Question about wiping a drive and installing Windows 7

Hi There,

I need to install W7 on a laptop -

I only have a recovery disc for W7, this only overwrites what is already on there.

Would it be possible to Fdisk - the hard drive, to erase it and then install W7 using the recovery disc?

I don't have the actual O.S. Disc for this.

thoughts.

Originally posted by elevatedone
Hi There,

I need to install W7 on a laptop -

I only have a recovery disc for W7, this only overwrites what is already on there.

Would it be possible to Fdisk - the hard drive, to erase it and then install W7 using the recovery disc?

I don't have the actual O.S. Disc for this.

thoughts.

Recovery disks do not contain the Full OS so the quick answer is no. You may be able to install a demo of the OS, then use the recovery disk but I have never done that, but I don't see why it wouldn't work.
Alternatively there are OEM installs available for download, using those installs with your recovery disk after the install is likely to work best.

W7 is pretty easy to find these days...

reply to post by elevatedone


I hope you have a full copy of W7 to install, otherwise you won't be installing anything . As far as FDisk, that's an MS-DOS program that only works on FAT-16 / FAT-32 file systems, i.e. Windows 95, 98, M.E., and 2000. Windows XP, Vista, and 7 use the NTFS file system.

Further, how do you want your harddrive wiped? Does it need to be irrecoverable? There are free wipe utilities you can put on a CD or DVD that you can boot your computer from and use the wipe utility. Otherwise, simply formatting with the Windows 7 DVD will keep most low-level snoops from easily recovering data.

reply to post by ACEWARDOG


I can't believe that the above 2 posters actually made posts about illegally obtaining copywritten software.

you could argue that u were obtaining it to use ur original copy im not sure how it works with windows keys etc on win 7 but i have done it using ftp on 95 and restoring my original key

reply to post by _BoneZ_


Technically according to Microsoft you can install windows on any machine on a trial basis, regardless of where you got it from. However, if you do not activate it within the window, it is "Not Authentic" and essentially locked out. In this case, I would definately download an ISO of windows and use it.

Also, just for the record, Windows is only installed "illegally" if you bypass or break the product key activation. Otherwise, it matters not where it came from. Presumably your laptop has a PID label on the bottom of it which you can use to activate your copy of Windows legally.

reply to post by rogerstigers


Yeah, but downloading a copy of Windows is seriously dangerous. You have no idea what kind of trojans, viruses, etc. could have been injected into downloadable copies of Windows. F-that.

reply to post by rogerstigers


phew saved my ass thr lol

reply to post by _BoneZ_


lol u deleted my reply n posted another 1....suppose u cld be right bn a while since i properly mucked around with pc's im nt too keen on win 7 neways it tries to do too much by itself tht id rather do and confirm by myself. as regarding viruses etc i hv nothing on any of my pc's laptop apart from my ats username and password....oh myspace too

reply to post by elevatedone


U2 me, I can help you in every way. Problem with be solved.
Second line.

Originally posted by _BoneZ_
reply to post by rogerstigers

 

Yeah, but downloading a copy of Windows is seriously dangerous. You have no idea what kind of trojans, viruses, etc. could have been injected into downloadable copies of Windows. F-that.

Hahaha...yeah...newb...

I'm using a legal version of Windows 7 wight now. I obtained a legal W7 serial number but I didn't have the install disk, so I downloaded an ISO from a torrent site. Yes pirates do use those ISO's with cracks and fake serial numbers, but it should be perfectly fine if you have a legit serial number and untainted ISO. And it's easy to obtain untainted ISO's if you have some common sense.

I too use one from a torrent site, but I have to say, Windows 7 is the biggest flop M$ ever came out with. I have quit offering to install it for people, in favor of XP and Vista, and Vista Black Edition. & installs with a lot of open ports, is heavy, a memory hog from hell, and you better not change anything in your hardware, or it will not work anymore.

reply to post by elevatedone


Seems like your having a nightmare with this laptop

If the laptop came with an install disk (which they all should) with windows and all the drivers etc and you can't find it then you have to contact the manufacturer of the laptop for a replacement

If it came with a standard copy of windows 7 then you can contact Microsoft and they will send you a new disk here you need proof of purchase however and the process is long and annoying.

There isn't really a way to download a torrent legally as even if you are going to use it in a legit way you are still uploading media to other people which you do not own the copyright to.
However I have never heard of a case of Microsoft ever pursuing anyone for doing it

You can also borrow a copy from someone of course

Edit to add

The phrase "recovery disk" could mean many things, does it actually say on the disk what is on it?

What version of windows is your Product Key for?

reply to post by autowrench


I agree 100%, I wish people would stop focusing on graphics, special effects / "bling bling" / whatever u want to call it, and get back to focusing on orginally / functionality... In other words, Windows 7 is nothing special - if anything it's more of a pain in the @ss to figure out where stuff is; it seems more like M$ updates stuff to keep all the tech support guys employed than anything else -- and being a "tech support" guy myself, (who is no longer employed and would rather work for himself) I feel fine saying this... you shouldn't have to sit down and look thru random files on your system / surf the internet reading directions trying to figure out where the "control panel" is, for example.. I had a hell of a time trying to figure out how to hook my cousin's Ipod touch up to her laptop over Christmas.. something really simple quickly becomes complicated - seems like a common pattern these days.

But hey, let's get back on topic, shall we:

windows.microsoft.com...

Reinstalling Windows 7

You can reinstall Windows 7 using Recovery in Control Panel, under Advanced recovery methods. This method reinstalls Windows 7, either from a recovery image provided by your computer manufacturer, or from your original Windows 7 installation files. You need to reinstall all of the programs that you added, and restore all of your files from a backup. For more information, see Choosing an advanced recovery method.

If Windows 7 doesn't run at all, you can reinstall Windows using your original Windows 7 installation disc. To do this, follow the instructions in "Using the Custom installation option and formatting the hard disk" earlier in this topic.

*** Note ***

Back up your files before you begin reinstalling Windows 7 if possible, even if you're reinstalling Windows 7 on a hard disk partition, and you have personal files on a separate partition. For example, if you have encrypted files, you might not be able to access them after reinstalling Windows. A custom installation replaces the current version of Windows 7 and all personal files.

cybernetnews.com...

I received a tip from Mark over the weekend that NeoSmart had posted their Windows 7 recovery disc ISO images just like they did when Vista was released. These discs are extremely handy to have especially if you didn’t receive any installation media with your new computer, which is a common occurrence when purchasing from a majority of manufacturers including Dell and HP.

Oh, and by the way.. if you're installing multiple Operating Systems on your computer like say... Windows 7 and Ubuntu like a bunch of these people are on the cybernetnews website, I strongly recommend installing each OS on a seperate hard drive; if you don't have seperate hard drives available, then you need to make seperate Partitions for each Operating System.