vLite and SP1 on Vista Ultimate 32 Bit

[AaronCW]

Hi all.

I'm a new vLite user, and just had a question. My Acer Laptop came with Vista Ultimate 32 Bit pre-loaded from the store. Being a bit of a perfectionist I have decided to do a clean install to get rid of the bloatware that came pre-installed, format the hard drive to my liking and dual boot Ubuntu. Which is when I discovered my laptop did not come with Vista Installation Discs and I cannot find it copied to my hard drive anywhere. In the meantime, a friend used vLite to make me a copy of Vista Ultimate....

So my question is... Is it illegal to use the copy he burned for me on my laptop? Even though my computer came with it pre-loaded and I have a license key (Microsoft sticker) with a valid key on the bottom of my laptop?

Also, if I do use it, will I be able to load Vista SP1? I am very confused about the whole service pack thing... And if I cannot update to SP1 then what good is the vLite Disc he gave me?

Thanks!

Aaron

[Kelsenellenelvian]

Well legality aside (Technically it is still illegal) you have these options.

1 = Use his disk, SP1 will not install after almost ANY vLite-ing has been done, and you have to pray his disk is the same version as yours (OEM, Retail or VLK)

2 = Call your pc maker. They are "Usually" very happy to provide you with proper reinstall media for a very discounted price (I have seen as low as 20 bucks)

[AaronCW]

Well legality aside (Technically it is still illegal) you have these options.

1 = Use his disk, SP1 will not install after almost ANY vLite-ing has been done, and you have to pray his disk is the same version as yours (OEM, Retail or VLK)

2 = Call your pc maker. They are "Usually" very happy to provide you with proper reinstall media for a very discounted price (I have seen as low as 20 bucks)

So I need to call Acer and buy the Disc... thanks for the info, I will try that!

Aaron

[sv398]

Actually there is a hidden partition on ACER laptops that can be used to restore your laptop to factory Vista installations. At boot time press Alt+F10 (if it's not this key combination please try Alt+F2, Alt+F4 etc). It will lead you to an in built restore utility from ACER. Use the menus to go back to factory settings and Vista install.

But... if you destroyed the hidden partition by repartitioning it will obviously be missing. And I am not so sure if changing the original drive C: and drive D: partition sizes counts because I never changed them on my laptop.

Hope that helps, good luck...