Reinstalling Windows

[vectorsigma32]

i was wondering my mum sata hdd has died her pc and now it has no windows it didn't have recovery dvd with it when she got i was wonder ring if i could use my full retail vista dvd to reinstall her oem os answer would be nice az she need her pc for her work

 

[Leeky]

You'll be able to order the backup disks from the computer manufacturer. Your Retail disk is unlikely to work with a manufacturer specific product key.

 

[Dhakos]

I have a retail disk for vista and it works fine with my manufacturer key I don't think its a manufacturer key as such, as a key the manufacturer provide, I've never known there to be a difference. As long as the operating systems are the correct versions, you should have no problems installing vista with that key

 

[dcclxxvii]

If the hard drive has failed -completely- then your Vista OS will certainly not install!

Are you sure your hard drive is dead?
Is there an imminent failure message?
Is SATA enabled in the f10 BIOS menu?
Was she installing drivers,or any thing else,before the hard drive died?
You could download "partition magic.iso" free and re-write the master boot record
to the first sector of the drive. This could,potentially,solve the problem!

Otherwise,if you send me an email address. I have a small program that i would be willing to share. Which most likely would fix
your hard drive and restore your system to normal,assuming the drive has not completely failed!