Thinkpads Forum

My T61 with Vista Ultimate arrived today, the first thing I wanted to do was format the drive and run a custom install to remove any bloat-ware (Norton, Access Connections, Etc). I fired it up and confirmed it was running Vista Ultimate. I then popped the recovery disk that came with the machine into the drive. 7 disks later my machine reboots and I now have XP Pro on my new Vista Ultimate machine?!?

I called Lenovo support in Atlanta, GA and they are sending me the Vista Recovery disks. I'm not sure if they shipped the wrong recovery disks originally, or if this is what everyone gets?!?

orders configured with vista ship with XP recovery CDs in case the user wants to downgrade.   vista comes on three discs (two DVDs and a CD, iirc) rather than seven CDs like XP.

the XP CDs should have been labeled as containing XP.   were they not?

Product Recovery CD for: Thinkpad T61, R61. . .
For distribution only with a New ThinkPad PC.

No mention of XP anywhere on the disks.

I do not have a Windows XP license on the bottom of my machine, it is a Vista Ultimate OEM license. Does this mean I am out of compliance?

Check the small print on the left side of the CD and it should show XP sp2. I just asked the same question about mine that arrived this week. You really have to look carefully or you will overlook it.

Now I see it in fine print on the left hand side: XP-P SP2

This really pisses me off, why would anyone ever consider that a product recovery disk shipped with a PC would contain anything other than the software that was purchased?

I am now SOL until next week when my recovery disks come, after waiting so long to get my nice new machine . . . whine, whine, whine.

It wouldn't be a big deal, except that I am already using Vista Business on my z60m with Windows Mail so it's not like I can even use XP until my new disks come.

I can imagine this is going to cause some major issues down the line for Lenovo when people's machines crash and they expect that they are restoring their systems only to find out-dated, incompatible software on their "recovery" disks.

morovan wrote:
I am now SOL until next week when my recovery disks come, after waiting so long to get my nice new machine . . . whine, whine, whine.

If you have a Vista COA sticker on the bottom of the laptop then you do not need to wait. Just download a clean Vista ISO and you can use the serial number on the bottom of the laptop to install.

Nothing wrong or illegal doing that.

You can even download Vista from Digital River so you know you are getting a clean image. If you do download from there you will have to search around on how to make a bootable DVD using the file you downloaded.

Just realized that I have a Vista Business Express Upgrade DVD from the last upgrade!

I popped in a gParted Live disk and resized the XP partition, then I created a new partition for Vista. I then rebooted the machine with the upgrade DVD in the drive and chose Vista Ultimate as the product I purchased. It is now installing, so maybe I am not SOL after all . . .

Thanks!

Vista Business and Ultimate comes with downgrade rights to XP Pro. Lenovo enclosed the XP Pro recovery media for your convenience. See this page for more detail. The bold Note under "Before you begin downgrading..." section says to create the recovery discs. You can find more information about the downgrade right on Microsoft's site.

For a reinstall, any Vista disc should work. The Vista discs on the retail market are all identical within their respective 32 or 64 bit editions. Your product key unlocks the edition you paid for during installation.

morovan wrote:I fired it up and confirmed it was running Vista Ultimate.

Did you pay any attention at all to the Lenovo Welcome screen?

I did not want to downgrade, I wanted Vista - I just wanted a clean install without all the CRAP (Norton Internet Security). So I did what any average consumer would do, scratch that, I did what someone excited about setting up their new machine would do and I popped in the recovery disk expecting to recover Vista.

I am actually quite happy that things played out the way they did, I now have a dual boot set up with a legal version of Vista and XP (thanks for the link MS Bob). Thanks to Lenovo I also have a set of Vista recovery DVDs in the mail free of charge. As soon as my Ultra Bay adapter comes, I can install OpenSuse as well!

The support people (who sounded mighty foreign for Atlanta, GA by the way) said this has been happening a lot lately. All it would take is labeling the disks with some XP stickers and this never would have happened.

I get 2 recover disc plus a u64 upgrade disc, how I believe both (with different date) will same xp downgrade.....

erik wrote:orders configured with vista ship with XP recovery CDs in case the user wants to downgrade.

Is the above always the case? Do you just get the XP CDs automatically, without having to ask for them?

JonathanGennick wrote:Is the above always the case? Do you just get the XP CDs automatically, without having to ask for them?

Recently that's been true if you ordered it with Vista Ultimate or Business.

If my t23, I had try order xp from IBM (still IBM) to upgrade from 98, when install the disc, the disc will clearly show it will re-format my hdd and install a XP, but these time, no such warning show, only tiny words on the disc. I think if they can make the restore and recover program warning again like before will help us a lot. They use graphic interface than dos type already, how come they cannot add a warning in display???

bomix_chan wrote:If my t23, I had try order xp from IBM (still IBM) to upgrade from 98, when install the disc, the disc will clearly show it will re-format my hdd and install a XP, but these time, no such warning show, only tiny words on the disc. I think if they can make the restore and recover program warning again like before will help us a lot. They use graphic interface than dos type already, how come they cannot add a warning in display???

Very good point - I was also shocked to find that the recovery disks included with the product that supposedly pre-loaded were XP recovery disks. And the restore routine really really REALLY needs better warnings before it just launches off and blows everything away.

Now I'll tell you one even weirder - the X61s that I bought for a client where I first discovered this issue, was supposed to have Vista on it, but had XP instead. Vendor (very reputable) claims they did nothing, never opened the box, etc. (and all the seals were intact), and that SKU definitely is spec'd to come with Vista.

WORSE YET - when I called Lenovo support asking them about this, they had NO idea about why it would not have Vista on the HDD - AND, in a prior call they shipped me a set of XP "downgrade" disks because based on all the website info and what support said, I needed them to take Vista off.

Imagine my surprise when I booted the PC up for the first time (after studiously making multiple backups of the factory configuration just in case of a problem) and finding it booting XP!

So now I have an extra set of XP restore disks. And wasted a bunch of time waiting for the "downgrade" disks that I didn't need.

Vista Business and XP Pro were the same price when I placed the order for my t61. If most people knew that they would get both if they paid for Vista Business IMHO they would be foolish not to order Vista Business . . . two OS's for the price of one? I had no idea that those disks could potentially contain another OS, I initially thought they had sent the wrong disks!

Let's see what I got now..
2 sets of XP (come with the box)
1 sets of XP (shipped from Lenovo)
1 sets of Vista Ultimate (charge me USD$32)
1 sets of Vista 64 upgrade (come with the box)

sure you can say I get a lot more with a very good price.... but waste my time a lot, and what is the purpose for totally 3 sets of xp recovery disc??

I still missed the service when still call 'IBM', never make these happened before. Now make me thinking if I get another one next time.... think <----- thinkpad??

pjk wrote:

bomix_chan wrote:

You get all those OS but licensed to run them on only one computer. Fact is that media cost relatively nothing. It is the license that costs real money.

If I get 2 harddisc, will possible for me to install xp and vista in diffecence hdd and swap in my laptop??

Actually I feel happy with my laptop with vista ultima, a little bit surprise it run quite fast and stable

msb0b wrote:You get all those OS but licensed to run them on only one computer. Fact is that media cost relatively nothing. It is the license that costs real money.

So is everyone saying that my freshly made recovery disks are going to download XP on my new SSD drive? WTF

If your HDD come with vista install, your create recovery disc is vista sure. but be careful the recovery disc come in the box, they will get little print "xp sp2" on the side, if yes, that is a xp..

the vista should print "VU X32", . Be Careful

Plus, there is no any warning which OS is installing when using the recovery disc.....

Greg Gebhardt wrote:So is everyone saying that my freshly made recovery disks are going to download XP on my new SSD drive? WTF

OK, that sounds right as I read on the Lenovo site where XP downgrade is being shipped with your Vista machine.

bomix_chan - Lenovo told me they are not supporting Vista Ultimate 64, are you saying that you got a disk from them? I would like to know how to get my hands on Vista Ultimate 64 OEM!

morovan wrote:bomix_chan - Lenovo told me they are not supporting Vista Ultimate 64, are you saying that you got a disk from them? I would like to know how to get my hands on Vista Ultimate 64 OEM!

No, that is not a 64 stand alone recovery, but a upgrade, with the same COA as the orginal OS (32) installed. May be my config is a 64, don't know, they give me too much disc already...

Plus I sure they support 64, as when I ask for the ultimate recovery disc, they provide 2 fru number, one is 32, another is 64

A XP recovery set for the T61p model 6547 is labeled FRU 44Y2596 and includes the following CD's. I used this set to install XP Pro SP2 on this machine.

FRU 43E0987 Rescue and Recovery
FRU 43T8617 Supplemental disk
FRU 43T8187 Disk 1
FRU 43T8214 Disk 2
FRU 43T8241 Disk 3
FRU 43T8268 Disk 4
FRU 43T8295 Disk 5
FRU 43T8322 Disk 6

Brad

bomix_chan do you have FRU for Vista Ultimate 64? Are you sure it is not Business 64?

Thanks!

morovan wrote:bomix_chan do you have FRU for Vista Ultimate 64? Are you sure it is not Business 64?

Thanks!

yes, if you search the hardware maintenance manual, you will see the ultimate 64 number, but same as 32??

anyone know if ultimate is include both 32 and 64??

morovan wrote:bomix_chan do you have FRU for Vista Ultimate 64? Are you sure it is not Business 64?

Thanks!

seen these link get your request information

http://www.microsoft.com/windows/produc ... 64bit.mspx

I get this error when entering my OEM product code.

We're sorry, the following error(s) have occurred:
No Offer Found

morovan wrote:I get this error when entering my OEM product code.

We're sorry, the following error(s) have occurred:
No Offer Found

so you cannot input the code on coa when upgrade to 64?