I've been handed the task of cleaning mothers laptop up...just got a few questions

jesus2nd

jesus2nd

jesus2nd

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Now then,

This morning I heard the words every son dreads to hear "My laptop/computer is running slow, can you have a look for us?"

I turn the laptop on and I'm struck by how sluggish everything is, go to "add or remove programs" to see if there's any crap-ware installed and it took about ten minutes to search for it from the start bar.

This was enough for me to decide that it's just going to be easier to wipe the machine and install windows again. Now the laptop itself didn't come with any CDs but I've got a legit copy of windows 7 from my build so would I be able to boot it up using that and then just enter the product key from the laptop? There's no legal issues there is there?

Secondly, The product key, there's a windows sticker on the bottom of the laptop with a "product key" on but the number on there is different the number that magic jelly bean brings up for the "CD Key"...Shouldn't they both be the same? Which one should I stick with when installing?

Thanks in advance
Sam
 
Providing they are the same version of Windows 7, e.g. Home Premium then yes you can use your disc with their licence, if they aren't the same version you can download an ISO from here http://www.w7forums.com/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-image-downloads-t12325.html

use the one from the bottom of the laptop as I believe the one thrown up by Magical Jelly Bean will just been a Volume Licence used by the place it was bought from
 
The product key you found with Magic Jelly Bean is the "internal" key used by the manufacturer for SLP installations, and it probably won't work with a generic Win7 disc, so use the one on the CoA sticker instead. Also, make sure your disc is the same edition (Home Premium, Professional) - if it's different, create an ISO, use this to remove the ei.cfg file, and burn a new disc (or create a USB setup drive).

edit: snap
 
Much appriciated lads, I'll go with the code on the sticker then...but I'll take note of the Jelly Bean code to be ont' safe side.

Laptop's not even a year old, is it just me or do mother's have some inbuilt ability to slow down any system they use?
 
CaptainCrash said:
The product key you found with Magic Jelly Bean is the "internal" key used by the manufacturer for SLP installations, and it probably won't work with a generic Win7 disc, so use the one on the CoA sticker instead.
Click to expand...

this is the complete opposite to what happened when i formatted my old advent laptop. i had a windows 7 ISO (originally from MSDN - i think i might have accidentally downloaded it :p) and it would not accept the key that was printed on the laptop. i probably could have rang MS to sort it but instead, i googled the OEM key and that worked straight away. i also had to find an .xrm-ms license file. you run some slmgr command and then it activates right away even with no internet.
 
marc2003 said:
this is the complete opposite to what happened when i formatted my old advent laptop. i had a windows 7 ISO (originally from MSDN - i think i might have accidentally downloaded it :p) and it would not accept the key that was printed on the laptop. i probably could have rang MS to sort it but instead, i googled the OEM key and that worked straight away.
Click to expand...
That's bizarre, I've done it dozens of times and never had things pan out that way. Are you sure it was a genuine MSDN ISO that somehow landed itself on your HDD?

@jesus2nd, you could try the SLP (Magic Jelly Bean) key first just out of interest to see what happens, it won't do any harm and you can still use the CoA key if it doesn't work out.

Another belt-and-braces option would be to back up the activation data (before formatting, obviously) using Advanced Tokens Manager, reinstall Win7 without entering a key, and restore the data afterwards. That might be a better way if you can see yourself having to re-install/reactivate several times in a short period, so you don't run into any issues with too many repeated activations.
 
CaptainCrash said:
That's bizarre, I've done it dozens of times and never had things pan out that way. Are you sure it was a genuine MSDN ISO that somehow landed itself on your HDD?
Click to expand...

absolutely. obviously i checked to see the SHA-1 hashes matched. i stumbled across the MSDN version because it was available way before the public release. :p

i also got the SP1 integrated ISO sometime afterwards (from digitalriver IIRC) and that also accepted the generic advent key just fine. it's just the one printed on the bottom that didn't work.
 
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