APOLLOSTEES

I've got a Vista Home Premium 64bit disc.

My brother has Windows Vista Basic 32bit.

Can I load My version of Vista on his computer and use his OEM Key?

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APOLLOSTEES

Here is a better question. Does Acer, or for that matter any PC manufacturer, have a way to re-image your PC.

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korosu

vista discs have every version of vista from home basic to ultimate on them - what key you enter determines what version installs.

and there are only two different physical discs for vista - 32 and 64-bit.

most OEM manufacturers create a recovery partition that can be loaded from the BIOS screen. it'll usually tell you to press one of the F keys to enter recovery mode, or something like that.

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Duckydude

You could by calling Microsoft and making up some excuse that you had to reformat or the motherboard died and you needed to get a new one, but that would be illegal and I should probably delete what I just said .

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ninjinsamax3

No, they do not work, and even if it suddenly works, it is illegal.

The OEM will most likely not work because Microsoft has already thought of this before they thought of other people with other versions' serial key to put in a new version.

And if you try put your OEM disc and load that version on his computer, it might work and might not. That is illegal, so please do not try it.

korosu

it should - what i'd recommend is booting from the disc, and entering the key, and see if it identifies the correct version. i don't think you have to make any changes to the hard drive at this point, so it's probably worth a shot.

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APOLLOSTEES

OK so I have HomePremium 64bit.

Would his Key work if I re-image his laptop with my disc?

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korosu

i just noticed something - are you trying to install home basic x64 on your brother's computer? if not, you won't be able to install the 32-bit version from your own disc.. just clarifying.

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ninjinsamax3

If you need a new disc for your brother's computer, I suggest you call Microsoft. They seem to be nice, but annoying.


Reps to korosu. Did not know that it was different from xp installation discs. and nice name.

noshibby

vista keys work for either 32 AND 64 bit, so you can use either of the versions, in fact if you buy the 32 bit version you can purchase a 64 bit dvd from microsoft for $10

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