formatting hard drive and reinstalling vista

[fred]

i want to format my hard drive and reinstall vista but cant find my restore
disc is it possible?

[dzomlija]

If you are using a laptop, then you must consult with the documentation
on how to access the hidden recovery partition, but the key sequence is
usually F12 during the initial power-up, before Windows starts to boot.

If you're on a desktop, then you are out of luck unless you can find
your restore dvd, from which you can boot. If you have really lost it,
or it is damaged, you can contact the PC manufacturer regarding a
replacement.

[Jdr]

Yes you can if your "restore" CD is different than your
OS ( Operating System disc),. BUT if your Restore CD
was the same CD as OS - then you're in trouble.

The reinstallation of Vista is simple if you have / had
retail version / license. Just see if your BIOS is setup to boot from CD
and insert the Vista CD into the CD tray and reboot your PC. The OS
will do the rest for you, but you'll have to provide the Key of Vista
at a certain point.

If you had OEM Vista there might be some problem
but you still can sill it only when verification of version license of
Vista
comes forward - you would have to activate the Vista and here may be
a problem.
http://vistarewired.com/2007/02/28/p...-upgrade-disc/

Reinstall Vista in Windows Vista Installation and Setup
How to reinstall Vista without losing the programs ...
retail version dvd of vista. the oem version does not have the program.
it just treats your hard ...
http://www.microsoft.com/communities...ta.installatio...

[Paul Randall]

Some manufacturers don't ship a restore disc, but allow you to make
one, and also have a possibly hidden small partition (less than 10 GB)
on the hard drive that contains the restore information. During the
boot process, you should briefly see a message on which key to press
to get to this recovery stuff. Or, maybe you won't get to see this
message if you have certain features enabled in the BIOS, like 'boot
time diagnostics'. Hopefully there is a way to make your own recovery
discs. Click the help & support button and search for words like
create recovery disc. Once you have them, you can do your reformat
and restore you system to 'out of the box' condition. Be sure to back
up any stuff you don't want lost.