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You are here: Home » Computer » How to Repair Windows Vista Without a Vista DVD Disc

How to Repair Windows Vista Without a Vista DVD Disc

Updated by Raymond - 1 year ago - Computer
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I received a very good question from “blackrose” in forum on “how do you install Windows XP, if one does not have Vista DVD.” Since you’re installing Windows XP on Vista, do you still need Vista DVD? The answer is yes and no. You will still need Vista DVD to do a repair on the bootloader because XP bootloader can’t be used to boot Vista.
Repair Vista without DVD
If you own a branded computer or laptop such as Acer, Dell or HP, chances are they only provide you with recovery partition or a recovery DVD without Windows Vista DVD.

I also answered “no” because there are ways to install XP on Vista without Vista DVD to repair the bootloader. For people who don’t have Vista DVD but would like to install XP with Vista installed first, you don’t need to download or borrow Vista from friends just to use the repair feature!

There are 2 ways of doing it. The easy way and also the hard way.

Easy way is to download a 120MB ISO file from EasyBCD website. They’ve uploaded a copy of a CD that contains the contents of the “Repair your computer” section of the Windows Vista DVD. You can download Windows Vista Recovery Disc from here. Once you’ve finished downloading, burn Vista_Recovery_Disc.iso with Nero or your favorite disc burning software and boot up your computer with the CD.

The hard way is to build a VistaPE environment using the free WAIK download from Microsoft. The Windows Automated Installation Kit (Windows AIK) helps you to install, customize, and deploy the Microsoft Windows Vista family of operating systems. The WAIK is a whopping 992.2 MB in size.

Which method would you use to repair Windows Vista if you don’t have a Vista DVD? I’d definitely go for the easy way. It’s 120MB but at least it’s much smaller compared to 992MB! Moreover, I don’t need to manually build the VistaPE. In the world of computer servicing, speed is very important. That is how I keep all my clients happy :)

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16 comments on “How to Repair Windows Vista Without a Vista DVD Disc”

  1. j-sin says:
    3 years ago

    Windows cannot open the required file E:\Sources\Install.wim The file does not exit. Make sure all files required for installation are available and restart the installation. Error code: 0×80070002
    was habe ich falsch gemacht bzw. muss ich tun
    MfG

    Reply
  2. tuxedo says:
    3 years ago

    Hey there,

    I followed the advice above and burned neosmart recovery disk to dvd using isoburner. The thing is the laptop (Toshiba satellite pro) wont boot up from it and just loads up as normal.
    I have checked the dvd and it has three folders: bootmgr, boot, and sources.

    Am i doing somethign wrong?

    Cheers 4 help.

    Reply
  3. Myn says:
    3 years ago

    another option would be bartpe….. alot more options than micro…. one

    Reply
  4. Blerb says:
    5 years ago

    Roman General: I do not know of any OS error checking programs, but if you are using a trial version like you say, it is quite possible it is giving you fake errors.

    Reply
  5. Roman General says:
    5 years ago

    I have a Toshiba Satellite laptop a215-s4757 with Vista pre-installed. I have scanned it and have found hundreds of errors. Of course it crashes everyday. I have rebooted twice with disc provided from maker. Once having deleted the hard drive. It still crashes.

    I have downloaded the 120mb Vista recovery disc and burned it to dvd. I’m hoping this will fix these issues and stop the crashing.

    My first question is will it and do you have any advice on how I should proceed?

    Second question, do you know of a freeware or shareware program that will scan and fix errors thats not a trial version?

    Reply
  6. goodfellas_bird says:
    5 years ago

    i have a acer laptop and someone wiped vista of to install xp setup failed because it could not find the hardrive disk ermm im lost is it fooked now lol i got vista recovery disc i see u said on here but that hasent worked i really dont know what i can do ??? thx

    Reply
  7. Zeke says:
    5 years ago

    I have a HP Pavilion dv6000 that came with Vista installed. I made a set of recovery disks. Can I now delete the Recovery partition?

    Reply
  8. Roger Bartholemew says:
    5 years ago

    Actually, there is an even easier way provided on the same website you linked to (the EasyBCD one).

    neosmart.net/wiki/display/EBCD/Recovering+the+Vista+Bootloader+with+EasyBCD

    So long as you can boot into XP, all you need is to install a copy of EasyBCD (1.5MB only) and use it to fix the Vista bootloader, without having to dowload a 120MB file or anything.

    I found out about it in their forums at neosmart.net/forums/ where they are very helpful.

    Reply
  9. Anders says:
    5 years ago

    Thanks Raymond, it worked great!

    Reply
  10. kkk says:
    5 years ago

    I download Windows Vista Recovery Disc from here. Once you’ve finished downloading, burn Vista_Recovery_Disc.iso with Nero to a CD. After reboot from this CD, it just gives me the dos prompt, it does not get me into Vista ? Something I missed ?

    Reply
  11. zmnoor says:
    5 years ago

    With the latest motherboard, usage of sata and usb world wide usage.
    I would an advice from you is there any adapter that can can utilised the ide drive to 3 or 4 connector for ide hard drive? or the floppy drive convert to ide drive?

    Reply
  12. Raymond says:
    5 years ago

    mory, VistaBootPRO don’t work this way. If you have Vista preinstalled and you install XP, you can’t use VistaBootPRO to repair the bootloader.

    Reply
  13. mory says:
    5 years ago

    i used VistaBootPRO
    that is very great program for repairing vista boot from windows xp
    :)

    Reply
  14. ghost says:
    5 years ago

    thanks Raymond for this good informative blog!!

    Reply
  15. webcadre says:
    5 years ago

    i have vista installed in my pc and i awant to re-install it should i use the easy way or hard way??

    i got it from a friend and i don`t have the dvd vista with me,

    what do you think the possible way for me???

    Reply
  16. Myname says:
    5 years ago

    Hello Raymond, my compliments for the blog I happened onto by chance, technically and visually. I have a question if you can share..what is the blog software you use? I have my own web space and I would like to implement a solution without using the ready made spaces etc..Compliments again

    Reply

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