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#1
Win 7 from OEM disk, fresh over Win 8 on new machine
I ordered a new laptop online for my retired mother, and made sure it came with Windows 7, which I'm sure she will prefer over Windows 8 as she's coming from XP. But the seller made a mistake in the listing, and the machine I received was the correct model but with Windows 8. It was a good price and I can't find another at the same price, so I want to keep it and install Windows 7. I contacted the seller who said sorry about the mixup, he would either refund me $100 and I could buy my own copy, or he'd buy a copy himself for me and send it to me. I got him to send me a copy, and we agreed on Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit. Well, the DVD arrived today and its an OEM disk, 32-bit, and the packaging has clearly been opened before. The Product key and Product License Certificate of Authenticity appear on the label.
I don't really care about 32-bit vs 64-bit as I don't think my mother is going to be doing anything taxing. But is it possible to install Windows 7 on a new Windows 8 laptop from an OEM disk that was meant for different hardware? (I know it's not intended to be used like that, but if it's possible to do it I won't feel bad as I'm overwriting the Win 8 that the machine *does* have a license for.)
And if the Product key and Proof of License have been used before will that prevent it from being usable again?
If I do it, should I leave the Win 8 install on a small partition of the drive, just in case?
I looked over the tutorials here but didn't find one that applied.
I've been chasing this seller down for a week now and I know I could just send everything back to him and start over, or request the correct software be sent, but I spent hours and hours shopping for the right machine and I'd rather just fix it if possible.
The laptop I ordered is a Samsung Series 7 NP700Z5C-S01US 15.6-Inch and it has 6 GB of RAM, a 750 GB HD at 7200 rpm and an i7 at 2.3 GHz. The one I received is a Series 7 NP700Z5C-S02UB instead--the same but with 8 GB of RAM, a 1 TB HD at 5400 rpm and an i7 at 2.4 GHz.
Many many thanks for advice.