Windows 7: Laptop Broke, replaced hard drive Disk, What about my windows 7!?!

So my laptop broke, something to do with corruption of data and i have no idea how, already angry because of something i didnt want to happen... during a very important time of the year for work...

I now am in the situation where i already spent around 300 dollars USD fixing my laptop, now that i have a fresh new working hard drive how do i get my OS back?

I bought it from a retailer, my broken hard disk is inaccessable so i cant get into it and seek out it's activation code ETC.

Anyone ever had this situation before? how do i get back my windows 7 OS with it's key that no one is using.

Im not going to spend all of that money again since it was part of the package of buying that laptop.



Please assist.

Your laptop should have a sticker on the bottom with the key for your version of windows. Also, your manufacturer might provide recovery disks.

This is another good reason to always make the recovery disks when you first setup your new laptop.

Rich

k thanks, i dont even know how to use a recovery disk because i never did it before, never needed to do one... untill now

This is hard to believe. Sounds like people jumping out of airplanes without a parachute. You van be sure that a recovery will be necessary - and that for a variety of reasons. The best strategy to protect yourself is frequent imaging. Then your current problem would be solved in 20 minutes.