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Salvaging An HP Windows 7 Computer
The office of a coworker's wife was getting rid of their old computers and I picked up an HP dual core desktop running Windows 7 for $25. I would like to salvage this PC for my own use.
What I would like to do is to somehow create a Windows & CD/DVD, do a clean install of Linux MINT 14 to the hard disk, install a virtual machine and then install Windows 7 in the virtual machine.
The PC did not come with a Windows 7 CD. My coworker bought one of the cast off PCs himself and he said he couldn't "activate" that copy of Windows, he even called a number. I'm guessing "activation" is Windows-speak for "registration"?
In this thread I learned about this this tutorial
I'm not sure I understood all of the many steps of the tutorial. Am I correct in thinking that I can download a free Windows 7 LiveDVD and use it to install a running copy of Windows 7 as long as I have the product key ( I copied it from a sticker on the back )?
Is the product key needed to install Windows 7, to get it to run, or only to register it?
Is there anyway to test the product key, to make sure I will be able to use Windows before going to the trouble of figuring that long tutorial out?
Is what I am thinking of doing doable and if not are there better solutions?
Here are the specs of the computer:
OS Name Microsoft Windows 7 Professional
Version 6.1.7601 Service Pack 1 Build 7601
System Manufacturer Hewlett-Packard
System Model HP Compaq dc5800 Small Form Factor
System Type x64-based PC
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E7400 @ 2.80GHz, 2800 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)
BIOS Version/Date Hewlett-Packard 786F2 v01.53, 8/27/2008
SMBIOS Version 2.5
Boot Device \Device\HarddiskVolume1
Hardware Abstraction Layer Version = "6.1.7601.17514"
Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 2.00 GB
Total Physical Memory 1.97 GB
Available Physical Memory 812 MB
Total Virtual Memory 3.95 GB
Available Virtual Memory 2.63 GB
Page File Space 1.97 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys