Solved Windows 7 reinstall

hi
i want to reinstal windows 7
can i reuse the product code that my pc is activated with
its a fabric pc from acer ?

Yes, use the key on the sticker.

Hello Snowcore, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Since it's a OEM (store bought) computer, you will only be able to use the OEM product key number on the sticker to activate Windows 7 on the exact same computer that it was originally activated on. You will not be able to use it on another computer.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/153626-product-key-number-windows-7-find-see.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

Sorry to butt-in here, but I'm not clear on this yet and maybe my ? will help the OP. I have an Acer netbook with W7HPx64, and an "Windows(r) 7 Home Prem OA Acer Group" sticker with Product Key. Do you guys know: might I rebuild this computer using my "OEM System Builder Pack" Win Home Prem 7 64-bit DVD that I bought for another PC I have?

This Acer comes with no DVD(s) itself, only some Recovery Disc images which presumably re-create the original factory configuration, bloatware and all. I'm wondering, if I have to, or want to, reinstall W7 from scratch, if the OEM disc I have can be used to do a cleaner install, using Acer's Product Key of course.

Hi Max -- If you were not rebuilding, the answer would be a YES. Rebuilding puts a different slant on things. When a motherboard is changed, it makes it a different computer. You could try installing and see if it will activate using the Acer Key, if not then you could give Microsoft a call and tell them what happened and see if they will activate.

snowcore said:

hi
i want to reinstal windows 7
can i reuse the product code that my pc is activated with
its a fabric pc from acer ?

Click to expand...

Acer Empowering Technology > Acer eRecovery Management.
Acer Support - Answers, E-Mail, Chat - How can I restore my computer with the backup discs I created?
Manual how to use Acer eRecovery Management here:
ftp://ftp.support.acer-euro.com/not...s guide/Acer eRecovery Management English.pdf

Have you tried pressing <Alt+F10> at boot up, to goto the Acer eRecovery Management.
Acer Support: Frequently Asked Questions list for How to use Acer eRecovery
You can Order Acer recovery disks from here:
https://secure.tx.acer.com/RCDB/Main.aspx?brand=acer

bigmck said:

Hi Max -- If you were not rebuilding, the answer would be a YES. Rebuilding puts a different slant on things. When a motherboard is changed, it makes it a different computer. You could try installing and see if it will activate using the Acer Key, if not then you could give Microsoft a call and tell them what happened and see if they will activate.

Click to expand...

Thanks, I get it. No I'm just talking about using the Acer key with the original Acer hardware, but an OEM installation disc (the likes of which Acer did not provide).

theog said:

Have you tried pressing <Alt+F10> at boot up, to goto the Acer eRecovery Management.
Acer Support: Frequently Asked Questions list for How to use Acer eRecovery

Click to expand...

This is fascinating theog, thanks so much. I did NOT know this!!! Tried the Alt-F10 thing, and what happens is the netbook boots to WinPE (I believe) on another partition, and permits reinstallation to factory default from this hidden partition(s, there are two, I suppose one is to boot, and maybe the other has the recovery data).

So you're right, if all Snowcore wants to do is to reinstall, it should be easy.

Interestingly, because my Netbook has no CD/DVD drive, there is no option to recover from CD/DVD disks (which I have made by some convoluted means). Not sure how you'd use this Alt-F10 to recover from hard media even if you did have the discs (there's no Disk Recovery option shown with this pc!).

maxseven said:

theog said:

Have you tried pressing <Alt+F10> at boot up, to goto the Acer eRecovery Management.
Acer Support: Frequently Asked Questions list for How to use Acer eRecovery

Click to expand...

This is fascinating theog, thanks so much. I did NOT know this!!! Tried the Alt-F10 thing, and what happens is the netbook boots to WinPE (I believe) on another partition, and permits reinstallation to factory default from this hidden partition(s, there are two, I suppose one is to boot, and maybe the other has the recovery data).

So you're right, if all Snowcore wants to do is to reinstall, it should be easy.

Interestingly, because my Netbook has no CD/DVD drive, there is no option to recover from CD/DVD disks (which I have made by some convoluted means). Not sure how you'd use this Alt-F10 to recover from hard media even if you did have the discs (there's no Disk Recovery option shown with this pc!).

Click to expand...

If you have made the Acer Recovery DVD, you can use method two in Brink tutorial to make USB Pen Drive Recovery disk.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2432-usb-windows-7-installation-key-drive-create.html?ltr=U

theog said:

maxseven said:

theog said:

Have you tried pressing <Alt+F10> at boot up, to goto the Acer eRecovery Management.
Acer Support: Frequently Asked Questions list for How to use Acer eRecovery

Click to expand...

This is fascinating theog, thanks so much. I did NOT know this!!! Tried the Alt-F10 thing, and what happens is the netbook boots to WinPE (I believe) on another partition, and permits reinstallation to factory default from this hidden partition(s, there are two, I suppose one is to boot, and maybe the other has the recovery data).

So you're right, if all Snowcore wants to do is to reinstall, it should be easy.

Interestingly, because my Netbook has no CD/DVD drive, there is no option to recover from CD/DVD disks (which I have made by some convoluted means). Not sure how you'd use this Alt-F10 to recover from hard media even if you did have the discs (there's no Disk Recovery option shown with this pc!).

Click to expand...

If you have made the Acer Recovery DVD, you can use method two in Brink tutorial to make USB Pen Drive Recovery disk.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/2432-usb-windows-7-installation-key-drive-create.html?ltr=U

Click to expand...

Well.....not quite. If the recovery set is a single disk and one has a large enough flash drive, it should be OK. The problem arises when the recovery set is spanned across multiple disks. In my experience the recovery wizard looks to the optical disk (i think) for the second disk onwards. In other words its a recovery wizard built for machines with optical drives and installed on a netbook without an optical drive. I've seen this on HP, maybe Acer has something more intelligent.

At least on some new HP's, the recovery manager has an option to create a recovery USB but it asks for a flash drive >16 gigs! which may not be a worthwhile investment.

And maxseven, that sticker key will work if you clean install with an OEM disk or retail disk.

It is about time all OEM made the option of USB Recovery.

theog said:

It is about time all OEM made the option of USB Recovery.

Click to expand...

I agree completely. This Acer Netbook of mine is obviously aimed at a general audience, what with a boatload of games and MS Works and god-knows-what-other junk on it, but it's nontrivial at best to back it up. Especially, it wants to output its System Recovery Disks to DVDs but it doesn't have a DVD writer built-in, nor does it even have the capability to make ISOs!

So I buy a (very cool) program called VirtualCD, which allows me to make Blu-ray "writable virtual disks", but Acer doesn't know from Blu-ray, so I still am forced to make DVD virtual disks instead. It all works, and now I have 3 Recovery.iso files, but there's no option in Acer's eRecovery to read from these disks! No doubt because there was no disk drive in the machine! All that eRecovery will do is either recover your C: drive to Factory (from an on-board hidden partition) or recover your C: drive to Factory (while saving your own personal files to a \Backup directory). Obviously Acer doesn't think their Netbook users are ever going to change the programs they've installed!

:devil:

There's probably a way to make W7's built-in Backup to work, but afaik this backup method has no compression or other user-friendly features. Oh, and this little Netbook makes a 30Gig backup file! That's more than twice as big as any of my other PCs, some of which have huge video processing programs on them! What the...!

hello

theog said:

It is about time all OEM made the option of USB Recovery.

Click to expand...

i saw where you helped someone with the same trouble i'm having! could i ask you a question?

hotrodyou1 said:

theog said:

It is about time all OEM made the option of USB Recovery.

Click to expand...

i saw where you helped someone with the same trouble i'm having! could i ask you a question?

Click to expand...

Hello hotrodyou1, and welcome to Seven Forums.

It would be best to create a new thread for your issue or question to get the best support for it.

http://www.sevenforums.com/faq.php?faq=vb3_board_faq#faq_newthread

Free programs are available for download to burn windows ISO to USB & make ISO's from folders.