Need Help with Vista HOme premium

[KatMiller2009]

Hi,

I hope some one can help.

I bought a Gateway laptop md26 series it had Home premium on it I got a virus and my fiancee downgraded the computer to XP for me. I got tire of not having use of my speakers and other things so I use an upgrade disc with no activation key that came with another computer my family owned.

Problem:

This disc only let me upgrade to Buisness now I need to activate it and I have no key for it so I want originally my home Premium back is there anyway to recover it without discs I have the key on the bottom of my computer just no discs came with it.

Any help would be nice

Background:

Gateway Md26 series, no recovery discs, wiped and downgraded clean install of XP, went back to Vista but could only get buisness. I want the home premium.

My Question is: Can I still use the factory restore on my comp or is it gone?

Edited May 15, 2009 by KatMiller2009

[cluberti]

Depends on how your fianceee "downgraded' your box to XP. Usually the factory restore options are stored on a partition on the hard disk, if you didn't get a physical Vista DVD (which it sounds like you didn't). If she didn't whack the restore partition, you should be good to go. However, if she did, your only recourse is to either find a way to get a copy of a Vista DVD that has Home Premium, or contact Gateway for media. Obviously getting the media from Gateway would be preferred, as it probably is OEM preactivated, but it's not a requirement if you have a valid Home Premium key to use.