You are missing something if you think I'm going to re-live that nightmare again. No how, no way. I've also been checking Cnet re Win10, for which I decided to wait, and there are some rumblings about that as well. I will reserve my judgment re Win10, but I've had enough experience with Win 8/8.1 to know it is not for me. If the Dell cannot be downgraded, I will return it and consider your Win7 suggestion for a laptop
Seeing as the hdd is coming out of your laptop this one should work
Vantec NexStar CX SuperSpeed 2.5" SATA to USB 3.0 External Hard Drive/SSD Enclosure (Supports 7mm, 9.5mm, 12.5mm HDD/SSD) - Model NST-200S3-BK - Newegg.com
Yea I don't see how without a new win-7 version a downgrade can be easily done not to mention drivers for the laptop ?
Thanks. I just purchased it.
Re the downgrade, I had to purchase a new Win 7 when I downgraded the Lenovo, so I will use that. All of the Win 7 drivers were on the Lenovo site since the N580 could be downgraded. I'm waiting for a response to find out if that can be done for the Dell. Also, is it worth it for me to remove the CD Rom drive from the Lenovo for some other use? Thanks.
Hi,
Unless the win-7 disk was retail it can not be moved to another computer
Retail disks are very expensive nearly 300.us
The most common versions are oem and are tied to the original installs mother board and can not be moved.
Feel free to take a picture of the install disk and post it do not post the actual activation key
Hi,
It is definitely a retail version as I purchased it brand new from Wal-Mart for all of $95 and that's the most I've ever paid for software. I thought that was a lot. It installed on the Lenovo with no problems at all. Attached is a photo.
Hi,
Unless the win-7 disk was retail it can not be moved to another computer
Retail disks are very expensive nearly 300.us
The most common versions are oem and are tied to the original installs mother board and can not be moved.
Feel free to take a picture of the install disk and post it do not post the actual activation key
Hi,
Retail does not mean bought from a retail store like Walmart :)
I wouldn't get my hopes up too much
It might install or it might not but be prepared to buy another one if it doesn't activate.
I know you're on a budget but it would be best to remove the existing hdd out of the laptop and install a new one,
That way the existing install is still intact
Then install 7 on the new hdd.
Then why the heke did it install on my Lenovo? What's the difference between retail and my version?
Hi,
It installed on your first laptop because it's valid for an install
And if used on the same machine you can reinstall if necessary
Problem is it might be tied to the first computer and at 80.us I'm willing to bet on it.
I would not sacrifice the original win-8.1 install on this new machine on a guess if it will work
You can't undo that unless it comes with a win 8.1 install disk which I doubt it will you'll have to create one of the win-8.1 install,
Imaging with free Macrium
I doubt that it's tied to the first machine, because I don't see any Lenovo branding on the disk. (That disk, btw, is not supposed to be sold alone. Perhaps it was an option coupled to the Lenovo purchase.) But the Lenovo install already had the Win7 oem activation tokens on it and the BIOS had the SLIC 2.1 tables encoded, both of which are required. I don't know whether the Win8 machine will have these. I doubt that a fresh install would work. It would have to be a downgrade.
The disk you posted a picture of is definitely an OEM disk since it says it was intended to be distributed with a new PC. Another clue is that it says to contact the PC manufacturer for support, retail disks are supported by MS. It's tied to the first machine via the motherboard, if you install it on another machine it will fail to activate.
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