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Thread ID: 111500 2010-07-30 02:56:00 Recover Vista product code from non booting drive. KiwiLinc (6595) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
1123406 2010-07-30 09:32:00 ABR runs a small program that finds your code and security certificate and saves them to a file. Put the program and file on a usb stick and after you reinstall run the program again to restore your code.

if you do this with abr does the install media used have to be the same version as the origonal??? 		angry (15305)
1123407 2010-07-30 12:12:00 There are some rules they are explained on the link I gave you.
They have to do with Retail and OEM mixing.I don't remember now if you can mix one with the other.I think you can. I know you cannot change from say, basic to home premium. 		Roger Hunt (13648)
1123408 2010-07-30 12:33:00 There are some rules they are explained on the link I gave you.
They have to do with Retail and OEM mixing.I don't remember now if you can mix one with the other.I think you can. I know you cannot change from say, basic to home premium.

I am not that familiar with vista(pig), or seven, but I know some serials on earler op sys were version and oem/fpp sensative.

I sped read the link, which is what gave me the version question, it was clear on the inability to upgrade basic to ultimate.

the beta allegedly works for 7 ,which could be useful as many suppliers are supplying a recovery patition only .

Which is fine untill somebody nukes it to get more disk space or some such. Then the unit changes hands and the new owner has no proof of new purchase, so can not buy any install media.

There are several genuine versions of vista oem install media available for free download. requiring only a GENUINE serial to be perfectly workable.

I havent searched for the same for 7, yet.

does anybody know if there are any about/available yet. yet. 		angry (15305)
1123409 2010-07-30 22:31:00 -- have to use a recovery partition and "try" to extract the WIM file to reinstall it.

Did you succeed in extracting the file? If you could still remember, how did you do it? Kind enough to share?:thanks 		bk T (215)
1123410 2010-07-31 02:24:00 Quote:
Originally Posted by wainuitech View Post
-- have to use a recovery partition and "try" to extract the WIM file to reinstall it .
Did you succeed in extracting the file? If you could still remember, how did you do it? Kind enough to share? Yeah Kind of :rolleyes:

This week and last I have done two similar recoveries from the backup partition . 1 Dell and 1 Acer .

The Acer -- Booted the HDD from a Ubuntu live CD - looked into the recovery partition for the wim file, but couldn't see it, Acer put the recovery partition as a errrrrr working OS kind of Acer recovery partition ( . imagef1 . net . nz/files/Screenshot1280537716 . png" target="_blank">www . imagef1 . net . nz) -- Cloned the damaged Drive to a new One, bad sectors and all --OS totally screwed -- Rebooted the Laptop, hit alt + F10 and it loaded into the recovery and reinstalled Vista . Lucky the recovery partition was not damaged .

The DEll - Same thing - booted the original HDD from Ubuntu, had a look around the recovery partition, it only had two or three folders, soon found the actual factory . wim file, copied it to my server in a folder called Images\Dell .

Now sitting in the Server, as you can see By its size ( . imagef1 . net . nz/files/Dell1280538011 . jpg" target="_blank">www . imagef1 . net . nz) its the whole OS and programs . That txt file is just a note so I know what it is . :)

A . wim file is not quite the same as a ISO file, you can make it into one, but it was quicker to image it straight to the New Laptop HDD .

The wim file can be on a server/PC, can also be a USB drive etc, just have to find the right drive letter .

How I did it :nerd: Laptop = Blank HDD . Connect to my LAN .

Booted the laptop from a WinPE bootable CD containing imagex - You get a command prompt window .

Logged into the server . With the commands:

net use Y: \\smallbus\images\Dell /user: Workshop 123456789 (Numbers are fake password)

open disk part with the following commands hitting enter after each command:

Diskpart
select disk 0
clean
create partition primary
select partition 1
format fs=ntfs Label="windows" quick
assign letter=c
active
exit


Back at the command prompt, lay the image back to the laptop from the server with this command - and hit enter

d : \imagex . exe /apply \\smallbus\images\Dell\Factory . wim 1 C:

(NOTE: have to put a space between d and : other wise I get a simile - Ill post a Pic of the actual command, doing another W7 but need to get batteries for the camera )

Once the image was laid back down, took around 15 minutes, booted up the laptop as normal and away it went, fresh install, just put in the customers details, and remove all the dell crap . 		wainuitech (129)
1123411 2010-07-31 03:50:00 Adding to the above -- The picture with commands (www.imagef1.net.nz).

When imaging Windows 7 you have to create two partitions, the hidden is C, the actual OS is D, the Optical drive is E

So those commands are saying -- Logging into the server, laying down the image to drive D.

When windows boots normally, Drive D will in fact be seen as Drive C and the optical drive will now become D.

As for the Dell Vista wim -- only one partition, so C is C. 		wainuitech (129)
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