Vista OEM Disk from HP Recovery Center?

[MisterMe]

My friend bought a nice HP about a year and a half ago - HP desktop with an e2220, 4 gigs of ram etc etc - and Windows Vista Home Premium. She brought it to me completely inoperative - push the button and nothing happened. To her I'm still the guy that might be able to help but honestly I've been out of the loop since like 2005.

I figured it was a motherboard - HP wanted an outrageous $556 for an OEM replacement so I just got one from Newegg instead. Sure enough - the computer starts up now but I knew Vista would have a problem with the new hardware so I need to reload windows - and that's where I'm stuck.

I need a plain old windows disk - Is there a way to make a Vista Home Premium disk from the recovery option? Reloading the system using the recovery utility get's as far as installing everything but since the motherboard is different, it won't complete. I'm hoping there's some way to get my hands on the windows disk itself so I can simply install a plain 'ol windows as if I just bought the disk off the shelf. Is there an image of the disk I could extract and burn? Or is all HP'd up in a particular way that makes that sort of thing off limits?

Any help or advice sure would be appreciated - Thanks in advance!

 

[The Merg]

As far as I know, an OEM version of Windows is married to that motherboard. If you change out the motherboard, you will probably need a new license (product key) to go along with that. I'm guessing that the Recovery Utility is actually asking you for the product key, correct?

- Merg

 

[MisterMe]

Thanks for writing!

Ya that's what I'm worried about - it didn't ask me for a key as such, it just ran through a "do you want to restore your system" type deal - I suspect the whole HP restore process is married to an HP bios, which is now whatever ECS uses due to a new MB. Supposedly she could have made the "CD restore set" while windows was up and running but it's probably one of those things she never "got around to". The CD set I would imagine looks for HP signatures during the install process so you couldn't for instance use the same set on a Dell - I want a generic OEM windows disk out of that mess that skips the HPish-ness...

So what I'm hoping for is a way to get a/the "windows disk" contained in that set and use the key off the side of the case to install and activate it...like you would if you were simply using all off the shelf parts...

 

[Blazer]

oem disk from newegg, or a win7 oem from egg, both come with a key.

 

[RebateMonger]

There's no way to build a Win7 Install disk from the HP Recovery Partition.

Unfortunately, you aren't going to get much support from either HP or Microsoft to help get that HP OEM copy of Vista running on non-HP hardware. HP (and you) probably didn't pay much for that HP Vista license. HP is responsible for supporting Vista on that computer, not Microsoft. And HP won't support because it's not their hardware anymore.

You should be able to install Vista Home Premium from any "generic" Vista DVD. It'll ask for your COA Key on the case and won't Activate online. You'll have to call Microsoft for Activation. MS doesn't HAVE to allow Activation, since that HP OEM license is supposed to stay with an HP motherboard. But, at least with XP, many people found that MS would allow phone Activation.

 

[MisterMe]

Appreciate all the input! Good info! Thanks!

But you know what? I'M OUT OF THE WOODS!!!

Not quite sure how all the details fit together, but last night I "sourced" a VHP disk and installed it using the key on side of the case. Everything went smooth...

When finished, it wasn't activated, so this wasn't some hacked or "pre-activated" dealio. I wasn't feeling too optimistic about passing the activation. I clicked Activate Now and voila` - windows activated perfectly over the internet without issue! Magic! It also passed the genuine check and I ran through all the updates.

So here I am with her PC set to go. The strange thing to me is how the system activated using a 3rd party MB and 32bit windows (the only disk I could find, even though the system came with 64) - I would've figured this thing was surely a fail waiting to happen...but I ain't complainin'!

Have a GREAT weekend everybody!

 

[RadiclDreamer]

There's no way to build a Win7 Install disk from the HP Recovery Partition.

Unfortunately, you aren't going to get much support from either HP or Microsoft to help get that HP OEM copy of Vista running on non-HP hardware. HP (and you) probably didn't pay much for that HP Vista license. HP is responsible for supporting Vista on that computer, not Microsoft. And HP won't support because it's not their hardware anymore.

You should be able to install Vista Home Premium from any "generic" Vista DVD. It'll ask for your COA Key on the case and won't Activate online. You'll have to call Microsoft for Activation. MS doesn't HAVE to allow Activation, since that HP OEM license is supposed to stay with an HP motherboard. But, at least with XP, many people found that MS would allow phone Activation.

Its not tied to the motherboard per se, but the "system" which has always been hard to determine what qualifies as a "system" many people take this to mean the mobo.

 

[RebateMonger]

When finished, it wasn't activated, so this wasn't some hacked or "pre-activated" dealio. I wasn't feeling too optimistic about passing the activation. I clicked Activate Now and voila` - windows activated perfectly over the internet without issue! Magic! It also passed the genuine check and I ran through all the updates.

Glad you got it working. It sounds like some of Microsoft's "XP" Activation rules might have been changed with Vista. Microsoft has published very little information on this stuff since Vista was released.

 

[The Merg]

Its not tied to the motherboard per se, but the "system" which has always been hard to determine what qualifies as a "system" many people take this to mean the mobo.

True. I wasn't very clear in this thread about that statement I made. I was a little more clear in one of the other threads I recently posted in.

BTW, glad you got it working. So if I understand you, you used Vista 32-bit install with a Vista 64-bit product key and it worked fine.

- Merg

 

[bruceb]

Which it would. The key code to activate is the same for 32 or 64 bits versions of Vista. Same for under Windows 7 .. The alternative would have been to call HP and buy just a replacement OS CD .. if they ask why, say hard drive died and you can't get to recovery partition.

 

[Fallen Kell]

Its not tied to the motherboard per se, but the "system" which has always been hard to determine what qualifies as a "system" many people take this to mean the mobo.

Actually, in the license from MS, "system" is defined to be a motherboard.

 

[MisterMe]

BTW, glad you got it working. So if I understand you, you used Vista 32-bit install with a Vista 64-bit product key and it worked fine.

Exactly - I was figuring the 64/32 would have unique keys thus counting me out the game with my 32 bit disk. I can't even say for sure the disk I used was an "OEM" disk either - again assuming retail, OEM and corp would all have different keys..apparently not a problem.

On another note, I noticed her 4 gigs of RAM registered as 3.1xx gigs until I got the service packs up to date. Not sure if it was SP1 or 2 which did the trick, but now it shows her whole wadd.

Since this thing is basically an email/facebook machine I wasn't sweating it too much - easy enough to explain if she called me on it but I knew she wouldn't have a clue. I always figured the 3.1 limit was more a 32 bit technical limitation, than it was a quirk related to how windows was built...

Live and learn everyday!

 

[RebateMonger]

On another note, I noticed her 4 gigs of RAM registered as 3.1xx gigs until I got the service packs up to date. Not sure if it was SP1 or 2 which did the trick, but now it shows her whole wadd.

Vista SP1 stopped reporting the "real" amount of available memory and started reporting the "installed" amount of memory (like XP did). The result is the same, but it avoids support calls to Microsoft asking, "Where did my memory go?"

 

[tcsenter]

Windows XP only reported useable/addressed memory. Vista SP1 and SP2 reports installed memory (whether useable or not) in System Properties but reports useable/addressed memory in Task Manager and MSINFO. Windows 7 reports both in System Properties (when there is a difference).

 

[MisterMe]

Interesting that windows just kind of fudges it in there even though it sounds like it's just for show.

Where does the 3.1 come from? Cuz while looking for a place to start understanding, using my limited understanding , I did 2^32 and it came to like 4.2 gigs.

 

[RebateMonger]

Memory space used by video cards, BIOS, and other devices make that space unavailable to 32-bit Windows. If you take 4 GB of memory and install a typical video card and other devices, that leaves 3.1 to 3.3 GB of memory.