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"New PC...no hard drive!"

So, a friend is clearing out his flat to go to London and gave me a few things, including a base unit for a PC.

Surprisingly it has a better processor/graphics card than mine and the motherboard can take more memory! Only...it doesn't have a hard drive.

Now this is one of those PCs that doesn't have any driver discs, they're all stored on the hard drive (that it doesn't have), I can buy a backup of Windows and the drivers for it for £35 from pctechguys but does anyone know if this would require the Windows serial code?

It's obviously had XP on it with a fully legal code, but my friend doesn't know where the manuals are, which may have the code on.

Basically: Any ideas how I can (legally) sort this out? I'll be buying a hard drive tonight at PC World. I could always ask them if they have a disc lying around, but I suspect they'll try and charge me £75 for doing it, or some such price.

Vista would be very useful.

Ive got official XP and Vista discs if you have your COA label as I used to work as a laptop and desktop techy so I have all the legit discs.

pb wrote:
> Question is, if I had a copy of Vista, would that suffice, I can
> always add in drivers later.

Depends on the machine. If you've got a machine from a large vendor you might find your vista key wont work with a generic vista installation dvd.

No chance you can scavenge one from work's IT dept? Even if they dont use Vista in the company yet, they may well have an MSDN account (or action pack account or whatever its called these days) where you can download ISOs for all microsoft products.

If the internet was any good then there would be people who were sensible enough to make a recovery CD and post the ISO on a website.

Looks like TheTechGuys website isn't working as I can't get to my PC model's recovery software. I'm assuming it's in the region of £40+ though.

Question is, if I had a copy of Vista, would that suffice, I can always add in drivers later.

Grix Thraves wrote:
> Is it possible to download it without having to get the CrAcK
> and KeYgEn etc? Illegal download but, full version that allows
> you to install it.. almost legally? Maybe, I have no idea what
> the legal terms are on that

I'm not sure about Vista but it's quite easy to download and find the activation code. What you cant do is get Windows Genuine Advantage which allows you to download from Microsoft. Well not unless you somehow hack it. As for legality, nope, although i guess if you could prove purchase then Microsoft might be able to help you.

Not sure. There are torrents, but I don't want to go down that route just yet.

I'll pop into the local PC shop tomorrow and see if they have any options, even if it means convincing them to borrow a CD!

pb wrote:
> It didn't, otherwise it would partially solve the problem. But,
> guess what? We found the sticker somewhere else (and I promptly
> stuck it on the case).
>
> So now all I need is a standalone copy of Vista Home Premium...

Is it possible to download it without having to get the CrAcK and KeYgEn etc? Illegal download but, full version that allows you to install it.. almost legally? Maybe, I have no idea what the legal terms are on that

It didn't, otherwise it would partially solve the problem. But, guess what? We found the sticker somewhere else (and I promptly stuck it on the case).

So now all I need is a standalone copy of Vista Home Premium...

Eccles wrote:
Windows activation

Ah yeah right

I wonder how helpful Microsoft are about doing something like that

Eccles wrote:
Your machine will be legal as long as it still has the OEM Windows license key sticker for the OS stuck somewhere on the case.

Wouldn't this solve the problem anyway? But that's a good idea, I always thought it was just laptops that did that (but I built all my pcs because I'm cheap and I did not put ANY stickers on them, apart from a sticker off a Golden Delicious apple one time but I think that's it)