Vista serial qyestion

I have a friend and he has a HP laptop but he has lost vista DVD.

Can i install vista that came with my gateway using his serial.

During install with this DVD the serial is not asked.

I don't what to risk and lose the my vista DVD. Is it safe to install the vista and after insert his vista serial, doing this without internet connection.

 

According to this old thread from the _HP forum, you should be able to do that (clean install from a retail DVD, followed by activation with the OEM product-key on the COA stuck to the bottom of the notebook); however, you will not be able to automatically activate and will have to do activation over the phone with a live Microsoft activation person.

 

If your friend still has Vista on his notebook and he can access it, and you just want to do a clean install, use the software below, then he will not have to re-activate it.

http://directedge.us/content/abr-activation-backup-and-restore

 

Ok thanks for making it sure.

I will use my DVD to do a fresh install at his laptop.

I will post the results.

 

That depends on you DVD.

Yes, you can use a retail dvd to install vista, but I don;t know if Gateway isusing some sort of custom DVD or an image installation with the DVD you have

Given that it does not ask for a serial number, I suspect that it is not a standard Vista retail DVD and you may very well run into trouble. A vista retial DVD will ask you for a cd key...you can actually skip the step and add it later, but it should ask you.

 

well, some OEM DVDs are BIOS-OEM-restricted....

and some OEM dvds can read the BIOS info where the CD-Key is also stored to automatically register for you

 

I know, that's what I meant--just didn't care to go into detail.

In either case, if Gateway supplies such a DVD, it will not function in the OP's friend's computer

edit--man, I just cannot type today

 

Oops! I think I was reading too many licensing threads yesterday, because I missed the little detail about the OP's disk being a Gateway-supplied disk.

In that case, gerryf19 is correct, as usual, in that the Gateway disk will almost certainly not function on the OP's friend's HP because that Gateway disk is almost certainly some type of Gateway-specific recovery disk and not a standalone install disk like the retail install disks you can buy at a store.

Apparently, when I (mis)read the OP's post, I somehow mentally replaced the word "Gateway" with the word "retail" - oops.

 

It's all that beer you've been pouring on your Cheerios every morning.

Gary

 

Oh; I thought maybe it might be the delirium caused by all that heart-healthy goodness in those nasty cheerios!

 

i had to download a copy from internet of VISTA DVD and it worked.

i used the serial at the bottom of the laptop.

Did not used Gateway DVD because that what i thought it will happen. I still remember with a COMPAQ Recovery CD it worked only at specific PC, not at another 2 identical desktops that i had at an office.