Reinstalling win vista on wiped HDD

[frodocyber]

I am interested in purchasing a used dell e6400 that has the HDD wiped. It also has a Win vista Business COA sticker with the key codes.

My question is can I purchase a "reinstall" disk that will install a valid/legal version of Win Vista business and use the key codes on the COA to "activate/register" this "new" OS? If so, from what source and usual price?

 

[JDFan]

If the COA key is still legible all you need to do is download an iso image and burn it to disk and use that and your key to install and activate the OS.

The VISTA installation files can be found here ( http://downloadsnfix.blogspot.com/2012/08/microsoft-windows-vista-official-iso.html ) along with a tutorial on burning the iso to disk for installation -- (NOTE : the files are downloaded from Digital River which is Microsoft's approved digital download provider so has not been altered )

EDIT @ martell -- the download link you provided is just the service pack files not installation media so will not work for installing the OS -- it is just to install the service pack to an already installed OS !!

 

[Martell1977]

Go here:
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=13158
you can download the .ISO file and burn a DVD of it. Using the license key you should be able to activate it, if not, call Microsoft's activation line and they should be able to straighten it out.

 

[JDFan]

If the COA key is still legible all you need to do is download an iso image and burn it to disk and use that and your key to install and activate the OS.

The VISTA installation files can be found here ( http://downloadsnfix.blogspot.com/2012/08/microsoft-windows-vista-official-iso.html ) along with a tutorial on burning the iso to disk for installation -- (NOTE : the files are downloaded from Digital River which is Microsoft's approved digital download provider so has not been altered )

EDIT @ martell -- the download link you provided is just the service pack files not installation media so will not work for installing the OS -- it is just to install the service pack to an already installed OS !!

 

[Martell1977]

If the COA key is still legible all you need to do is download an iso image and burn it to disk and use that and your key to install and activate the OS.

The VISTA installation files can be found here ( http://downloadsnfix.blogspot.com/2012/08/microsoft-windows-vista-official-iso.html ) along with a tutorial on burning the iso to disk for installation -- (NOTE : the files are downloaded from Digital River which is Microsoft's approved digital download provider so has not been altered )

EDIT @ martell -- the download link you provided is just the service pack files not installation media so will not work for installing the OS -- it is just to install the service pack to an already installed OS !!

Copied the wrong link, meant to copy a link to Dell's OEM download site.

 

[frodocyber]

I finally solved this problem. MS/Digitalriver no longer offer an ISO for Vista. However they do offer a download that can be used to create your own .ISO. I followed instructions and created the .ISO and used Rufus to burn it to a bootable USB stick.

It was a bit of a PITA figuring out all the procedures but now have an activated legal copy back on this PC.