Up a river without a paddle...

[BillAllen55]

Hello,
I have a Dell laptop that has Windows 7 ultimate installed as its OS.
I purchased this machine at a flea market as a refurbished laptop.
In doing so, I have a legit Windows 7 OS but I don't have the CD installation disc. What must I do to get an installation disk for this machine?

 

[alexe3831]

Sorry to say but you will have to purchase one, Microsoft no longer has their OS CD files on the net legally, as they used to do with XP and Vista files. However if you are just worried about not being able to restore your laptop in case of a crash or other issue, I would recommend making a Windows Recovery CD, which is quite simple to do. That way you are able to restore core system files without a full install disk. A restore disk is basically a windows install cd without the installation option, just repair options.

 

[DelJo63]

Hmm; run the recovery and reset the the system to day-1 condition.
Be advised however, you may need the product key.

Get a copy of Belarc and run it. Within the report, is the key for the existing product.

do the recovery and then apply the key

 

[BillAllen55]

Hmm; run the recovery and reset the the system to day-1 condition.
Be advised however, you may need the product key.

Get a copy of Belarc and run it. Within the report, is the key for the existing product.

do the recovery and then apply the key

Thank you for your response you answered my question totally and completely!

 

[alexe3831]

Hadnt thought of that, thanks JoBeard, I havent used Belarc in a while, so I had sadly forgotten about it. Thanks for the reminder

 

[mike1959]

Hi, If you have an external drive, not a bad idea to do an image copy of the whole hard drive, you may never need it but...
Also, assuming the Windows operating system is the original 'as installed', the 'Product key' on the sticker under the PC may or may not be the actual number, as others have said, run an analyser program such as Piriform's 'Speccy', which will give the real one, note it down on paper in case you need it in future. (In Speccy, click on 'Operating system' and look for the line 'Serial number'.)

 

[BillAllen55]

Is it possible to send an image copy to skydrive? I don't have an eternal HD.

 

[Leeky]

If you don't know what the product key is, you can use an application such as System Information for Windows to locate it.

Then its a case of downloading the genuine ISO image from Microsoft to make your own copy of the Windows 7 OS disc.

Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 32-bit: http://174.129.85.117/data/Windows7Ultimate32bit.iso
Microsoft Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit: http://174.129.85.117/data/Windows7Ultimate64bit.iso
Source here.

Backups as Mike1959 suggests are a good idea also.

 

[mike1959]

Hi BillAllen55, Can't really say about storing a Windows image on line, problems would be the space you would need, eg for a basic Win7 O/S you would need 60GB, and the slow upload speed would mean many, many hours of transferring data.
The USB external hard drive is the best answer by far, and my current 150GB 'C' drive is backed up in 40 mins, as a guide.

 

[alexe3831]

Hey BillAllen55, I personally have tried storing a Windows image online, and ended up paying more for bandwidth usage then what it would cost for a decent 500gb external hard drive. Plus one benefit of backing up to an external hard drive is that you can restore it anywhere without having to have an active internet connection.