BleepingComputer.com: Kids Wiped Out Vista Operating System, No Vista Disk

When my husband and I were on vacation our kids somehow wiped the Vista operating system off their computer. The message when I boot up in F8, ( if I am remembering correctly), says that there was a problem in reloading Vista and I need to insert the Vista disk. Problem is, the computer didn't come with a recovery disk, we just got the computer, and I hadn't gotten around to making a backup disk of Vista. I am afraid that now I will need to purchase the Vista operating system and use that to fix their computer. Unless anyone has another idea? or does anyone know how to fix it without reinstalling?
Thank you so much, I have been rather frustrated wit this!

hi sweetie,,lol,,,, it maybe that your pc cannot load the os, so it is still probebly still there but something has gone wrong and it will not load, its asking for the disc so it can recover the corrupted parts or put back deleted parts,,, or something in the regestry has changed that it dose'nt like,,,,, if you have any friends with vista and they have a recovery disc try there's and this should sort it out,,, your just recovering the os not installing it so dont reformat anything as this will compleatly wipe your HDD. If you dont know anyone with a disc then try a pc shop and they should be able to do it for a small fee,,,,,,, another way would be to take it back to the shop you got it from as it will still be under warrinty as it is new,,, tell them you dont know whats wrong with it and let them fix it,,,, living in england i would go for the latter as they have no choice under consumer law here,,,,,,,, good luck

Most likely you can purchase a restore CD from the manufacturer of the computer for far less than a copy of Vista will cost you. Just be sure that you have the Vista sticker with the product key on the computer.

You can download a repair disk for the 32 bit version from here: http://neosmart.net/blog/2008/windows-vist...oblitz-no-serve

This will let you run Startup Repair - but won't restore the entire operating system (so it depends on what damage was done).

This is just one of many reasons why you must have a Windows OS CD/DVD. It may be a branded version, but it must contain OS software that will allow you to completely re-install Windows from scratch if you ever need to.

Demand one from your computer manufacturer. If they offer to give you a Recovery CD, say "fine" but demand the Windows CD....you paid for the license, you have a right to have the CD/DVD. And don't even think of just settling for a recovery partition on the HDD. That will only allow you to restore to the factory setting when you got it home from the store.

If they say no, move up the food chain until you get to a yes.

Expect to pay about $10 for the CD. I went back & forth with DELL on this until they "sold" me their branded version of Windows XP SP2 for $10 + shipping. I didn't agree that I should pay for the CD, but at least I got it.....and yes, I had to reinstall my operating system last year due to severe file corruption.

Cheers.

I just wanted to thank you all for helping me out! I have their computer up and running!! (Finally, now they'll leave me alone about it!)

That is great news that things were fixed.