Quick question - uninstalling vista

[Åndhrimnir]

I'm setting up a RAID array with three 640GB drives. One is completely blank. The second has an un-activated windows install on it which was used only for testing the third drive. The third drive has a windows vista installation on it which I believe is corrupt.

Here's the question: I'm using the same license as is on the third drive to install windows on the new array. If I simply format the drive, will I be able to activate windows on the new array, or do I need to actually uninstall it from the third drive?

 

[DeaconFrost]

There's no such thing as uninstalling or un-activating an OS, so you'll be fine. The real question is...what kind of license is it? If it is an OEM license, and it was activated on a different computer, you might have to call it in (and technically, you'd be violating the EULA, for whatever that is worth to you). If it is a retail license, it is perfectly legit and you should have no trouble activating.

 

[Åndhrimnir]

It's a retail license out of a pack - a friend's dad does independent tech support for a living, so he bought something like 100 copies of Vista Business and licenses for them, and I bought one from him.

Thanks for the info. One more question - anything special I should know about formatting the drive? I'm assuming the normal process will work?

 

[DeaconFrost]

I believe when you configure the array in the BIOS, it will tell you that all data on the drive will be lost. That should blank them, so the Windows installer will see one solid drive. It wouldn't hurt to have the RAID controller drivers on a flash drive just in case they are needed during the install.

 

[W.Feather]

if you have any problems just Boot and Nuke the drive....will get rid of it all...