How difficult is it to nuke an pave a laptop which has no recovery sector?

[Mixednutt]

I have a friend with a vista laptop and no recovery partition. I want to share the wonders of a fresh OS install (Nuke and Pave), but I would certainly prefer to not brick her laptop. The way that I would plan on doing it would be this:

-Borrow someone's vista disk
-Format her HD
-Install vista from disk
-Key in the license from the bottom of her laptop

I am worried about a random copy of the vista disk not accepting her license key. How worried should I be?

 

[Automata]

You could make an image of the disk and restore it if something goes wrong. I personally use Clonezilla.

Also, I see that you don't have your 10 year badge, so you should have that now.

 

[Mixednutt]

Wow Thideras, thank you! What an honor! I will also try this clonezilla software of which you speak.

I tried re-installing xp on a computer a while back by entering the license from the sticker on the case, and the new install just wouldn't accept it. Although in hindsight it was probably a simple error like a "0" instead of an "o", or perhaps the version was incorrect.

Anyhoo, I just wanted to cover my bases because she's a real cutey and I'd hate to look like an *** I think the clonezilla will be a perfect safety net for this situation.

 

[Automata]

Most of the keys that come on systems are not able to be activated. I'm told this is incorrect for Windows 7 licenses, but I don't have a system to try that out on.

If you have time to play around with Clonezilla beforehand, I'd suggest doing it. Once you know how to use the tool, it is powerful and easy to use, but when you first get started, it can be daunting as it has a lot of options.

 

[Solder]

Vista Business, if I remember correctly, has all versions of Vista on it. The only thing that defines which version gets installed is the key.
Definitely follow Thideras' advice and clone the drive just in case things go sideways.
Just as an example of things going sideways, it has worked just fine for me in the past, but at the moment, I'm having an issue where the key isn't recognized and won't install the OS.
Be sure to clone it first.