Factory Restore of Vista PC

You wont be able to keep it if you wipe the machine. If you have the 'correct' product key and Office CD then it can be installed after the upgrade to Win 7.

 

There are many pre loaded drives on ebay.

 

Nice one DA

 

ISO should be bootable DA. Just set the computer to boot from dvd first.

 

If it finds no operating system/boot stuff on C, it will probably look at the dvd/CD drive next automatically.

 

Don't forget to scrape the porridge off the screen before you try installing anything else on it.

 

The ISO is just an "image" so if you've copied that directly to a dvd then it wont boot but if the "expanded" copy has been created by something like Rufus or WiNToBootic then it extracts all the files from that image including the bits need for booting the system and burns them to the DVD. No need to use the command prompt to wipe the drive, as said in previous post just boot from the dvd, select advanced installation and delete the partitions - cant remember the exact wording but when it lists the drive letters / space availble etc there is an extra menu that allows you to format/ delete partitions. If you delete all the partitions, select the "empty" drive and the click install the setup prog will create all the needed partitions, format the drive and do a clean install.

 

ISO files are bootable . I downloaded Win10 ISO file direct from Microsoft, burned it to a dvd and it will boot on any computer capable of running Win10 .

 

Guessing that was via the "windows 10 media creation tool"? If so it may have download the ISO but it still needs to extract it before burning it to DVD. ISOs are nothing more than images or snapshots of a disc - simply copying one to a DVD will end up with a disc containing somefile.iso and not much else. For example i have games, movies and music discs stored as ISO images - they are exact copies of the original discs in a single file but unless i burn them to disc, mount them as a virtual drive or extract files from them they wont to anything other than take up hard drive space.

 

Does an ISO file not self extract itself whilst installing? Seemed to on mine.

 

No, an ISO is just an exact copy of a source disc - stuff like the windows 10 media creator may download AND extract / burn the image but that's down to the tool and not the ISO itself. Own its own an ISO is just a file sat on a hard drive, server, or whatever waiting for something to happen to it - its nothing more than a collection of data stored in one file for ease of use with the intention of being able to replicate exactly the disc it was taken from. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_image gives a bit more info / explains it better than i can lol.

 

Get into the boot stage by slapping f10 or f8 after powering on. Configure for your boot up. Sometimes i used a windows 5 DOS kit and a plug in diskette reader. That got a response, and i did the format from DOS, after which the install set off apace as normal. Sometimes using software from different manufacturers works. In effect once the PC has some idea of what it is, it can get on with updating and so on.

 

Gluggy is right... an ISO file wont be bootable... when it's burnt onto DVD, if done using the right method, it's unpacked and becomes a bootable DVD... if the right method isn't used, then it's the ISO file that's on the DVD, which then WON'T be bootable!

It varies depending on which software is used to do the burning, but usually the option needed says something along the lines of " burn disc from image"

By way of analogy...

You go to IKEA, (or similar), with your van, buy a flatpack wardrobe. (i.e download the ISO file)
Take it outside to you van and just put the flatpack in the van. (i.e. burn the ISO file onto the disc, as a DATA file... this ISN'T bootable)
or,
Take it out to your van, assemble the wardrobe, and put the wardrobe in the van, (i.e. burn IMAGE TO DISC... this is bootable)

Sorry to be a geek! Hope this helps!

Regards,

Cando

 

DA you can wipe the HD fully with Win 7 at install. Done it zillions of times mate.

When you start install it gives you an option to delete the partition etc. Maybe you missed that bit as it is under the bonnet, so to speak.

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/wipe-hard-drive-clean-reinstall-windows-54129.html