Can i do this and how?

Some OEM disks will ONLY run on the machine they were supplied with. If you try to boot them on another machine, you will get a blue screen. I have a couple of DELL OEM disks, among others, which cause an immediate blue screen when booted on another machine. Medion also does this, along with crippling the BIOS on the boards they use.

Some are also extremely restricted, with parts of the operating system missing. I have several XP-Professional DELL licences, where half the system utilities are missing. These are original DELL Disks with a full licence key, Microsoft logo etc etc. They will only work on the original DELL machines, ( they check various ID's on the machine), and even then are crippled.

If you buy a System Builder Disk, it should be a full version.

If you burn a disk from a recovery partition, this may also be restricted to the machine it was installed on, and the OS is also often crippled.

Regards....Mike Connor

Hmm, can't win.

LostAndDamned said:

Well i would use that checker but the machine components have not been bought assembled and will have no OS its being built from scratch but i know the parts will be supported by W7

---EDIT-- also as said above with option 3 can you not simply purchase a new Product Key and use the DVD/CD Rom burnt from the recovery partition to install?

If you don't have a PC yet, then you don't have a recovery partition either.

Using the recovery partition from an existing PC may cause problems. I have heard conflicting reports about this, and it apparently works for some. On those occasions I have been obliged to try it, usually after machine crashes and replacing hardware, it has not worked. In three separate cases the manufacturer provided new disks which worked, but were also "limited versions".

If you want to avoid all problems get a full version from a "system builder" along with your parts. Or buy a full standalone retail version.

Regards....Mike Connor

@whs:

You're right. I wasn't giving it full thought.
I was referring to the recovery discs provided by the OEMs such as Dell, Gateway, etc...

Sorry for any confusion.

I build computers and get OEM discs; of course, I am the OEM in that case and they will work everywhere.
Doh...

LostAndDamned said:

Ok now technically speaking if you

1. installed a NON activated version of xp

Then used an upgrade version of Windows 7 would it work?
Just trying to think of ways to save money becuase i got a couple of xp install discs with no product keys

If you have no product keys, you do not have a valid license. If you don't have a valid license you are not eligible for an upgrade.

Regards....Mike Connor

rap33042 said:

@whs:

You're right. I wasn't giving it full thought.
I was referring to the recovery discs provided by the OEMs such as Dell, Gateway, etc...

Sorry for any confusion.

I build computers and get OEM discs; of course, I am the OEM in that case and they will work everywhere.
Doh...

No problem. I am confused myself. Was just trying to order my own brain. LOL