[Sam223]

Hi,
I have an Acer laptop which same pre-installed with Vista Home Premium. The hard drive completely failed the other day and I cannot boot it at all or view it with any recovery app using my other computers.

I bought a new hard drive and now need to install vista on it again. However, I don't have any Vista discs. I have the necessary key codes and license for Vista Home Premium OEM but I need a way of installing it on my new hard drive.

Do Microsoft let you download an installer? Or how can I get an installer LEGALLY to perform the installation and use my OEM license?

Thanks.

[ratchet]

Sam223,
This is probably your best/cheapest option;
http://us-store.acer.com/rcd/

[Sam223]

That looks promising but neither my S/N or SNID were accepted...

[flavallee]

What's the model name and complete model number of that Acer laptop?

Do you know anyone who can loan you a Vista Home Premium DVD?

-----------------------------------------------------------

[Sam223]

It is an Acer Aspire 5536.

Do I have to get an OEM disc or can I use my OEM key with a retail disc? Are the OEM and retail discs the same other than your license?

Also, I have an XP disc but that always fails during setup (it worked fine on another computer ages ago). I know that with Macs you cannot install an OS older than the one shipped with the machine, is this the same for Windows, causing my XP disc to fail? Or why would it be failing?

[Elvandil]

You may need the OEM version from Acer in order for your key to work. In any case, that would be the cheapest option for buying something. OEM's run the gamut, from being identical to retail to being heavily modified for particular models and OEM's.

XP may be too old to support the hardware. Drivers could be impossible to come by if the machine was never sold with XP on it.

[flavallee]

Here is the support site for the Acer Aspire 5536 laptop/notebook.

There appears to be Windows XP drivers available for most or all of the devices in it.

----------------------------------------------------------