Need an OS to put on my Sony so I can sell it.

[inflames988]

My Sony laptop is about 2 years old. It has a T7200 2.0GHz C2D, 1.0GB Ram, 120GB HDD....Fairly decent machine. I just got a 13" MacBook Pro for a steal ($675 out of my pocket after various rebates, a gift certificate I won, free iPod touch which is selling for a premium on eBay).

Regardless, the Sony was a pain at the start when I first got it (full of junkware, no vista CD's), so i reformatted to XP. The XP I installed was purchased for $15 from my university bookstore, microsoft used to do this but now sells nothing except vista upgrades for $30 at the bookstore (basically totally cut us off). I think its a volume license because it activates over and over again (I have reformatted nearly 10 times and never once had to call).

Issue now is that I have no way to recover Vista. Googled all over the web for Vista Business 32-bit recovery CD's and couldn't find anything - seems sony doesn't even sell them. I e-mailed Sony tech support about it a while back, they said they couldnt give me them even if I paid, so I E-mailed again now in hopes that it changed. No response yet.

Long story short, I think it will sell for much less on eBay without a legit copy of windows on it (even if I put Ubuntu on or something). Anyone got ideas for how to get a legal copy of Vista Business, or other suggestions for some sort of alternative?

I DO have a valid CD Key on the bottom of the computer, it's just that they provide no sort of media to recover the thing.

P.S. eBay is great. I broke even on my netbook (like, literally, I paid $299 for it, and will get 299 back afer eBay fees), and the iPod touch I got free with the macbook pro is already up to 175

[David M]

Go to you're local computer repair shop or find a friend who has the OS installation disk you need. Have them install Vista (repair stores keep OS disks on hand) and activate it with your product code. If you go to activate it through their automated system and you get a message that says your license has already been activated then you need to call the nice people in India at Microsoft and explain your situation. Good luck doing that. Today I spent 50 minutes on the phone and got switched to 6 people to do exactly that. I finally succeeded though. Their attempts at wearing me down failed.

[glc]

If you have a Vista Business COA, you can legally install your XP Pro volume license CD as a downgrade.

[inflames988]

Originally Posted by glc If you have a Vista Business COA, you can legally install your XP Pro volume license CD as a downgrade.

Just like that? Should I use the license key on the COA (the one for vista)?

Would make my life, and whoever buys the laptop's life, much easier - XP runs much more smoothly on this thing than vista. Could probably make them a copy of the install media too.

[glc]

No, you have to use your key. It's no big deal. The presence of the Vista Business sticker makes it legal.

[inflames988]

Perfect, problem solved then. Talked to sony again today after waiting forever and apparently they want $29.98 for vista CD's...I think not.

XP just finished installing after i zero-filled the drive. Few drivers and this thing should be good to go.

Just need to find a box and some bubble wrap. One of the downsides of living in philadelphia, going to school in pittsburgh, and working in wisconsin...always end up needing things that are in one of my "other" locations.

Thanks alot glc...you just saved me a ton of time and headaches I thought of the XP downgrade thing at one point but nobody seemed to be able to give me a definitive answer as to whether or not it was legal.

[inflames988]

Originally Posted by David M Go to you're local computer repair shop or find a friend who has the OS installation disk you need. Have them install Vista (repair stores keep OS disks on hand) and activate it with your product code. If you go to activate it through their automated system and you get a message that says your license has already been activated then you need to call the nice people in India at Microsoft and explain your situation. Good luck doing that. Today I spent 50 minutes on the phone and got switched to 6 people to do exactly that. I finally succeeded though. Their attempts at wearing me down failed.

Hear you loud and clear...my conversation with sony went something like this.

me: i need recovery CD's for my computer. the recovery partition is gone and sony did not provide recovery disks with the computer when i purchased it.
sony: there is a 7gb recovery partition that ships with your computer.
me: yes i just said that. It's gone.
sony: is your BIOS recognizing the hard drive?
me: that's not relevant. the recovery partition is not on the drive.
sony: sony does not recommend that the user access the physical machine.
me: i'm not sure what you mean. but I worked repairing computers for three years and now work as a software developer. I know a thing or two. I just need a disk for Vista and I can take care of the rest.
...

this went on for hours. 3 different employees. never got what i wanted.