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Old 2012-02-13, 08:21   Link #1
Paranoid Android
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Reinstalling OS

I'm reformatting my laptop but when I bought it, there was no CD that came with it. Just the Windows 7 Ultimate CD key on the sticker on the bottom.

Do I have to bring it in to the retailer to get it reinstalled or does Microsoft have some way of giving me the Windows 7 Ultimate if I have just the key?
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Old 2012-02-13, 08:31   Link #2
Dhomochevsky
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The key means you own a license for that software, so you are allowed to use it.

Usually that means the software vendor should provide you with the software if you request it, but many vendors don't see it that way. I don't know Microsofts policy on this.

The easiest way to go about this, would be finding someone who also runs win7 ultimate, install from their disc and use your key to activate it. You have to make sure it is the exact same of the many win7 variants though.
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Old 2012-02-13, 09:11   Link #3
SeijiSensei
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If you haven't reformatted it yet, you might be able to create the DVDs from the "recovery partition." Usually the OEM provides a utility to do this.
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Old 2012-02-13, 09:19   Link #4
Dist
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If you own the license, then downloading the copy from torrent is perfectly legal. Thus, doing so should be the easiest way to go about this.
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Old 2012-02-13, 09:42   Link #5
Dhomochevsky
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dist View Post
If you own the license, then downloading the copy from torrent is perfectly legal. Thus, doing so should be the easiest way to go about this.
No, it's not. Torrenting it, that is. Because with a torrent you upload too.
If you find a download link somewhere, that would be ok.
Microsoft offers downloads for all their software with the MSDNAA program, but those are usually (weakly) shielded from public access.
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Old 2012-02-13, 10:09   Link #6
demonix
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SeijiSensei View Post
If you haven't reformatted it yet, you might be able to create the DVDs from the "recovery partition." Usually the OEM provides a utility to do this.
Yes there should be some kind of recovery partition on the laptops hard drive (and most manufacturers will nag you to create recovery media from the first time the computer is started) so that should be used instead.
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Old 2012-02-13, 10:56   Link #7
Paranoid Android
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Yes I have that recovery partition but what do I do with it? @__@

I don't have any friends with the same build of 7. So I can't really get a disc from them.
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Old 2012-02-13, 12:32   Link #8
SeijiSensei
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Paranoid Android View Post
Yes I have that recovery partition but what do I do with it? @__@
As I said, most manufacturers offer a utility program that runs in Windows and creates the DVDs.

Of course, there is the other option of doing a little research on the Internet and see what your choices are. Have you visited the support site for your particular brand and model of computer? Have you searched Google with the computer's model number to see what discussions come up?

Really, those should be the first things you do when trying to get technical information. I'd put asking questions on AS pretty far down the list.
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Old 2012-02-13, 14:57   Link #9
monster
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You shouldn't even need to burn a DVD. Just run the recovery program and it will reinstall Windows to factory condition.

The option to create a DVD is there as a backup option in case the recovery partition becomes damaged at a later time.
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Old 2012-02-13, 15:07   Link #10
Ledgem
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I believe the way that the recovery partitions work is that you choose to boot off of them, and then they behave like a DVD. To choose which partition to boot off of, there used to be a 1-2 second period of time where you could press F8, right before Windows began to boot, and you could select to load Windows into Safe Mode, or to load something else. My guess would be that your option to boot from the recovery partition would be in there.
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Old 2012-02-13, 15:38   Link #11
Dhomochevsky
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It will also restore all the crapware and presettings that laptops tend to come with though.
If you have that option, I would really go for a clean install.
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Old 2012-02-13, 15:54   Link #12
blaze0041
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What brand and model is your laptop (and when did you buy it)? The method to access the recovery partition for each laptop is generally different.

In some cases (such as a Dell), you will need to go into the Advanced Boot Options (F8 while starting up). The first option should be "Repair your computer", if the computer does indeed have a recovery partition. You may need to log in with your Windows 7 user name and password. In the case of a Dell computer, you would then use the factory reset option to begin the reformat and reinstall process.
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Old 2012-02-13, 16:43   Link #13
SeijiSensei
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Quote:
Originally Posted by blaze0041 View Post
What brand and model is your laptop (and when did you buy it)? The method to access the recovery partition for each laptop is generally different.
That's why I suggested that the manufacturer's support site should be the first destination when help is needed. It's not worth us speculating about what method might be used for a particular make and model, but most support sites and product forums will have the answers.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dhomochevsky View Post
It will also restore all the crapware and presettings that laptops tend to come with though.
If you have that option, I would really go for a clean install.
That depends on the manufacturer. I had to burn the recovery disks when I installed Ubuntu Linux on my daughter's HP laptop. When I was finished reinstalling the Windows OS I was delighted to see it was a pretty clean instance of Win7 without the crap that was there originally from the factory.
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Old 2012-02-13, 16:53   Link #14
Dhomochevsky
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Quote:
Originally Posted by SeijiSensei View Post
That depends on the manufacturer. I had to burn the recovery disks when I installed Ubuntu Linux on my daughter's HP laptop. When I was finished reinstalling the Windows OS I was delighted to see it was a pretty clean instance of Win7 without the crap that was there originally from the factory.
Heh... these factory laptop settings are not really linux friendly.
When I set up my Dell to a dual boot some years ago, it was a major hassle. There was a weird mini partition on the machine that contained a windows media center os. You could fast boot into this with a special button on the keyboard. Every time you pressed that button, the bios would do some crazy voodoo with the primary boot sector (storing it in an eeprom, write something else to the bootsector, then restore it later on).
But if there was GRUB in that boot sector instead of the expected Windows, pressing the button would completely screw up everything. Button of death.
Solution was to read out the bootsector into a file and placing only a link to this file in the bootsector itself...
Ever since I'm scared of reformating laptops.
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Old 2012-02-13, 17:38   Link #15
Random32
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Free and Legal Windows 7 DDL

http://forum.notebookreview.com/wind...ta-before.html
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