Reinstalling Vista Business from fake Win7 Ultimate without cd and without hidden partition for operating system

christie222

Reputable
Nov 26, 2014
13
0
4,520
Hello!

I have read a several postings here that relate to my problem but I cant find the correct answer to my problem:

I have purchased a Toshiba Laptop with Windows 7 Ultimate operating system from a guy over the internet. He said that it had originally Vista Business installed on it and that I could restore it back to out of box Vista Business.
I tried the restart and press “0” instructions which had worked on my other Toshiba laptops before but it didn’t work. (also ctrl & “0”) The restoration didn’t work.

I then used the pidgen key checker online and found out that the current Windows 7 Ultimate is an illegal version, which is no problem for me since I don’t want it anyway.
I am unable to tell wether this fake Win7 is an upgrade or a complete version.
Question: Do I need to know this, I don’t want to upgrade, I only want to restore to out of box OS)
I also checked the product key which is on the sticker at the bottom of my laptop and it seems genuine: “Windows Vista Business – OEM: SLP”.
Question: What does SLP mean?

Since I don’t have a CD with the original operating system could you please help me to either
- find my OS on the (maybe) still available hidden partition on the hard drive
or
- how to get hold of the original operating system. I am not sure wether the original drivers that are related to the Toshiba hardware are still on my hard drive.

I would just love to go online somewhere at Toshiba or Microsoft, tell them my genuine Product Key and order or download a reinstallation cd but I have no clue how to do this…:-(

I have another Laptop with genuine OS and I can use this to safely download clean Software/OS

Sorry for the long text, I don’t have a lot of computer knowledge and thanks for your help!
 
Solution
Toshiba states on their website that the laptops come with a Recovery partition, no physical Recovery Media is provided. If the previous ownere did not make a backup on discs, your only alternatives are to either contact Toshiba directly in your country and see if they'll mail you recovery discs (at a cost) or try to reinstall from the Recovery partition (if it still exists).
Third option would be to purchase a Win 7 key and make your installation legitimate.
 

christie222

Reputable
Nov 26, 2014
13
0
4,520


Thanks for your reply :) !
Right now I dont want to work with Win 7 nor with Win8.
I live in regional Australia and the Toshiba Service here is rather limited to say the least....but if everything fails I will have to contact them. I dont mind paying them for a recovery cd as long as I get my laptop back into "out of box" state.
Toshiba Laptops are not cheap and I think it therfore would be a minimum of courtesy if they supplied their customers with a free OS cd download.
As I wrote, the recovery procedure from the hidden partition didnt work. My last hope is a hint from someone to help me to possibly find the hidden partition.
Thanks for your input house70, much appreciated :)
 

lfkfkfkffs

Admirable
Locating the partition would be as easy as using something like gparted, then finding the partition that way. But lets do it the even easier way and just go to http://www.askvg.com/direct-download-links-download-official-original-and-untouched-windows-vista-rtm-with-sp1-setup-files-32-bit-and-64-bit/ and download vista from a legit source. you can get instructions from that site also. If it requires you to have xp installed just down the iso here http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/confirmation.aspx?id=25129&cffa64c5-a636-96fc-e97a-0e907fcc4c04=True Don't be scared when the download automatically starts, just the way I saved it.
 

christie222

Reputable
Nov 26, 2014
13
0
4,520


Hi lfkfkfkffs ! Wow, wow, wow !!!
You've given me a lot of interesting info, which I would have never managed to find myself, thanks so much!!!!!!!
Reading it caused me some "mental bloating"...lol... because I am not very computer experienced, but I am determined to understand it all. I think I will leave "gparted" as the last option. The askvg.com link offers only vista ultimate versions (installing WinXP first wont be necessary for me), which I will gladly use in case I can't get the original Vista Business CD from Toshiba Australia. By the way, you've just made my mate's day, ..no.., week by posting the win XP link. It's exactly what he needs in order to fix his beloved Win XP laptop. I say thanks from Australia and he sais thanks from Germany! I will report back in a few days how everything worked out :) !
 


That XP link is not the XP setup disk, it's only an ISO of the Service Pack 3 update. Meaning it's not "Windows XP With SP3" it's just "Windows XP SP3".
 
Solution

USAFRet

Titan
Moderator
I have purchased a Toshiba Laptop with Windows 7 Ultimate operating system from a guy over the internet.
This was the original problem.

From the Win 7 Ultimate he installed, there is likely nothing left from the original install. No drivers, no recovery partition...nada.

Whether it is an upgrade or complete makes no difference. It needs to be blown away.

To fix the issue?
Contact Toshiba and obtain a recovery install for that particular laptop. It probably will not be free.
or
Buy a new OS in whatever flavor you want. Vista, 7, 8....
(You will find buying a legal Vista OS difficult or impossible)