Fixing activation on my friend's computer

[jsz]

Long story short, I had to fix my friend's computer that was blue-screening after login, usually even in Safe Mode. She got it a while back and it's an HP that came pre-installed with Windows 7 Home Premium. Since she needed it to be working ASAP, my only solution after testing all the hardware I could was to reinstall Windows 7 and restore her old documents from the Windows.old folder it was all moved to. The problem is, the reinstall was done with my installation disc, which was Windows 7 Professional. During the install I tried entering the legitimate Product Key that's on the side of her computer case, but it gave me an error about an invalid SKU, I don't remember the exact wording.

I want to be clear that I am not in any way asking for an activation work-around, software crack, etc. I'm asking, is there a way to register and activate her Windows 7, somehow downgrading it to Home Premium, or will I have to locate an installation disc of Home Premium and reinstall yet again with that?

 

[NavyLT]

Using a good Windows 7 installation disk, follow this tutorial:

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/85813-windows-7-universal-installation-disc-create.html

Then use that all in one disc you create to install home premium on her computer.

I would make sure to copy windows.old off her computer first...

 

[aleceouzan]

If the installation was preinstalled there is usually a small part of the hard drive reserved with System Recovery which will reinstall the original Windows back to factory settings, if you go to My Computer & it is still there double click it & follow the prompts, failing that you will have to borrow/buy a CD with the same operating system on.

 

[aleceouzan]

A friend has told me that when the PC boots up pressing one of the "F" keys will start the System Recovery process. It should be in the booklet that was supplied with the PC.

 

[gregrocker]

You will not be able to activate Pro on that computer which is licensed for Home Premium.

Extract the ISO from your Installation disk using ImgBurn, then run the Ei.cfg Removal Utility on it to unlock all versions, burn it to DVD using ImgBurn at 4x speed.

Boot the DVD, choose the correct version and clean reinstall. Tips to get a perfect reinstall: Reinstalling Windows 7 - Windows 7 Forums

Alternately you can run HP Recovery by tapping the F11 key at bootup which will restore the computer to factory condition, if you have not wiped the HD or the partition is not damaged and will boot. If it won't run then you might as well wipe the HD to clean reinstall - the steps are in the tips I posted above.

 

[jsz]

Thanks for the help guys. I was hoping to avoid a re-reinstall but if that's what it takes I'll do it.