Vista - How do you reinstall if hard drive burns out?

How would you reinstall Microsoft Vista if your hard drive burned out?

Let me make that a little more clear. If my original hard drive that I
installed vista on burned out and I got a new hard drive but I cant activate
vista because it says i've already installed it how would I reinstall?
"James" wrote:

> How would you reinstall Microsoft Vista if your hard drive burned out?

Shouldn't say that if you have installed before you can install again. Has
this actually happened or is this a hypothetical "I'm scared" kind of thing?

"James" wrote:
> Let me make that a little more clear. If my original hard drive that I
> installed vista on burned out and I got a new hard drive but I cant activate
> vista because it says i've already installed it how would I reinstall?
> "James" wrote:
>
> > How would you reinstall Microsoft Vista if your hard drive burned out?

Hypothetical, I dont want to throw vista on a gaming computer if updating the
hard drive or having an accident is going to require me to call up Microsoft
for a new license.
"unvista" wrote:

> Shouldn't say that if you have installed before you can install again. Has
> this actually happened or is this a hypothetical "I'm scared" kind of thing?
>
> "James" wrote:
> > Let me make that a little more clear. If my original hard drive that I
> > installed vista on burned out and I got a new hard drive but I cant activate
> > vista because it says i've already installed it how would I reinstall?
> > "James" wrote:
> >
> > > How would you reinstall Microsoft Vista if your hard drive burned out?

No, it will be kind of like XP is today. If you are reinstalling, it will
work fine. However, you may have to install XP first, and then do the upgrade
again, since the Upgrade version of Vista can only be installed on a computer
that has Windows 2000, XP or Vista already installed

"James" wrote:

> Hypothetical, I dont want to throw vista on a gaming computer if updating the
> hard drive or having an accident is going to require me to call up Microsoft
> for a new license.

Thanks

"jbpete" wrote:

> There's been a lot of discussion but you can install an upgrade on a "new"
> replacement hard drive.
> "
> 1.. Boot from the Windows Vista Upgrade DVD and start the setup program.
>
> 2.. When prompted to enter your product key, DO NOT enter it. Click "Next"
> and proceed with setup. This will install Windows Vista as a 30-day trial.
>
> 3.. When prompted, select the edition of Vista which you have purchased
> and continue with setup.
>
> 4.. Once setup has been completed and you have been brought to the desktop
> for the first time, run the install program from within Windows Vista.
>
> 5.. This time, type in your product key when prompted.
>
> 6.. When asked whether to perform an Upgrade or Custom (advanced) install,
> choose Custom (advanced) to perform a clean install of Vista. Yes, this
> means that you will have to install Vista for a second time.
>
> 7.. Once setup has completed for the second time, you should be able to
> activate Windows Vista normally. You can also delete the Windows.old
> directory which contains information from the first Vista install."
>
>
> "James" wrote:
>
> > Hypothetical, I dont want to throw vista on a gaming computer if updating the
> > hard drive or having an accident is going to require me to call up Microsoft
> > for a new license.
> > "unvista" wrote:
> >
> > > Shouldn't say that if you have installed before you can install again. Has
> > > this actually happened or is this a hypothetical "I'm scared" kind of thing?
> > >
> > > "James" wrote:
> > > > Let me make that a little more clear. If my original hard drive that I
> > > > installed vista on burned out and I got a new hard drive but I cant activate
> > > > vista because it says i've already installed it how would I reinstall?
> > > > "James" wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > How would you reinstall Microsoft Vista if your hard drive burned out?