install vista without disc?

Discussion in 'Windows - General discussion' started by gcurry, Jan 23, 2011.

  1. gcurry

    gcurry Member

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    hi all
    i want to format hdd and reinstall vista so laptop is as new but didnt get disc when i bought laptop, sois there any way to do this without having to buy vista. i want to do this cos hdd is only 32gb and full so i want to remove all from it so i can start again as if i just got the laptop.
    cheers in advance
     
  2. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

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    was the laptop new when you bought it or 2nd hand? i think 2nd hand as laptop would not come with a small drive like that which means you had windows 2000 or xp on it. what is the make & model# of the laptop to see what you have & maybe fix your problem?
     
  3. gcurry

    gcurry Member

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    it was new when i bought it but has 2 32.5 gb hdd's, it had vista on it and the d drive was not being used so i transfered my docs,pics,downloads etc to d drive but slowly over time the c drive has filled up and i've cleaned it all ways i can but the winsxs file takes up 11gb of drive and i've been advised on forums that that file cannot be deleted or moved so without installing a new drive i want to clear hole c drive and start from scratch.its a acer aspire 5315
    cheers
     
    Last edited: Jan 23, 2011
  4. pcrepair

    pcrepair Regular member

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    ok ... start computer
    press start , right click my computer , click manage ,click disk management, your drive ought to show up as three partitions, does it? 1 around 10 gig and 2 at 32.5 gigs. if so the restore software is on the small partition. and you will need to boot from the partition which of course is hidden but we'll cross that bridge if we get to it

    Edit....... acer have a recovery program, in the e-management i believe, try that it will leave 'D' drive alone
     
    Last edited: Jan 24, 2011
  5. gcurry

    gcurry Member

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    cheers for the advice will try the acer recovery once i back up files i need to keep, cheers again
     
  6. nownthen

    nownthen Regular member

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    If you have a Windows installation code, just use any p2p site find a Vista image file. Download, burn to a disk and install with your windows installation code. If you know someone with a disk just borrow it for awhile, just remember to use your installation code and not the one on the box.
     
  7. ddp

    ddp Moderator Staff Member

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    has to be same version as that used with installation code or might not work.
     

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