Hi all,

I live in China and recently purchased an Acer laptop from an authorised seller. Problem was it had a Chinese Vista home premium O.S. installed. So the seller promised to re-install with English version. This turned out to be Vista Home Basic which a couple of days ago gave me a message that I had a duplicate product key and had to obtain another. The laptop is fine and I have an authentic product key for Vista home premium which when I type in obviously informs that it's for premium and not basic so it doesn't work.

Is there anyone that knows anywhere where I can download a trusted Vista premium O.S. as I've heard any copy would be good with an authentic product key?

Thanks.

P.S. The seller is useless so it would be futile going back to them!

If you got an "Upgrade your Experience" disc with your laptop, you can boot from it and perform a clean install of the operating system which would come with the laptop (in your case - Home Premium).

If you do not have one, but know someone who has, ask if you can borrow (or copy it - I don't think this is illegal as such, as the piracy is more with the product key than the software surely? Can't use one without the other...)

Alternatively, contact the laptop manufacturer and explain that you no longer have access to the restore media and if you could get another copy from them.

Edit: If you contact the laptop manufacturer, explain that this "authorised seller" has provided you with a non-genuine version of Vista Home Basic in the process of you purchasing the laptop - they may require proof of purchase etc, but you should get a better response.