Clean vista install?

...i would love to do a clean install of vista on my laptop once i get home, but from what i've read, lenovo does not include the installation disc for whatever OS came with your machine.

how do i go about getting/creating a disc for vista home premium? i've read the vista anytime upgrade discs aren't available anymore (unless i find somewhere to download it from?). i don't really want to request one and wait for it to me mailed to me, i much rather be able to download something and do this tonight.

any suggestions?

meh, i'm probably going to have to download a copy to be able to do this tonight.

 

Hi.

You can make your own Vista DVD by following the link below.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=240320

Regards

John.

 

wow, thank you so much

 

thanks for the link I didn't even know that was possible

 

You can do a custom install using Rescue and Recovery which is essentially a clean install because you can install only the apps you wish.

 

i think i might just download the files tinderbox provided. i actually discovered that website a few days ago, but the links leading to the files were broken. these seem to work though and now i'm happy

 

Zaz,
I never knew this, thanks! How would I go about doing this? By using the recovery discs I made when I first got my machine? I thought the recovery discs would just restore that machine back to the way it was on day one with Vista and all bloatware(i.e. everything on the disc would be copied to the hardrive).

 

You shouldn't need the discs if you recovery partition is intact. After you boot into Rescue and Recovery, it comes at some point after you tell it you want to restore it to the factory state. I'm not sure the exact sequence of clicks. It allows you to pick and choose which apps you want to install. Then when you're done Rescue and Recovery allows you to burn a new set of recovery discs which will mirror the custom install. If someone want to write up something on how to do it, I'd consider throwing it in the sticky.

I myself prefer True Image. I keep a base install with the just the drivers and the latest service pack, and a final install with everything. The nice thing is True Image can restore the partition in less than five minutes for XP and about 10 for Vista. The Vista images are huge, 8GB for the base install and like 14GB for the final with everything. That's with normal compression which restores faster. XP's are 2GB and 3.5GB respectively with largely the same software installed.