Reinstalling Win7, Is req. for installation cd same as recovery cd?


  #41  
Old 03-18-15, 06:15 PM
K
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You are right, I found out that mine is an OEM copy and they wound give me the ISO file for that reason. What does it mean that it is OEM anyway?
 
  #42  
Old 03-18-15, 07:14 PM
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OEM stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer. The link below explains it better than I ever could. Notice the article ends by saying:

Windows 7 OEM versions do not contain free phone or technical support, however, because the computer manufacturer is supposed to provide support.
That’s why our keys are rejected. Don’t you just love that wonderful error message Microsoft displays? LOL An OK button in a white bar that spans the entire screen at the top. Really! I can just picture some smart azz programmer laughing every day. Well that’s great you are at least getting somewhere with this.

What Does Windows 7 OEM Mean? | Chron.com
 
  #43  
Old 03-18-15, 07:59 PM
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I asked about that in post #23 & someone said that they did it all the time.

Msradell, how will his Compaq OEM product key work on anything else besides a Compaq CD?
 
  #44  
Old 03-18-15, 11:29 PM
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I am the one who used to and still does recover old laptops as I was fortunate enough to get two Digital River copies. One Home Premium and one Professional Windows 7 both tech copies which you can still get but only if you want to get a subscription to Windows Technet at about $300.00 or so for a years subscription. I don't have a subscription mine were obtained via PCWorlds website. So if I ever lose my copies I am up a creek without a paddle. Fortunately I still have the ISO's on my desktop so I can burn a new copy at least until my hard drive crashes.

I personally think it is real nasty of Microsoft to block OEM COA's as those COA's are just as valid as the full retail version but that is what they have done. Try getting recovery disks though from Dell or HP directly though and you are out of luck unless you find a middle man company like I did for the Compaq Kmeyer has. As for free copies well I have never seen any company hand out free recovery disks unless they came with the computer and even then they were not really free. They used to be cheaper though at about only $10.00 for a copy years ago.
 
  #45  
Old 03-19-15, 06:01 AM
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I have decided that you are right and I am just going to go ahead and order the discs from the place you posted the link to, thanks. Will repost after I get them and let you know how it went.
 
  #46  
Old 03-19-15, 11:36 AM
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I just wish there was a free solution still and wish I could have helped you with the free solution. If this works though I think that is great as I said I haven't had any experience with this company but found out about them on an HP forum. Please do post back and let me know how it goes, I am just now wiping a used 500gb hard drive I bought and I too will be using the laptops restore disks I bought for the Toshiba. So I will see how it goes and post back my results too. Not the same manufacturer no but they have an order they go by with three disks. I hope you get your disks fast like I did.
 
  #47  
Old 03-22-15, 08:21 PM
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kmeyer301 I thought I would update you and let you know how my Toshiba recovery disk install went. It said it would take only about a little over an hour but in reality it took about three hours. After the initial install the computer installed the individual programs and as it was getting late I went to sleep and just let it run over night. One thing I really didn't like is that the software didn't have Windows 7 service pack 1 and it took a long time to do all of the Windows updates. Also it had bloatware I didn't need and am still getting rid of.

Another thing I didn't like is no COA was included with office 2007 which was on the disk and no way to get a trial COA so I gave up and uninstalled it. Instead I put on LibreOffice which works fine for me and best of all it is free. Your experience might be better I certainly hope it is. While it was a bit aggravating it was well worth it since I couldn't see the COA very well with the fading that happened and I never had to worry about it.
 
 

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