with a pointer to those files in other 'images' of the WIM file...boy I hope that made sense). The Key is what unlocks what version(s) you can install.

It is a really cool enhancement, and allows network administrators to quickly and relatively easily roll out machines; it even supports Wake-on LAN and LAN setup, auto setup, etc. etc. so you can literally plug a computer into a network and have it loaded with a Windows Vista image (that ignores the HAL by the way, so you can use any hardware you want). In some cases (if the BIOS supports it) you don't even have to power the computer on. (This requires a properly configured server, of course.)

Every time you install Vista, you use a WIM file, and a "pre-configured" version of Vista, minus drivers. :)

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/windowsvista/aa905070.aspx

See also:

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/technetmag/issues/2007/10/DesktopFiles/?loc=en

Cheers.

[NooNoo]

That's not entirely true either...it applies to volume licencing and from the point of view of enterprise business, it's great. Retail versions, I agree, every version you need is on the DVD BUT OEM (that you can buy over the counter with a hardware purchase) you have to choose between 32bit or 64bit and, recovery versions from brands like ACER and Dell include their own drivers and activation.

[merlinsghost]

OEM: always throwing axes in the works. :(

And yes, I figured 32/64 bit differences would be axiomatic. <3