Windows 7 OEM reinstall

chrismox

chrismox

chrismox

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I have a Dell laptop that originally had Windiws 7 on it. The HDD has recently died, so I've bought an SSD to replace it.

Microsoft seem to have removed all Windows 7 ISO downloads, so I've obtained an ISO (Windows 7 SP1 64 bit Dell OEM in theory) from, erm, elsewhere...

The laptop has a sticker underneath with the relevant product key. Should I expect Windows to install and automatically activate with the key that's written on the sticker or are there other hurdles I'm likely to face?

Once it's installed and properly activated, I'll upgrade to Windows 10.

Many thanks.
 
you should be fine, run the W7 setup when\if it asks for the key put the one on the sticker in and you should be fine providing you have the correct ISO file.

once W7 is installed and activated download the W10 tool and create a USB stick\DVD and run the setup.exe, will save you having to download all the updates.

once W10 is installed and activated you can then do a clean install of W10 which then activates by hardware ID rather than product key
 
Thanks. I'm happy with the Win 10 installation, it's getting the Win 7 correctly activated first that I suspect will cause me headaches. It's a pity that Microsoft make getting a legitimate ISO is such an effort.
 
Yeah, doesn't help that they removed all the ISOs.

you may need to do the phone activation but this is simple to do and takes about 5 mins as its a automated system.
 
Getting an ISO that matches the OEM licence is the issue. I tried this with a machine and could never find a match. I didn't activate it over the phone, as I used the hardware for something else. Maybe MS will just activate it anyway.
 
Done this 1000's times so you should be fine. You may need telephone activation.

However, if in the case which i had a few weeks back you don't get telephone activation, type in SLUI 4 from a command line. This will force the telephone activation process.:)
 
I have this exact problem but when trying to do mine Microsoft wont activate the key as they say it has been locked by Toshiba whom made the laptop, been banging my head against the wall for weeks now :confused:
 
Iron-man said:
I have this exact problem but when trying to do mine Microsoft wont activate the key as they say it has been locked by Toshiba whom made the laptop, been banging my head against the wall for weeks now :confused:
Click to expand...

In your case, the use of piracy is justified in order to neutralise the evil DRM. :p
 
KIA said:
In your case, the use of piracy is justified in order to neutralise the evil DRM. :p
Click to expand...

I think if suggested I'll take a look at the site above to get the iOS and then use my original key from the laptop, hopefully may get somewhere as trying to contact Microsoft and toshiba didn't help :)
 
If you make a windows 10 disk with the new update already on it you can use any Valid Win 7, 8, 8.1 licence to activate it now. you dont need to install 7, 8, 8.1 first anymore! :)
 
I can't remember. I will try it again this week. See if it works. I vaguely remember something problematic about the letters at the end. OA or something like that, it had to be a specific OEM version and I couldn't get a ISO of it. I must try the MSDN downloads at work again.
 
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