HELP??? CAN IT BE DONE?

Buddyb · 31 Mar 2011

Greetings all. ok, here we go. I updated my Dell from winXP to win7 home premium using the upgrade disk...32bit. I did this approx 2 years ago. The machine was great!, so about 2 months ago I did a stupid thing. I downloaded a crack version of win7 ultimate with a "master" key and it installed great and updated and all that. Worked great. I thought I beat the system, well guess what... after I guess 2 months or so of enjoying my "crack copy" Microsoft caught up to me and now the os is possessed. Anyway, I was wondering if I just put in my "purchased" DVD of my Windows 7 Home Premium Upgrade, 32bit, will I be able to just load that back in and all will be well? or do I need to buy the complete version and do a clean install. Any advise on this will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks to all,
and please don't be to harsh on me for the "crack" thing... I learned my lesson.

Bare Foot Kid · 31 Mar 2011

Hello Buddyb, welcome to Seven Forums!

You can run but you'll just die tired; it'll have to be a clean install, which can be done with the upgrade; have a look through all the information presented below and be sure to post back with any further questions you may have and to keep us informed.

After you have copied out or made back-ups of the data you need to save to external media, use Step One of this tutorial at the first link below to do a wipe (secure erase) to the entire Hard Disk Drive / Solid State Drive.

Then if you do not want to create the new Windows 7 "System Reserved" partition use the outline in Step Two #2 to create, format and mark Active a single 100GB partition to do the installation to.
If you do want to create the "System Reserved" partition use the outline in Step Two #3 to create, format and mark Active the System Reserved partition and then create and format the 100GB partition to do the installation to.

Either way, running the "clean all" then creating and formatting the partition(s) using diskpart will get you the best possible space to do a clean install of Windows 7 to; you can always extend the Windows partition to include the remaining unallocated space on the HDD / SSD or create additional Primary partitions or an Extended partition after the installation completes if you choose.

SSD / HDD : Optimize for Windows Reinstallation

DISKPART : At PC Startup

Do a Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version

If you don't want to wipe the entire HDD, you can do a partition-specific wipe of the Windows partition using the Partition Wizard Bootable Disk (PWBD) have a look at Option Three in the tutorial at this link below.

Partition Wizard : Use the Bootable CD

gregrocker · 31 Mar 2011

Wipe the HD to overwrite any corrupt or infected code: SSD - HDD Optimize for Windows Reinstallation - Windows 7 Forums

Then boot the installer and follow these steps for getting a perfect install: Reinstalling Windows 7 - Windows 7 Forums

If you have an Upgrade version, leave the Product Key blank during install then afterwards do one of the workarounds given here to clean install Upgrade version to a wiped HD: Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version - Windows 7 Forums

Buddyb · 31 Mar 2011

Great. Thanks for the really fast reply and advise. I have done several "dump & reloads" before, but I was hoping that I could just reload the good stuff back in. Oh well, I know what I am doing this weekend. Thanks again.

Bare Foot Kid · 31 Mar 2011

Be sure to post back here to keep us informed.

Buddyb · 31 Mar 2011

You Got it. I think I will also try to figure out how to make a system image restore while I am at it. Never done that B4.

Bare Foot Kid · 31 Mar 2011

Have a look at this tutorial at the link below, it's very easy.

Imaging with free Macrium

Buddyb · 31 Mar 2011

Cool. Do you suppose I can do a image to lets say my 64Gb thumb drive? just a one time thing in case something (my fault) goes nuts down the road again? I remember Dell use to have a recovery partition labeled "D" Recovery Partition. No more. Anyway, that would be nice to have,

Domie · 31 Mar 2011

Hi Buddyb
If you wanted your old XP back, check this if you hav'nt all ready.

Why did my Dell System not come with Disks? | Dell UK

You might get your old factory image.

gregrocker · 31 Mar 2011

Buddyb said:

Cool. Do you suppose I can do a image to lets say my 64Gb thumb drive? just a one time thing in case something (my fault) goes nuts down the road again? I remember Dell use to have a recovery partition labeled "D" Recovery Partition. No more. Anyway, that would be nice to have,

I don't know why not. You might want to consider keeping your OS/Programs partition lean so the image stays more compact. Do this by placing the active User's folders on another partition or HD: User Folders - Change Default Location

Running Dell Recovery Disks might reinstate the Recov Partition, but having a stored backup image is actually a better solution since it's tailored.