Help Where to (legally) download windows?

[Rulke]

So my HP Laptop's HDD has died (few years old, out of warranty) and I'm going to go buy a replacement disk. Problem is HP never supplied me with a Vista disk, just a recovery disk for software and drivers.

Is there a way I can download a copy of Vista to install and use my existing product key? I'm loathe to use an image from usenet or a torrent site.

 

[nath]

You might be able to buy a recovery disc from HP - they do offer that option for some machines, it's about £50 quid though. I don't think there's anywhere you can get the same thing legally free though.

I'd recommend giving a shot at a Vista OEM torrent - try and find one with no hacks or activation tweaks and you should be OK. Certainly worth a bash before paying for an official one.

 

[Mabs]

you dont have a mate/brother/work friend/fish that has a cd you can borrow ?

 

[MYstIC G]

If you've got the recovery disk, it should put Vista back for you? Check with HP before you buy another disk.

 

[Scouse]

Yep. The recovery disk should be an image of your laptop as it was when it was delivered. Should be able to put it straight back on there.

It's wank that you purchace a licence key but they don't pony up the media. Almost criminal...

 

[nath]

He said that the recovery disc was software and drivers - often machines will come with a disc that has things like power DVD and the drivers but that's entirely separate to the OS disc...

 

[ford prefect]

Do HP Laptops still come with a recovery partition? They used to.

 

[MYstIC G]

Well that's unusual for HP, every HP/Compaq box I've ever purchased came with a "wipe it back to day 1" CD. It's also not how I interpreted his post as software could mean anything

 

[Ch3tan]

They don't usually come with the OS on a recovery disc, it's been common practise to put it on a partition only for the past few years. Mainly because the manufacturers are idiots, and don't consider hardrive failure.

 

[MYstIC G]

HP and Compaq Desktop PCs: Looking for Recovery Discs? - HP Customer Care (United States - English)

 

[ford prefect]

Well that's unusual for HP, every HP/Compaq box I've ever purchased came with a "wipe it back to day 1" CD. It's also not how I interpreted his post as software could mean anything

Yeah I didn't think those CD's contained the OS though, I thought they were just a boot loader for the OS on the partition and some drivers. I reloaded my father-in-laws HP last year sometime, and that was just a CD (so obviously no OS - Vista = DVD). Perhaps it is different on different models / manufacturers.

 

[MYstIC G]

It changes all the time in my experience. I've seen some that were effectively just archives where the HDD is wiped clean and the contents extracted back, others are much more sensible.

 

[Rulke]

Thanks for the replies folks.

It did have a recovery partition which I've used in the past to fairly painlessly revert to a clean install in the past but this time the HDD was totally fubared

In the end, a friend told me I could activate my retail Win7 on more than one machine so I've got a shiney new install of that running on the laptop now