vista reinstalls

[Fobbon Lazyfoot]

So I got a call today for a new customer who needs her hard drive wiped and vista reinstalled. I can do this on XP while drunk, with one hand, upside down in the dark, with one of my two dozen copies of xp pro/home/mc/version X/grandma's personal, but I don't have a spare install CD for vista and I don't even know if theres new securities on vista that prevent you from using one disc to do multiple installs with different keys. If I could find a copy of a vista disc, would it be possible to install it with her key, or do I need to find a cracked copy, or what? Or does she need to buy an entirely new copy of windows? She should be able to find a restore CD and I can do that no prob, but I'm probably going to run into this in the future anyway

[Select]

With XP keys and reformatting, I'd call customer service. Usually you get an automated voice. You give your original key to the robot and it grants you a new one. I've done this for multiple installs.

It should work for Vista unless they changed their policies.

[Ddrak]

One Vista DVD (it doesn't come on CD) will install any edition of Vista as many times as you like. There's no need to have a separate DVD for Ultimate/Business/Home Premium/whatever. The only thing restricting it is the key you type in at the start of the installation. If the hardware hasn't changed, it will just reactivate and there's no need to call anyone or get new keys. If it has changed significantly then you're playing pot luck with whether it will activate or not, but a call to the help line will quickly get you another key that works.

Dd

[Taxious]

One Vista DVD (it doesn't come on CD)

My copy is on CDs (5 of them) from the MSDN. I've installed it on a couple computer with no problems.

[Fobbon Lazyfoot]

Sorry i'm sloppy with terminology but thats exactly what I needed to know, thanks ddrak

My only problem now is finding a vista disc, cause none of the major computer makes bother to include a full install copy.

[Klast Brell]

Torrent?

[Ddrak]

You should be safe enough torrenting an uncracked version. Not sure where else to suggest.

Dd

[Torakus]

You do not need a full install copy, you can do a full install from an upgrade copy.

Tora