lost Windows 7 CD, what do I do

[javasirc]

A few weeks ago my hard drive crashed. I now have a replacement, but now the problem is I've lost my Windows 7 CD. I've looked every place I can think of.

Is there a way to download W7 from Microsoft site from a different computer and use the info on the bottom of my laptop to authorize it?

 

[mikedt]

I don't think you can just download Win7 from Microsoft, they might sell you a CD though for a nominal cost and you activate it using your existing Win7 license(the sticker on your laptop). You could just always download a Win7 ISO via bit-torrent and activate it using your valid Win7 license serial number. I've done that a few times with friend's PCs where they didn't have a Win CD or recovery CD, but had a Windows license.

The manufacturer of your laptop might sell you replacement Win7 recovery CD, again for a nominal fee.

 

[linuxrich]

You could always download yourself an OS provided by people who are happy to share and won't make you beg before they acknowledge you've got legit install media. I'mm thinking something like Linux Mint here.

 

[javasirc]

Thanks for the replies. I had Windows 8 Consumer Preview on a USB drive, so i installed that to download Windows 7. Ill install it tomorrow if I can.

I've heared quite a bit about Linux Mint. I'm kind if weary about OS's other than Windows because i do a lot of gaming on my computer. Does Linux run Steam?

 

[IOWA]

Which version of Windows 7 do you have? I might just be able to help you out.

 

[TheyCallMeBT]

Microsoft doesn't care how you obtain the OS data as long as the EULA is intact. What you "own" or paid for is the license or right to use the software, not the data itself. The laptop you bought came with an OEM license, which means you can reinstall the OS as many times as you need to on that computer. It's tied with the motherboard, so you can't just install it onto another computer.

So, getting it from a torrent is perfectly fine as long as the EULA is intact. Or if you have a buddy with the disc (make sure it's the right version, like Home Premium or whatever), you can copy that. This is what I did. You also may need to do a system update to get SP1 before it will recognize it as legitimate, depending on when you bought your computer and how old the disc is.

 

[linuxrich]

I've heared quite a bit about Linux Mint. I'm kind if weary about OS's other than Windows because i do a lot of gaming on my computer. Does Linux run Steam?

To be perfectly honest, gaming has been a bit of a weak spot as far as Windows -> Linux migrations go. There are some great native games (Humble Indie Bundles etc...) & there has been talk of Steam for Linux but I'm not sure what the current situation is. Fair to say (Unless there is a GOOD reason to jump right in!) it's always best to research thoroughly before committing to migrating to Linux. The only reason I say that is because I am of the opinion that using Linux in a prepared and knowledgeable way is the better way of doing it.

Sorry if this seems a bit OT BTW. I jumped in with my initial suggestion because it is a valid way out of tricky Windows based problems especially when the proprietary nature of Windows is the root of the problem.

 

[burningteufel]

Microsoft doesn't care how you obtain the OS data as long as the EULA is intact. What you "own" or paid for is the license or right to use the software, not the data itself. The laptop you bought came with an OEM license, which means you can reinstall the OS as many times as you need to on that computer. It's tied with the motherboard, so you can't just install it onto another computer.

So, getting it from a torrent is perfectly fine as long as the EULA is intact. Or if you have a buddy with the disc (make sure it's the right version, like Home Premium or whatever), you can copy that. This is what I did. You also may need to do a system update to get SP1 before it will recognize it as legitimate, depending on when you bought your computer and how old the disc is.

^
This.
You can find your Windows OEM product key on your computer, it's typically printed on a sticker.

Steam on Linux should work with Wine. Here is a guide.
https://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Steam_under_Linux

If you switch to Linux, you might consider either to start with Ubuntu or Linux Mint: try them in live mode and then choose what you prefer to install Though there are many Linux distros you could choose from.
You can also consider to dualboot Linux and 7, using 7 mainly for gaming purpose and Linux for the rest.
Or you could also buy a good console of your choice (Wii, Xbox etc..) with your favorite games for gaming (so you would get a better gaming experience without Windows problems and viruses) and use only Linux on that computer. The choice is yours.

 

[javasirc]

Ok im running Windows 7 again. So nice to have it running again. I used W8CP from my USB and downloaded W7 from a torrent site, then got the USB Tool from microsoft. Then booted from the USB.

Im going to try Linux Mint. Am i able to dual boot W7 and Linux Mint? Will my laptop's hardware work fine with linux?

 

[linuxrich]

Im going to try Linux Mint. Am i able to dual boot W7 and Linux Mint? Will my laptop's hardware work fine with linux?

Good news that you got it fixed! To answer your questions, dual boot shouldn't be a problem to set up. There'll be any number of tutorials on the net. As far as hardware compatibility goes, best bet is to burn a DVD and try it. Any problems should be addressable. Have fun!

 

[burningteufel]

As far as hardware compatibility goes, best bet is to burn a DVD and try it. Any problems should be addressable. Have fun!

Since you mentioned that your computer supports USB boot, you could also create a bootable Linux USB stick (for instance with Unetbootin)

Indeed, personally I tried Ubuntu in live mode to test the hardware compatibility, before setting it to dualboot with MacOS on my Macbook Pro. When I saw that the hardware was fully compatible, I proceeded to setup the dualboot!

 

[argedion]

For Loosing the Windows 7 disk i say Celebrate (yeah I know you went back to it but still) As an avid Linux user I have to say that Linux is the best bet as far as all around computing, security, and networking.

Windows is great for games guess thats the irony with windows your pc is better suited to be a game station, as far as security and overall computing Winblows sux.

 

[burningteufel]

Windows is great for games guess thats the irony with windows your pc is better suited to be a game station, as far as security and overall computing Winblows sux.

Linux is indeed an excellent OS
And as any other UNIX based system, you don't have to worry much about malware and security. This doesn't mean UNIX systems are completely immune to malware, as there are few rootkits and trojans around (far less than the Windows ones).
You should avoid installing suspicious apps and apps from untrusted sources. You should also be careful when something requires administrative rights (requesting you to type an admin password) and you will be fine without any antivirus. Thanks to their high level both of security and computing, most servers run either BSD or Linux.

You know what the true irony is?
The fact that a good console is not only cheaper than a gaming computer, but you also get a better gaming experience without Windows problems and viruses. So it would be better to have a UNIX based system on your computing devices of choice, and if you like gaming buy a good console to play with

Many Windows users seems to think that since they are playing games on the computer "they are using the computer". It's a minor perception, but I think it's actually one of the cause Windows is so much used in the desktop market. Many games are made for Windows,since it's so much used in the desktop market. It would be hard to bring a gaming console on the office, right? But a gaming person can easily bring the install support of a game to install it on his/her Windows work computer (or use a portable version of the game), and play it while he/she looks like he/she is working instead.

Also with this psychological approach, they might consider playing at the console as "wasting time" and playing with the computer actually using the computer instead of "wasting time", feeling somehow "justified" in playing the game while avoiding other people critics (family, bosses at work, and so on).
Therefore most of them will usually go to buy an inferior gaming product instead of a good console.

 

[argedion]

Yeah never understood why someone would pay 2000 dollars for a computer to play games on. A Console cost what 200 at best? Personally I think if you want to pay 2000 dollars to play a game then send me the money I'll buy you a console and keep the rest as "Finders Fee's"

 

[burningteufel]

Yeah never understood why someone would pay 2000 dollars for a computer to play games on. A Console cost what 200 at best? Personally I think if you want to pay 2000 dollars to play a game then send me the money I'll buy you a console and keep the rest as "Finders Fee's"

Indeed, a waste of money.
Consoles are superior to gaming computers in term of gaming experience.
I occasionally played on some friends gaming computers and consoles: consoles are just plain better. And they are also far cheaper compared to a gaming computer, and the choice of games is huge
We could share 50:50 I guess

 

[IOWA]

Indeed, a waste of money.
Consoles are superior to gaming computers in term of gaming experience.
I occasionally played on some friends gaming computers and consoles: consoles are just plain better. And they are also far cheaper compared to a gaming computer, and the choice of games is huge
We could share 50:50 I guess

I hate to get technical on you, but a well built gaming rig will knock the socks off any console, and play more games at that. The game will look better on screen, and be more responsive. Plus, its still a computer, and a fast one (usually) at that so if you do anything productive with a computer that is a huge plus as well.

Graphics and gameplay will always be massively better on a well built/configured gaming rig.

But until you've seen a well built rig, you really can't see the difference.

 

[burningteufel]

I hate to get technical on you, but a well built gaming rig will knock the socks off any console, and play more games at that. The game will look better on screen, and be more responsive. Plus, its still a computer, and a fast one (usually) at that so if you do anything productive with a computer that is a huge plus as well.

I am not a gamer in the first place, so I am not interested in gaming computers and consoles.
I tried some console and some gaming computers on some friends house, and the consoles I tried were always plain better (and cheaper).
And even if you could built a powerful gaming machine and what you said there is true, I guess you'll need more money than a console, which they already play games nicely (a console is made specifically for playing games) and you have already a good range of choice there as well.

An for productive computing work, I rather prefer to use more secure and powerful UNIX-based systems on my computing devices, rather than a mediocre OS like Windows.

@OP: Did you set the dualboot?

 

[IOWA]

I am not a gamer in the first place, so I am not interested in gaming computers and consoles.
I tried some console and some gaming computers on some friends house, and the consoles I tried were always plain better (and cheaper).
And even if you could built a powerful gaming machine and what you said there is true, I guess you'll need more money than a console, which they already play games nicely (a console is made specifically for playing games) and you have already a good range of choice there as well.

An for productive computing work, I rather prefer to use more secure and powerful UNIX-based systems on my computing devices, rather than a mediocre OS like Windows.

@OP: Did you set the dualboot?

Windows 7 is more than mediocre, and has more productivity possibilities than any UNIX/Linux machine despite my wishing it was the other way around.

If I didn't admit this, I'd be lying to myself.

EDIT:

Just wanted to add, the reason for the superior productivity on Windows machines is because the global computer market(Adobe, Corel, etc) caters to them. That advantage alone puts Windows at the top of the list. I'd personally love to see an open source OS hit that kind of popularity, but I don't think it's going to happen. But to call Windows 7 mediocre is false, it's just different than what you like.

 

[burningteufel]

Windows 7 is more than mediocre, and has more productivity possibilities than any UNIX/Linux machine despite my wishing it was the other way around.

If I didn't admit this, I'd be lying to myself.

EDIT:

Just wanted to add, the reason for the superior productivity on Windows machines is because the global computer market(Adobe, Corel, etc) caters to them. That advantage alone puts Windows at the top of the list. I'd personally love to see an open source OS hit that kind of popularity, but I don't think it's going to happen. But to call Windows 7 mediocre is false, it's just different than what you like.

Define what you mean by "productivity possibilities".
If you mean in the sense Windows has more software support than other OS, I agree with you. More Windows public = more money, so obviously the SW companies would develop mainly for them.
Still their perfomance , aside for gaming, are not as overall effective as a UNIX based system. Most supercomputers and servers runs UNIX based systems for a reason.

I have several years of experience in IT, and I have tested all the main systems. Each OS has its own strong and weak points.

MacOS
-Ideal for multimedia work, especially graphics (Photoshop on a Mac is beastly good). Intuitive to use, fast, UNIX based for security and powerful computing (the MacOSX code is based on BSD and Linux code mixed with some proprietary one) with support for professional SW. You get some UNIX tools, other you can port them with Macports. Integrated OS and HW for best performances and standard rules for apps developing, but this approach limits the customizing and control over the OS.
Many graphics companies buy Macs.

Linux and BSD
Both UNIX based systems, both opensource.
Their commands are similars.
You get full control over the system, you can modify the code and fully customize it to your wishes.
You lack the presence of some professional SW like Photoshop.
However you get many useful free SW to make up for it, some movie companies use only Linux with SW like Blender (3d animation, etc...).
Mainly used on servers.

Windows
Good for gaming. Precaricated with most non-Apple HW, huge choice of SW and HW accessories.
Not very secure unlike UNIX systems.
They starts with a good initial speed that keeps decreasing as months and years passes (unlike UNIX machines).
Often Windows servers crashes and you need to reboot them quite often, unlike Linux and BSD servers with can stay on for month and years without crashes.

7 it's mediocre compared to UNIX based systems, but not to other Windows systems. In this sense for a Windows system is actually pretty good, especially if you compare it to the flop it had Vista (without SP1 it sucked badly). However I don't find 7 that stable. Sometimes I had to deal with cases where the applications icons went blank by itself on 7 and the program stoppped working, reinstalling applications and so on for example.
I find XP to actually be more stable.

Popularity is not equal to a powerful system in the first place.
If all the people started to jump down from a bridge, you would jump as well? I sure wouldn't.
Most supercomputers and servers runs UNIX based system, not Windows.

Then to each one his way.

 

[IOWA]

Define what you mean by "productivity possibilities".
If you mean in the sense Windows has more software support than other OS, I agree with you. More Windows public = more money, so obviously the SW companies would develop mainly for them.
Still their perfomance , aside for gaming, are not as overall effective as a UNIX based system. Most supercomputers and servers runs UNIX based systems for a reason.

I have several years of experience in IT, and I have tested all the main systems. Each OS has its own strong and weak points.

MacOS
-Ideal for multimedia work, especially graphics (Photoshop on a Mac is beastly good). Intuitive to use, fast, UNIX based for security and powerful computing (the MacOSX code is based on BSD and Linux code mixed with some proprietary one) with support for professional SW. You get some UNIX tools, other you can port them with Macports. Integrated OS and HW for best performances and standard rules for apps developing, but this approach limits the customizing and control over the OS.
Many graphics companies buy Macs.

Linux and BSD
Both UNIX based systems, both opensource.
Their commands are similars.
You get full control over the system, you can modify the code and fully customize it to your wishes.
You lack the presence of some professional SW like Photoshop.
However you get many useful free SW to make up for it, some movie companies use only Linux with SW like Blender (3d animation, etc...).
Mainly used on servers.

Windows
Good for gaming. Precaricated with most non-Apple HW, huge choice of SW and HW accessories.
Not very secure unlike UNIX systems.
They starts with a good initial speed that keeps decreasing as months and years passes (unlike UNIX machines).
Often Windows servers crashes and you need to reboot them quite often, unlike Linux and BSD servers with can stay on for month and years without crashes.

7 it's mediocre compared to UNIX based systems, but not to other Windows systems. In this sense for a Windows system is actually pretty good, especially if you compare it to the flop it had Vista (without SP1 it sucked badly). However I don't find 7 that stable. Sometimes I had to deal with cases where the applications icons went blank by itself on 7 and the program stoppped working, reinstalling applications and so on for example.
I find XP to actually be more stable.

Popularity is not equal to a powerful system in the first place.
If all the people started to jump down from a bridge, you would jump as well? I sure wouldn't.
Most supercomputers and servers runs UNIX based system, not Windows.

Then to each one his way.

Just a few things, all of Adobe's products run better on PC's nowadays. The edge Mac had with Adobe is long since gone.

Also, Apples oranges and bananas here. Every OS has their strong suit, and for Windows/Mac OS it's the consumer market, which either OS is better than Mediocre.

All of my Windows 7 systems are completely stable, and I suffer no slowdown. It works, and works fine. Just like with any other computer system, you just have to take care of it by not installing crapware.

As for a server, I'd never run a server with Windows for *personal* use. Each OS has it's strengths and weaknesses, and there are plenty of UNIX based systems that leave much to be desired. It's all in the eye of the operator.

 

[burningteufel]

All of my Windows 7 systems are completely stable, and I suffer no slowdown. It works, and works fine. Just like with any other computer system, you just have to take care of it by not installing crapware.

As for a server, I'd never run a server with Windows for *personal* use. Each OS has it's strengths and weaknesses, and there are plenty of UNIX based systems that leave much to be desired. It's all in the eye of the operator.

Good for you, since I saw many cases which it's the other way around.

For example, 7 sometimes wake up with an automatic checkdisc at the boot time, wiping easily 10000+ files, and you find usually an unusable system afterwards in which sometimes you cannot even login. It happened to me sometimes, and I had to reformat the machine each time since the wipe of files and relative aftereffects was on that levels. They were no sign of hardisk problems (the hardisks were fine, as I carefully checked their health status before reformatting the machine). One time it happened when I just finished the machine for a client and I did the last reboot to check everything was all right LOL. I don't call 7 to be that stable as OS, and I never had similar issues with XP. But 7 is sure more stable than Vista. Perhaps the 7 autochk feature is buggy

I fully agree on the "not installing crapware" thing as I mentioned earlier, even UNIX systems aren't completely immune to malware while they are more secure than Windows. if you install a suspicious or untrusted app, or type your admin password when required by something suspicious, you are getting in trouble with your own hands.
As long as you behave carefully with application installing and your admin rights, you need no antivirus protection on UNIX based systems.

And I wouldn't use Windows on servers either, but some companies use Windows on their servers. They often have to reboot their Windows servers at least weekly, sometimes daily.

Yes, agreed that each OS has its strong and weak points.
I think each person should try the main operating systems around, then choose what it's more suited to him/her and enjoy it.
"To each one, his way"

 

[Slug]

Good for you, since I saw many cases which it's the other way around.

Yup, I'm sure we can all cite similar. There again, this particular Win7 installation has been 'up' since July 2009 and shows no ill-effects. I haven't had a BSOD for over a year since AMD's video drivers improved, and have *never* been infected with malware since first going online with Win 3.1. Common sense is a pretty reliable defence mechanism.

Computer OS are like smartphone platforms.... a personal choice. I use Windows because it supports what *I* want to do with my computer, not because it's "fashionable" or "geeky". Others' opinions may well differ and are perfectly valid, but have no bearing on *my* usage.

 

[IOWA]

Yup, I'm sure we can all cite similar. There again, this particular Win7 installation has been 'up' since July 2009 and shows no ill-effects. I haven't had a BSOD for over a year since AMD's video drivers improved, and have *never* been infected with malware since first going online with Win 3.1. Common sense is a pretty reliable defence mechanism.

Computer OS are like smartphone platforms.... a personal choice. I use Windows because it supports what *I* want to do with my computer, not because it's "fashionable" or "geeky". Others' opinions may well differ and are perfectly valid, but have no bearing on *my* usage.

Oh boy, I remeber the AMD debacle with HP laptops pretty bad... overheating GPU's broke the whole MoBo is some cases.