will a vista reinstall disk from one laptop work on another laptop of a different brand?
i have all my disks that came with a dell inspiron laptop but i bought a used toshiba laptop both had vista on them the toshiba has a unknown password so if i reinstall everything will it be ok? using the dell vista disk
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Tagged with: dell inspiron • dell inspiron laptop • toshiba • toshiba laptop
Filed under: Used Dell Laptops
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If they are restore discs then no, they’ll only work on that machine. If they’re standard Vista discs, yes.
no it will not work
To access the Toshiba recovery partition, power off the laptop. Hold down the 0 (zero) key and turn the laptop on. Keep holding down the zero key until the TOSHIBA logo appears, where you should start tapping the zero key repeatedly. Stop if the unit beeps or when the TOSHIBA logo disappears. The screen should flash ** HDD RECOVERY MODE ** for a split second, then load the Toshiba recovery program right from the hard drive.
Note that this erases all data, and reloads all factory default software. Be sure to back up all your important personal data beforehand!
The disk itself should work. Most Vista disks actually have all versions of Vista on it, and the actual version enabled (Home, Business, Enterprise, Ultimate) is determine by the Product Key.
And, there is the rub. You need a valid, non-activated Product Key. You may need to call Microsoft to get your key de-activated for the Toshiba, so that it can be used again. Never done this, so good luck.
Don’t be surprise if you end up buying another copy of Vista.
Good Luck, David
the dell might not have all the drivers needed to make the toshiba work right 100%. but you need to have the product key from the dell so when you reinstall vista you can enter the product key and be able to reactivate vista. but you may have to call Microsoft and tell them that you are changing computers and that you are not using the dell anymore. i have done this for many clients and Microsoft has always been understanding, besides its legal. you are still using the one license that you bought when you bought the other computer. they will not allow you to use the same key on more than one machine.
you should be able to do what you described. but see if anyone you know has a boot CD that can show all passwords on the computer. a shop should be able to do this, i do this for free but it shouldn’t cost more than $40.
good luck and again it should work, just will have to do a lot of updates after install