Windows 7: Clean OS Install

I have a personal laptop with a dead hardrive. I bought another (used) laptop that I plan on using it's RAM and HDDin my laptop. I know I can low level format the used HDD and install windows 7 with the key from my original laptop. QUESTION: Can I change the Windows 7 Enterprise to Windows 7 Home Premium on the used machine and save myself a step or should I just do a clean install.

I would do a clean install with your Toshiba Recovery.

How to use Toshiba Recovery.
How to use the Toshiba HDD Recovery Utility

You can order Toshiba Recovery disks from here:
https://www.csd.toshiba.com/cgi-bin/...rification.jsp

Hi aftommy,

The first thing you should know is that on any OEM machine you can only reinstall the same edition of Windows that came pre-installed on it. (32 bit or 64 bit does not matter but no different Windows edition.)

You can change the HDD on your original machine and also RAM (if compatible.) (Sorry if I do not understand why you want to change the RAM too.)

If you do a clean install, you have to do it with Windows 7 Home Premium and then activate it using the COA key on the sticker of the machine which also indicates the Windows edition to which it is licensed.

Of course, you can obtain the Recovery CDs for your dead machine from Toshiba ( hmmm.... you can also get it from a benevolent friend who has the same model with the same Wndows 7 edition) and do a reinstall in which case it will preserve the OEM activation and auto activate.

The choice is yours.

Enterprise is a different version which uses a different method to activate, so as stated you'll need to Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

I'd wipe the HD first using Diskpart Clean Command to get the cleanest slate for reinstall.

Remember that the RAM has to match your PC's specs exactly. Google the model + RAM specs, and run Crucial System Scanner software to find out what type of memory is in your computer