Wiping out and Reinstalling Windows 7

AddRAM said:

Credit for this comes from Jumanji:

1. If you are trying to reinstall Windows from any media other than the OEM's Recovery CD or OEM's Reinstall Disk for your laptop, you will require the COA key on the sticker to activate.

2. The key extracted by any of the keyfinders will be the OEM-SLP key which is used by the OEMs to do the token-based activation and with that key alone you will not be able to activate your new Windows installation.

Contact your OEM for the recovery Disks or Reinstall Disk. These will have the OEM SLP-key and the digitally signed Microsoft Certificate which coupled with the BIOS check on your laptop will auto-activate the Windows install as empowered to the OEMs by Microsoft.

Just so we don't confuse him COA= Certificate of Authenticity = Product Key

Follow these steps to get a perfect Clean Reinstall Windows 7 Factory OEM.

Use the Product Key on COA sticker, which may require making a robocall to MS the first time to marry the hardware signature to Product Key in MS Activation Servers.

I agree with Gromit, on the basis that I have done the very same with 3 machines - 2 laptops, one with Win7/64, (my own) one with Vista Home Basic. And a PC with Win7/64. Each time, I used the same Windows disc as the original, in the case of the Win7 machines, it was a full retail copy and the same disc for each. The Vista Home Basic was an OEM copy. I used the original Product Key from each machine.

A tip: if you need activation and online does not work, use the Microsoft phone service.

The Win7 laptop was my HP Pavilion DV7. I backed it up, reinstalled via the full retail disc and used the lappy's Product Key. This removed all the HP Krap and unnecessary partitions and allowed me to set my own. THIS DOES NOT AFFECT THE WARRANTY, no matter what anyone else says - the warranty covers the hardware, not the software. That information is from a HP technician, btw.