Reinstall of Vista

Hi there,

I have an OEM version of Vista Ultimate (32Bit), and want to perform a clean
install onto a larger harddrive. When I set this machine up, I had a little
80Gb drive, with two partitions ( 20Gb C:, and 60Gb D:) -- Vista was
installed on C:... I am now running out of space on this drive.

I am not changing computers, just upgrading the hard drive ( 250GB with one
partition ). Will I need to reactivate Vista, and will there be any
problems doing so?

The machine is question is a Dell Precision 380.

Frankster
Fri Mar 28 08:38:45 PDT 2008


"Some Vista User" <someone@somewhere.com> wrote in message
news:226BAC53-3EC7-414F-AE16-822F87BE216B@microsoft.com...
> Hi there,
>
> I have an OEM version of Vista Ultimate (32Bit), and want to perform a
> clean install onto a larger harddrive. When I set this machine up, I had
> a little 80Gb drive, with two partitions ( 20Gb C:, and 60Gb D:) -- Vista
> was installed on C:... I am now running out of space on this drive.
>
> I am not changing computers, just upgrading the hard drive ( 250GB with
> one partition ). Will I need to reactivate Vista, and will there be any
> problems doing so?
>
> The machine is question is a Dell Precision 380.

Your best bet, if possible, is to install the new hard drive and use the
manufacturers provided utility to automatically convert it to your "C"
drive. It will basically image your current C drive onto your new drive and
it will be your C drive thereafter. If you purchased the drive "EOM style"
without utilities or manuals, just go to the drive manufactures' site and
you should be able to download what you need.

Usually you do not even have to re-activate Windows. But even if you did,
that's no big deal, even if you had to use the phone. Don't worry. As long
as your OEM Windows is still on the same machine you are legal.

-Frank

Mark
Fri Mar 28 08:41:45 PDT 2008

A reinstall always requires an activation. If you are sure you need no data
from the C: or D: partitions to do the setup, the activation should happen
just fine. If you had to, there is always the 'phone in' option, to explain
the hardware change.
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Mark L. Ferguson
.

"Some Vista User" <someone@somewhere.com> wrote in message
news:226BAC53-3EC7-414F-AE16-822F87BE216B@microsoft.com...
> Hi there,
>
> I have an OEM version of Vista Ultimate (32Bit), and want to perform a
> clean install onto a larger harddrive. When I set this machine up, I had
> a little 80Gb drive, with two partitions ( 20Gb C:, and 60Gb D:) -- Vista
> was installed on C:... I am now running out of space on this drive.
>
> I am not changing computers, just upgrading the hard drive ( 250GB with
> one partition ). Will I need to reactivate Vista, and will there be any
> problems doing so?
>
> The machine is question is a Dell Precision 380.

Bruce
Fri Mar 28 09:00:44 PDT 2008

Some Vista User wrote:
> Hi there,
>
> I have an OEM version of Vista Ultimate (32Bit), and want to perform a
> clean install onto a larger harddrive. When I set this machine up, I
> had a little 80Gb drive, with two partitions ( 20Gb C:, and 60Gb D:) --
> Vista was installed on C:... I am now running out of space on this drive.
>
> I am not changing computers, just upgrading the hard drive ( 250GB with
> one partition ). Will I need to reactivate Vista, ....


Possibly, but not necessarily. It depends on what specific sort of
installation DVD you have, and how "tightly" Dell bound their
installation DVD to the computer's original hardware. If it's bound
only to the motherboard chipset, it may not even require an activation.
OEM *Recovery* DVDs, if they're the same ones supplied with the PC,
often don't require activation at all, even after a re-installation, so
long as they're used on the machine with which they were purchased. An
OEM *installation* DVD, on the other hand, would almost certainly
require activation.


> .... and will there be any
> problems doing so?
>


There shouldn't be any problems, no. If activation is required, you'll
have to activate via telephone, though. Re-installations of OEM
licneses, particularly those from large computer manufacturers, require
one to activate over the telephone. Some time ago, Microsoft elected to
disable the CDs/Product Keys from most major OEMs, such as Dell, from
activating via the Internet. This was in response to the large number
of the branded OEM WinXP CDs being illegally (without the computer)
resold via eBay, computer fairs, etc.


> The machine is question is a Dell Precision 380.


--

Bruce Chambers

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