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Poor Support
I have purchased several Dell Laptops over the past decade. I tried to rebuild a 4 year old Dell Vostro with a Vista OS disk supplied from Dell.
The Microfosft Authentication label is worn and not all of the chracters are readable. So I took a photo of the label and the Dell serial number on the bottom of the laptop and contacted Dell, sent them the image of the credentials. All I got was a runaround and offer for me to pay $125.00 for Dell to provide me with support (which consisted of providing me with product key from the worn out label).
Now, this is a 4 year old laptop and Vista is an outdated OS but Dell wanted to charge me to provide me with information that is printed on the bottom of my laptop but partially unreadable because Microsoft uses a cheap label that wears out through normal use.
I will never buy another Dell product.
Anonymous
5 Practitioner
5 Practitioner
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274.2K Posts
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March 18th, 2013 00:00
Hi,
Welcome to the community
Sorry for the inconvenience caused. Do you wish to re-install the VISTA OS in your Vostro? If yes, you can run the disk and reformat and re-install OS without asking for the product key. Here is the link for some steps ;
http://www.dell.com/support/troubleshooting/us/en/19/KCS/KcsArticles/ArticleView?docid=DSN_339949
You can go straight to Step # 4 for using the disk.
Let me know if further help is needed.
Regards,
Philip_Yip
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9 Legend
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March 18th, 2013 18:00
Its been a problem I have complained a lot about on IdeaStorm. The users then get stuck between Dell and Microsoft on the issue, in my last experience with a non-Dell system the Microsoft phone activation support was less than adequate and gave incorrect information and told me to buy a new Windows license. Dell did begin placing them under the battery to protect them in laptops or inside the computer cover of a desktop to protect them for the later Windows 7 models however.
http://www.ideastorm.com/idea2ReadIdea?v=1335964550447&id=087700000008axXAAQ
The good news is that if you are performing a clean installation with the Dell Windows Vista Reinstallation DVD a generic system locked preinstallation key should be automatically input and activated when installing via the BIOS if the Dell BIOS is detected. For more details see my Windows Reinstallation Guide/A Clean Install of Windows Vista:
http://philipyip.wordpress.com/dell-community-forums/
In Windows 8, Microsoft removed the COA entirely and instead a unique hidden product key embedded in the Dell BIOS, this should have fixed all the problems with faded COA. However obtaining the Windows 8 Reinstallation media from Dell is more difficult than it should be especially for customers outside the US and there is no option to request the media with the system.