Any copy of Win7 Home work if i have a valid serial #?

[JEDI]

ordered a 17" toshiba laptop and 64gig Kingston SSD.

going to immediately swap out hd for ssd.

i dont have win7 install cd. was going to torrent a copy and use the serial # that came w/the laptop.

would that work?

if not, then how to install Win7 on the SSD w/the serial # that came w/the laptop?
(i have never used/installed Win7 in my life. or installed a SSD for that matter.)

 

[Motorheader]

I don't believe the SN on the laptop is install valid for such an installation. If I remember correctly it is the generic "Gold" SN that is necessary for MS licensing and it is tied to the SLIC in the bios. This prevents the keys on systems that are in public use places from being duplicated/stolen.

If you are going for a clean and garbage free OS install I can see why you would want to do that, but you can likely make a Toshiba restore DVD when you get the system, but that will likely have all the "extras" included.

Having said that you may be able to do as you suggest and add the proper certificate to the DVD here:

http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/15733-Windows-7-DVD-(Multi-Brand-Multi-Edition)-Activation

 

[nitrous9200]

Find an untouched ISO of whichever version of Windows you have, download and burn it (or put on a flash drive). Use that to install the OS.

When asked for the license key, use the one on the bottom of your laptop. This is essentially what we do in our shop (although the discs are official Microsoft copies, but it doesn't matter) and the keys on the COA sticker always work. At worst, you'll have to call the automated phone system, punch in the code you see on the screen and then type the long code she reads back to you. In most cases, online activation works just fine.

 

[mshan]

http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...-7-download-links-just-like-vista-before.html