Need Recovery disk/s for Windows VISTA Home Premium.

Green01
Green01 Member Posts: 3 New User
edited April 2023 in Acer Software

I will be getting rid of this old desktop, need to do a hard/factory reset. Need recovery disk/s, it did not come with any! I only have product key. Please help, I want to get this done and out asap.

Thanks.

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Answers

  • What is the exact model of the desktop? Example: AN515-55-5890. Perhaps, it would be interesting to perform a cold installation of the operating system, using an iso.

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  • Alejandro_AC
    Alejandro_AC ACE Posts: 13,324 Trailblazer
    edited April 2023

    Hi @Green01 contact Acer directly in your country, but surely Acer no longer has Windows Vista recovery since this system was discontinued by Microsoft on April 13, 2010 and its updates were definitively closed on April 11, 2017.

    The recoveries were not available in digital format for download, they were physical media.

    If the disk is the original and the disk has not been changed or formatted, have you checked if it still maintains the recovery option from the system itself?

    Here is the information of the current recovery of Windows 10 and Windows 11, at the end, an information telephone number appears for the request of physical media:

    https://community.acer.com/en/kb/articles/129-acer-recovery-media

    Thank you.
    All the best.

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  • Green01
    Green01 Member Posts: 3 New User

    The model is Acer Aspire M1200 AM1200-E1521A

    If I could somehow get the disk that'd be great, willing to pay for them. That's what I'm looking for. The only option I have on the system is to do a restore/going back to previous update/or backup.

    Thank you, I will find a phone number for Acer as a last resort but I'm worried they will tell me the same thing, it's an outdated OS they no longer support and don't have recovery disks for it.

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,383 Trailblazer
    edited April 2023

    Acer won't have them any longer. Likely best is to just wipe it comeletely and don't install an OS at all, or remove the HDD before sending it out for recycling. That's an old enough machine that not many will be able to find a use for it.

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  • Green01
    Green01 Member Posts: 3 New User

    Thanks billsey. Sounds good. How do I wipe it completely?

  • Puraw
    Puraw ACE, Member Posts: 13,638 Trailblazer
    edited April 2023 Answer ✓

    Take it out of the PC and mount it in an external USB case or cable for that HDD (they may still sell USB cases/cables online for older HDDs). Connect that to another PC USB port and Reformat the external HDD in File Explorer either Complete (will take hours) or Quick or physically destroy the HDD with a hammer.

  • billsey
    billsey ACE Posts: 34,383 Trailblazer

    Or boot from a Windows install flash drive by moving the external USB drive option higher in the boot priority list in the BIOS and use the Repair mode to get to a command prompt, where you can wipe everything using DOS commands.

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