reinstalling Windows 7 on a laptop

[strep3241]

So I got a laptop, acer aspire one that came with windows 7 home and a key as well. I plan on selling it in the future so I ran dban on it, did the autonuke part, not really used dban all that much, really just using this as a learning experience.

Well I go to download the windows 7 iso file and it asks me for a key before I can do anything else, I entered the one that came with the laptop and it said this key is for software preinstalled by the manufacturer and would not let me continue. Is there a way to use the key that came with the laptop? With dban, is there a way to keep the factory recovery options?

I have windows 7 pro version with a key that I stuck on there for the time being but is not activated yet. I really don't have the need for windows 7 anymore but still would like to know if I am able to use the windows 7 home key.
I have windows 7 pro installed now and running but am having a few issues with getting a few things installed like the network controller and usb hub.

 

[JackMDS]

You Probably need an iso of win 7 from Acer so that it would work with the Acer oem key.

 

[C1]

Pretty sure Ive done this before (but not recently).

Just download and extract the Win 7 ISO :

Install it using the laptop's product key.
(You shouldnt even need to activate.)

However, now you do need the drivers and application files from Acer to get it going right.


Good Luck

 

[strep3241]

Pretty sure Ive done this before (but not recently).

Just download and extract the Win 7 ISO :

Install it using the laptop's product key.
(You shouldnt even need to activate.)

However, now you do need the drivers and application files from Acer to get it going right.


Good Luck

The issue I had with downloading windows 7 is it would ask for a product key before it would let me download anything and the laptop key would not work. Is there another place to download it from safely and legit?

I have windows 10 installed now and activated using the windows 7 laptop key with no issues. Kind of strange but I had win 7 pro installed for a short period and had issues with getting some things to work like usb controller, network controller. With windows 10, everything was installed right away. One issue I have is with the wireless networks, it will not pick up my 5ghz network, picks up the 2ghz network but not the 5ghz when it did before.

 

[C1]

I provided a link that lets you download the Windows 7 Home ISO freely (ie, doesnt require any key or enrollment), but it was removed from the post without reason given (had to be by the moderator).

Ive used those various ISOs from that link in the past and they are (ie, work) fine/without issue.

Never tried to do this before, but I'll try to send the link via message so look in your anandtech message box.

 

[JackMDS]

I provided a link that lets you download the Windows 7 Home ISO freely (ie, doesnt require any key or enrollment), but it was removed from the post without reason given (had to be by the moderator)..

It was removed because the Link leads to a known Pirate software source.

 

[vailr]

Try this tool that downloads direct from Microsoft servers; no product key required:
Microsoft Windows and Office ISO Download Tool 8.15
https://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/microsoft_windows_iso_download_tool.html
Note: be sure to only obtain the same exact Windows version that was installed at the factory, in order for the free update to Windows 10 to operate.

 

[Mantrid-Drone]

I thought it was well known that OEM versions product keys are not accepted by MS even if you had a legitimate reason for wanting to reinstall Windows on a particular machine.

You are actively prevented downloading it from any MS source with the requirement to enter the Product ID before the download will begin.

When that genuine Product ID is used the download is blocked because it is an OEM one (such keys actually include "OEM" as part of the ID) and all the advice MS , unhelpfully provide, is to download a Windows recovery/reinstall ISO from the original computer manufacturer. However that might not be available any longer for a number of reasons.

As others have indicated here that will usually include MB/OS specific drivers which might explain the reported Win7 issues not replicated when the same key was used to update to Win10.

I'm going to try that tool link vailr provided (thanks). I have a virgin OEM Windows version ie. the original full OS disc/unused key. What I want to do is create a slipstreamed install disc and rather than bother with extracting the files from that I thought it a good opportunity to see if this works and, of course, create a new, better backup disc.

EDIT 1
Tried downloading Win7 SP1 64bit and it works fine..................until it gets to 4GB. Failed twice at the same point, which for me is 2 x 3hrs today. Two 4GB fails - that rang a bell.

I'd forgotten the encrypted volume I was downloading to is FAT32 formatted though so I'm hoping that the file size limit for that may be the problem.

Third time lucky.

EDIT 2

It was the FAT32 formatted volume file size limit that was the problem. Downloading to a NTFS formatted drive and it work perfectly.