Clean Vista install WITH NO ACTIVATION

[orev]

Yes, all vista discs have all versions of Vista. The license key you got with it will only activate with "Ultimate" though.

[bubbatex]

Thanks - I know you have said that about 1 million times, but I guess it seems different now from what it was a few months ago??

[cyberbiker]

By burning a DVD-R with in double layer, it would seem one could put the full 3.66 GB image (ISO) file for the integrated Vista 64 with SP1 plus select software such as The trial version of Acrobat standard, Office Pro 2007, and several other programs with trail or single-file downloadable versions. That way one could install the trial versions of the software he has purchased from one disk then enter his product keys for each program.

The HP pdf on Backup and Recovery states the following:

Note the following guidelines before creating recovery discs:
● You will need high quality CD-R, DVD-R, DVD-R with double-layer support, DVD+R, or DVD+R with double-layer support discs (purchased separately).

Questions.

1. Can the boot software on a recovery disk (or the MS installation disk) read a DVD burned in double layer since the hard drive has already been reformatted?

2. Can you add other software as separate files on a DVD that is made for an ISO file ( I'm not an experienced ISO burner).

[KenM]

question...

My dv6700t is arriving on Monday.. (I hope). It is coming with Vista Premium SP1 installed. I do have a anytime upgrade disk, but it is NOT SP1.

So will the activation_backup ABR work to make a activation certificate backup of SP1 and use it to install the pre-SP1 on the anytime upgrade disk and let Windows Update bring it back to SP1.

In other words, will the activation work with a non sp1 version if it was created WITH the SP1 that the dv6700t comes with?

Thanks,

Ken

[flipfire]

Yes, it will work regardless of SP1 or not. Its still the same licence key..

[Dan_555]

I was actually doing a clean install before sending my Dell back last week and had it hang about 3/4 the way through 3 times. I kept re-doing and installing the the SATA drivers over and over - it finally "took" on the forth try. Don't know if that helps you Dan, but you might want to try again.

I did try again last night...again everything seemed to go smoothly: it went through all the steps besides "completing installation", restarted itself like the installer said it would, on startup it said "starting windows for the first time" or something to that effect and I thought that it had finally worked...but then it went into the "completing installation" step and I went to bed. I woke up about 4 1/2 hours later and all there was was a black screen with a mouse pointer (same as what happened the other two times) so I shut it down again by pressing and holding the power button. I thought maybe windows still successfully installed somehow so I tried starting it up; it went to the screen saying windows had been shut down improperly so I chose to start it normally; however it froze on the initial windows screen so again I shut it down with the power button. I am hesitant to try this again as it seems that doing this over and over just can't be good for the laptop. I guess I will have to hunt down a regular installation cd if I want to do a clean install now unless anyone has an idea what the problem could be; I was in the middle of downloading the files from digital river when they took the links down I did not make any other modifications to the cd other than the ones listed here (remove $oem$ folder and pid.txt I think it was?). Maybe I will check with my local computer repair store and see if they have an OS cd that you don't need to buy a license with, I kind of doubt it though.

[orev]

Thanks - I know you have said that about 1 million times, but I guess it seems different now from what it was a few months ago??

No, it has not changed. Some OEMs are including an installation answer file which causes the install disc to not ask you about it, but if you remove that file then you have all choices again. They're just hiding the option, not removing the software.

By burning a DVD-R with in double layer, it would seem one could put the full 3.66 GB image (ISO) file for the integrated Vista 64 with SP1 plus select software such as The trial version of Acrobat standard, Office Pro 2007, and several other programs with trail or single-file downloadable versions. That way one could install the trial versions of the software he has purchased from one disk then enter his product keys for each program.

The HP pdf on Backup and Recovery states the following:

Note the following guidelines before creating recovery discs:
● You will need high quality CD-R, DVD-R, DVD-R with double-layer support, DVD+R, or DVD+R with double-layer support discs (purchased separately).

Questions.

1. Can the boot software on a recovery disk (or the MS installation disk) read a DVD burned in double layer since the hard drive has already been reformatted?

2. Can you add other software as separate files on a DVD that is made for an ISO file ( I'm not an experienced ISO burner).

Yes, you can customize the Vista install disc and include on it whatever you like. This can be done by hand, with vLite, or with the Windows Automated Installation Kit. If you get good at doing it, you could make a career out of it.

1) I don't think these things have anything to do with each other. Your DVD drive should be able to read a dual layer disc, and that would not require any additional drivers, or anything from the hard disk, As far as I know.

2) No, you can't add anything to a DVD burned as an ISO directly. An ISO is one big image of a CD/DVD. But you CAN extract all the files from the ISO, then add things into it, then remake a new ISO file. Then you can burn that ISO to the DVD. However, if the DVD needs to be bootable, like an install DVD, you need to burn it in a special way. Again, vLite is probably the best/easiest way to do this.

(...)I am hesitant to try this again as it seems that doing this over and over just can't be good for the laptop.(...)

It's not going to hurt the laptop at all. In fact, if it's a new system, its a good way to burn test it. The only danger might be if you leave it alone for many hours and it overheats. However, that should not happen as long as it's on a desk or something. If it does overheat, it would need to be fixed anyway because that means that the safety measures that were supposed to stop it from overheating didn't work.

[Dan_555]

Thanks orev, thats good to hear...I guess I am just really frustrated with trying to obtain a vista installation cd without buying a new license now...are they even available anymore? I tried to download the files from digital river but over 20 hours into the download the files were apparently removed from the server (just my luck), I checked with a local computer store and they do not have any of the anytime upgrade cds, I talked to hp support briefly and was told that it is not possible to do a clean vista installation! (I angrily ended the conversation there). I am thinking about doing another recovery of my system so I can at least use it during the return period to make sure I don't need to send it back while I attempt to locate a usable vista installation cd.

[orev]

Thanks orev, thats good to hear...I guess I am just really frustrated with trying to obtain a vista installation cd without buying a new license now...are they even available anymore? I tried to download the files from digital river but over 20 hours into the download the files were apparently removed from the server (just my luck), I checked with a local computer store and they do not have any of the anytime upgrade cds, I talked to hp support briefly and was told that it is not possible to do a clean vista installation! (I angrily ended the conversation there). I am thinking about doing another recovery of my system so I can at least use it during the return period to make sure I don't need to send it back while I attempt to locate a usable vista installation cd.

Yes, it's very annoying. It seems that many of the legal avenues to obtain these discs have dried up. I don't know what Microsoft or anyone else has against clean installs, but they certainly make it as difficult as possible.

[kentl901]

Although this isn't essential...

I noticed that my remote works, but the Windows button (top right corner) of remote does not work.

All of the other buttons work. Any ideas?

Note that all drivers and applications have been installed. It couldn't possibly be a newbie mistake.......