Downgrade to vista basic with old key code?

So I have an acer 5315 series laptop (old I know). It came preloaded with vista home basic when I bought it. It fell off a coffe table and was shot. I don't use it often and have been using it again lately instead of mt 1st gen iPad. When it fell it wouldn't work anymore. I took it to a friend who had to reinstall windows to get it to work. When he did he did put windows 7 premium on it. As you can imagine I discovered it wasn't legit. My question is can I get back to vista basic? I still have the key code on the bottom of the laptop. Do I just need to find a download and enter the key code? I want my laptop to have a legit copy of windows on it.

 

Well most likely no.

If this person put windows 7 on then most likely the Hard Drive was wiped and reset with windows 7.Best thing to do is try to look on.Amazon or Ebay and see if you can find a Windows Vista new CD unused.

And reinstall Windows Vista.

 

Thanks for the info. I was hoping for a solution that didn't involve me spending any money on it. It was expecting a similar response to what you gave me.

 

I looked on Ebay and found some Vista CD's going for about 30 to 50 dollars

 

I would check and see what Acer would charge for the actual files that you need for that particular computer. http://acer.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/369 Sometimes going the direct approach is best. Sometimes not.