vLite ~ Gateway Restore DVDs

[Ejrech]

The title says it all.  (rather, it did, 'til I posted and it got automatically cut off)  [Error: "Can not find expected files." on Gateway Restore DVDs]

Anyway, I have two restore DVDs (first-of-two is 4.31GB, second-of-two only 275MB) for my Gateway computer; they completely reinstall the Windows Vista Home Premium OS, and contain all the drivers for the hardware installed, like the graphics card, networking, etc.

I want to reinstall the OS to fix some problems and have a clean slate, yet there's plenty of junk on those DVDs; Napster, AOL, etc.

I don't know where to look on the DVDs for what the program wants, though it looks like they're wrapped up in huge .wmi files in the "preload" folder.  It has lots of folders in the i386\Apps folder, from App000059 to App001759, and a "Dta" folder.  But those look like third party software, including what I don't want.  I'm tempted to try making new DVDs by removing the App00xxxx folders that have stuff I don't want, but I bet that would break them, it would be plenty of work, I wouldn't know where to start, and would have no idea if I've missed/broken anything, anyway.

In short... is it possible to load and modify OS installs from branded (like mine; Gateway) Factory Restore DVDs, not just Microsoft OS discs?

Much Thanks in advance!  =]

Edited March 14, 2008 by Ejrech

[Tarun]

I believe you can install just Vista with the Vista restore DVD from Gateway, though it will still have a few junk files installed.

If I'm correct, Gateway has an OS Recovery cd/dvd and the Applications and Drivers cd/dvd. What I did was use the OS cd only when I had to reinstall.

You could always get your Product ID to determine what version you have. Most likely it'll be Windows Vista Home Premium Royalty OEM.

[jrf2027]

Use the Vista Anytime Upgrade DVD that came with your system, plus orev's ABR program (Activation Backup and Restore) to restore activation.

Check out this post above

Or

Follow orev's original thread from notebookreview.com.

Works like a charm on my GM5478 for reinstalling Vista. Absolutely zero Gateway-added crapware.

[Ejrech]

Nice avatar/title, Tarun! A fellow Doctor Who fan, I see. ^^

I believe you can install just Vista with the Vista restore DVD from Gateway, though it will still have a few junk files installed.

If I'm correct, Gateway has an OS Recovery cd/dvd and the Applications and Drivers cd/dvd. What I did was use the OS cd only when I had to reinstall.

Well, my computer came with an OS disc, but since I originally used it to format the HDD, including the D: partition they wanted me to restore from, I lost all my drivers, including those for the network and graphics cards (which was quite annoying, I assure you). I think it was a completely clean Vista Home Premium OS, can't remember. But quite a pain with the drivers; went to the official Gateway support/download site, got everything that was relevant to my computer, and still was missing something according to the Device Manager, not to mention the fact my lowest graphics card rating (for Windows Aero) dropped from 5.0 (or 5.1?) to 4.8. So I called Gateway, mad that the disc that came with the computer I bought didn't have the drivers/etc. it requires. They told me I'd have to PAY TWENTY BUCKS to get the restore DVDs with all the relevant drivers that go to this specific computer model and it's hardware/setup. So I got a manager on the phone, had 'em send the discs to me for free. Got 'em, formatted the HDD and reinstalled Vista again, but everything was already there from the get-go. Including the Gateway crapware, of course. My Windows Experience Index 4.8 rating (Desktop performance for Windows Aero) never did go back to 5.0+, however. Still haven't figured that out. Perhaps some additional GPU tweaks that were factory preinstalled on the D: partition?

Annoyingly, they're all dragged down by that one rating . . .

5.9 - Processor: Calculations per second

5.5 - Memory (RAM): Memory operations per second

4.8 - Graphics: Desktop performance for Windows Aero

5.2 - Gaming graphics: 3D business and gaming graphics performance

5.9 - Primary hard disk: Disk data transfer rate

Anyway, in other words, whether the 4.8 down from 5.0+ can be fixed somehow or not (which would be lovely , I want to use these Restore DVDs they sent me in the mail, since they have all my computer's stuff, pre-loaded. I'm quite familiar with Windows, though I'm by no means a tech whiz, and besides, this is way too much work just to get things running properly. Perhaps one day things will be made properly. . . when I get a Human Factor Psychology degree, maybe I can help influence the major companies to do things right the first time. =]

You could always get your Product ID to determine what version you have. Most likely it'll be Windows Vista Home Premium Royalty OEM.

Well, I know it's Vista Home Premium, but I have no clue how to find my Product ID, much less use it to figure that out. But probably, since "royalty" sounds like "money-schemed-crapware" to me. . . xP

On second thought, the sticker on the back with my Product Key for installing/activation says Windows Vista Home Premium OEMAct on the top, so that must be it, then. *shrug*

Use the Vista Anytime Upgrade DVD that came with your system, plus orev's ABR program (Activation Backup and Restore) to restore activation.

Check out this post above

Or

Follow orev's original thread from notebookreview.com.

Works like a charm on my GM5478 for reinstalling Vista. Absolutely zero Gateway-added crapware.

Hmm. . . Well, first of all, there is no Vista Anytime Upgrade DVD, unless it's part of the software and you're supposed to burn it, in which case it probably got wiped along with the D: partition and everything else on the drive the first time I used the "Gateway Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium32-Bit" OS disc that came with the computer. It's a GT5628, btw. Um. . . I'd love a clean Vista install, but. . . it's much more painful for me to try to hunt down and install drivers. So, choosing between what I've got, I'd rather the Restore DVDs with all the crapware, but all my drivers too, instead of a completely clean Vista OS that needs the drivers installed.

I suppose I should mention that I started this thread in relation to vLite (*attempts to edit original post's subject to include vLite*); I came to this forum from the forum link on the official vLite site, but it looks like a general Microsoft forum, apparently. So the original problem was trying to load my Gateway Restore DVDs in vLite. . . it just can't find the files it wants.

According to your second link:

Recovery Disc These disc(s) contain an image of your computer as of when you got it. They can be used to restore your system to the EXACT state as when you first opened the box and turned it on for the first time. Vista is on these discs, but so is all the bloatware. The images are encrypted, and cannot be modified to be used for a clean install. It's best to burn these for yourself using the included recovery disc creation tools, but you can also usually buy them.

The "cannot be modified" part . . . I suppose that means vLite can't read Recovery DVDs whatsoever. Yet, would it not be possible to use those Recovery DVDs, format my HDD and reinstall the OS, install all the programs & updates I want, then use vLite (or any other program, I don't care as long as it works =P) to make a bootable ISO (possibly multi-DVD ISO, if needed) that would do the same as the Recovery DVDs do, and install all my current programs/drivers/updates with the OS?

. . . THAT is what I'm trying to do here. =]

[Tarun]

Since a Vista DVD contains every edition of Windows Vista, you could easily use that along with your product key. No need to create your own unless you really want to.

If you want to though, you could use ImgBurn and create an ISO image from the Vista DVD. This could help you make an unattended install or whatever else you may like to do.

As far as Gateway is concerned, if you like call them back and speak directly to the supervisor/manager. Tell them you never got any working restoration media, including drivers for your system, etc. They should ship it out to you. -- I recently had to do this myself when I had to replace a hard drive that was starting to go bad. They priority shipped the restoration media to me for free. It was overnight and I had it within two days. If you're under warranty they cannot charge you for the restore media. I dislike their "restoration media" and made my own vanilla Windows install. The only things I needed were my Windows XP SP2 OEM cd, an ISO/image creation software (ImgBurn does this brilliantly and is free!), and a blank CD.

With the drivers, I just used a CD-RW or flash drive to put my drivers on and installed them after I reloaded the OS. If you need help figuring out what you have, there are great programs like SIW, EVEREST and a few others to gather the information you need. And if you have an unknown device and do not know what it is, you can use a program called UnknownDevices to help identify those unknown devices.

You'll have much more control in creating your media using the Unattended Guide. It's much nicer to know what you're doing and how things function than to have some program try to automate the process for you. I prefer the hands on approach rather than risking nLite/vLite which can remove a lot of necessary things or worse, break functionality.

As for Doctor Who: A tech friend of mine who made Dial-a-fix, DjLizard; is the one who introduced me to the show. I'm a huge fan of the current Doctor, David Tennant. I was also really surprised when my friend puntoMX told me about an upcoming Doctor Who game for the PS2, PC, and DS.