Lost WinDVD

[mike9586]

I had to do an emergency recovery last week on my Vaio. I was using SwissKnife to format my external hard drive and somehow, it formatted my internal hard drive instead (even though I made sure I clicked on my external hard drive every time). I had restarted my computer and got the dreaded 'Operating System Not Found' Error, being silly though, I hadn't yet made a recovery CD so instead I had to use the F10 recovery key and managed to get everything back running.

What I have just realised though, is it didn't reinstall InterVideo WinDVD (the only program that hasn't been reinstalled as far as I can see).

Is there any way I can get this back?

[Thalamus.]

Hi Izak,

What model Vaio do you have.?

You can re-install most of the pre-installed applications via the Vaio Recovery utility, unfortunately Win DVD is one of the few applications that is NOT normally available..

[mike9586]

Hi Izak,

What model Vaio do you have.?

You can re-install most of the pre-installed applications via the Vaio Recovery utility, unfortunately Win DVD is one of the few applications that is NOT normally available.. 

Thanks for your reply

My Vaio is a VGN-FZ11S with Vista

[Thalamus.]

Hi Izak,

I just read my post again and it could be read two ways..

There is an option within the Vaio Recovery utility to install individual applications one at a time but Win DVD is not one of those applications.

Unfortunately as WinDVD is not available for download either, the only option is to run the Vaio recovery Utility again and restore vaio to the original factory settings, ie Vista OS and pre-installed applications, again..

make sure you back-up important data first..

[mike9586]

Hi Izak,

I just read my post again and it could be read two ways..

There is an option within the Vaio Recovery utility to install individual applications one at a time but Win DVD is not one of those applications. 

Unfortunately as WinDVD is not available for download either, the only option is to run the Vaio recovery Utility again and restore vaio to the original factory settings, ie Vista OS and pre-installed applications, again..  

make sure you back-up important data first.. 

Thanks for your reply.

I recovered everything fine when the problem occurred using the 'hidden recovery partition' so surely WinDVD would have been restored with all the other software them? It restored all the Sony Vaio stuff and even Abode Acrobat, Photoshop and Premier.

I doesn't really matter I suppose, I have plenty of other DVD software to use.

Would the 'Original Packaged Utilities' download here: http://support.vaio.sony.co.uk/downloads/preinstalled/preinstalled.asp?site=voe_en_GB_cons&c=0&s=VGN... include it?

[Thalamus.]

Would the 'Original Packaged Utilities' download here: http://support.vaio.sony.co.uk/downloads/preinstalled/preinstalled.asp?site=voe_en_GB_cons&c=0&s=VGN... include it?

No Win DVD is not included in either the Pre-installed drivers or utilities..

It may be worth contacting Sony Vaio Support, you can do this either by phone or via e-Support, use the following link to find the contact details: Sony Vaio Support

[chefchaudart]

I had a similar problem with WinDVD, that is impossible to restore from anyway !

Sony Help Desk told me that there is NO OTHER WAY to get back this software. So, what solution ? none

Fine ! You SONY, remember I paid for it

[Thalamus.]

I had a similar problem with WinDVD, that is impossible to restore from anyway !

Sony Help Desk told me that there is NO OTHER WAY to get back this software.  So, what solution ?  none  

A full system recovery should install Win DVD..

[chefchaudart]

SONY ; "Unfortunately, the program is not available for download for XP and cannot be re-installed individually. You will need to perform a recovery on the system to bring it back. "

ME ; "I will never make a full recovery for a single program issue"

Plus ; I receive WinDVD update from VAIO UPDATE, that in fact is a full program (189 Meg). But as it does not see WinDVD as being installed, it does not want to install itself !