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Vista DVD for old XPS 420
Is it possible for me to buy a replacement Windows Vista Home Premium 32 disc for my old Dell XPS 420? I need to reinstall the operating system and can't find my original disc. I do have my product key and service tag.
Thanks,
Terry
RoHe
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January 5th, 2015 11:00
If you're in the US or Canada, you can ask Dell to provide the disk by completing this form. I don't know if Vista disks are still available or if Dell will charge you for it.
Otherwise, you can always look on eBay, etc for a disk. If you buy a disk, it must be the exact same version of Vista that Dell installed (eg Home Premium, 32-bit) in order for your current product key to work.
But if you're going to reinstall, you might want to consider buying a Win 7 disk with its own valid product key. Run the Win 7 upgrade advisor, free from Microsoft first to see what issues you might have going to Win 7
TerryG32
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January 5th, 2015 18:00
Thanks for the help. I did the form and it responded and provided a phone number. I might be out of luck. I can't believe I threw away that Vista disc!!!!! What an idiot.:(
Terry
speedstep
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January 5th, 2015 21:00
You can find those discs on ebay for a reasonable price.
TerryG32
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January 6th, 2015 11:00
Yes, thanks. I found some discs on eBay last night.
TR
Philip_Yip
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January 7th, 2015 06:00
Its a bit convoluted however you can also download a Windows Vista .iso:
http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/download-microsoft-windows-and-office/download-microsoft-windows/
As Microsoft are going to stop supporting Windows Vista soon and some can argue that they already have (no Office 2013 support or IE10/11), you might also be better using the Windows 10 Technical Preview. You can evaluate it until Windows 10 is released and then take advantage of a promotional price.
TerryG32
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January 7th, 2015 13:00
Thanks for the great idea. I'm going try 10!
Terry
kirkd
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January 7th, 2015 17:00
If you are still using the original HDD, and haven't reformatted it, the recovery partition contains the same image as the original installation disk.
TerryG32
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January 9th, 2015 15:00
Thanks KirkD, but the recovery partition is long gone. It went away a couple years ago when I reinstalled Vista on the then new SSD. Unfortunately for me, I lost/disposed of my original Vista DVD.
I did manage to install Win 10 Tech Preview on the new 500 Gb Samsung SSD a couple days ago. But not before visiting MBR GBT EFI hell.
Terry