Bought a laptop from best buy. No cds included??

Because you thought the cost cutting was bad enough, most laptops don't even ship with restore DVDs anymore, let alone a Windows install disc.

Usually they will provide a mechanism to make restore DVDs by running a pre-installed application.
 
Most if not all laptops sold today have a hidden recovery partition that has the OS, applications, and drivers that once initiated will restore the laptop back to "out of the box" state. Usually 3 ways to go about it.

1) the recovery/restore is initiated upon bootup using one of the "F" keys.

2) There is usually a manufacture specific option to create recovery/restore discs once in windows. This is a very wise move to do regardless, the reason being if the hard drive ever dies you lose the ability to do a recovery/restore directly form the recovery/restore partition.

3) order a set discs from the manufacture.
 
This has been the norm for many, if not most manufacturers, for years now.


Dell's been the only one to still give out actual discs, at least on their Latitude lines.
 
So there is no way to legally download windows and burn an iso? I have the cd key from underneath my laptop, but what was the point if I can't even reinstall it. It's like they give you a one time windows use?
 
What brand is it? I have purchased several Compaq and HP laptops the past couple years for family and friends, and there is program that will burn backup discs for you. Be careful though, you can only run the program once which is incredibly lame. So make sure you set aside like 4-6 hours to let it burn everything, cause it takes that long. However, if worse comes to worse, you could use a regular windows disc of your version. If you don't have one, I have no idea how you would get one. Maybe Microsoft would send you a disc for $5?
 
All you would have to do is find a disc, and use your serial number. The actual disc doesn't matter so much. Serial number is more important. ;)
 
So there is no way to legally download windows and burn an iso? I have the cd key from underneath my laptop, but what was the point if I can't even reinstall it. It's like they give you a one time windows use?

What are you talking about? Someone just said there's a hidden recovery partition on the harddrive. So you can reinstall it... using that partition.
 
What are you talking about? Someone just said there's a hidden recovery partition on the harddrive. So you can reinstall it... using that partition.

What if the hard drive dies? Definitely burn the recovery discs if you can.
 
OP you've been asked multiple times what brand laptop you have. Chances are very good you'll find a program installed that will let you burn recovery disks that will let you reinstall windows/drivers in the future.

RTFM comes into play here.
 
I bought a sony but I have no idea where this hidden partition is.
 
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