Solved How to combine two primary partitions into one.

[whs]

Just leave it as is.

 

[Raul]

Ok will do. Just to be on the sure side, when I run rufus, beside the Create a bootable disk using , it's on FreeDOS. Leave that as is as well? Or choose ISO image?

 

[whs]

See pic

 

[Raul]

Formated and it was successful, I think.

I restarted to make sure everything went as planned. I think it's all ok. Here is a picture of disk mgmt and D.


I think I still will do a clean install. All that remains is to delete those two OEM partitions as I dont plan on going back to Vista.

It's late I'll be going to sleep. Will be back tomorrow maybe. Thanks for the help.

 

[whs]

What is that supposed to mean ??

 

[Raul]

Im trying to add some pictures but the post keeps messing up. Give me a minute lol.

 

[whs]

OK, Good night. Talk to you tomorrow.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

In post 26, you state that a friend is going to recover your Product Key.

Does that mean that you have lost it and that you did not write it down somewhere at the time you bought the disc?

Has this been done yet? Are you sure it is a valid Windows 7 product key that matches the Windows 7 disk you bought?

You would be foolish to even begin a clean install of Windows 7 without this key.

 

[Raul]

Are you insinuating that I might be using an invalid W7 copy? That's understandable and I understand your skepticism, I guess.

But as mentioned, this laptop was unused for some years for several reasons and because of all the issues i caused it.

I might have saved the product key, but I do not have it anymore because I've been moving several times, although I still have the disk.

I was told by my friend that the key is still in the registry(?) and he'd get it, and I could just activate after the install. But you might be right, maybe I should wait for him to get the key of the registry or the link whs provided, before I do the clean install(That is if I do do it, since whs helped me out greatly yesterday and I might not be needing to).

But since my cd reader does not work, my plan was to download all the "stuff" needed and use my usb instead.

What should I do about the OEM partitions? How can I go about deleting those?

 

[whs]

The OEM partitions should stay. They are small anyhow. They probably contain some useful tools.

For the product key retrieval, use Belarc advisor Belarc - System Management For The Internet Age. Software license management, IT asset management, IT security audits and more.

 

[gregrocker]

I think we are all a little skeptical given what's turned out to be the case in the past when
"a friend" has provided someone with Win7. Did you ever see the packaging with official COA sticker on it so that you know to your satisfaction it was genuine windows, or was it just the disk? Does the Product ID string that appears at Computer>Properties activation link have an "OEM" in it? If not then its probably genuine.

If you are confident it's Genuine retail Win7 then you can audit the Product Key with Belarc or Magic Jellybean. I'd use both to double check. Then that key should work to activate it. If not you'll need to buy a new one.

I would delete all partitions during the booted install, since on Acer the Recovery partition will not work after reinstall, and there are no Diagnostics or other partitions worth keeping. Be sure to back up your files first. Everything you need to get and keep a perfect install is here in Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7

 

[Urthboundmisfit]

...please pardon my interruption as I have been following this topic "from the sidelines" and have some info that may or may not be of some use to the OP... Here's a simple .VBS script that can be used to display the M$ product key currently in use:

Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
MsgBox ConvertToKey(WshShell.RegRead("HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\DigitalProductId"))
 
Function ConvertToKey(Key)
    Const KeyOffset = 52
    i = 28
    Chars = "BCDFGHJKMPQRTVWXY2346789"
    Do
        Cur = 0
        x = 14
        Do
            Cur = Cur * 256
            Cur = Key(x + KeyOffset) + Cur
            Key(x + KeyOffset) = (Cur \ 24) And 255
            Cur = Cur Mod 24
            x = x -1
        Loop While x >= 0
        i = i -1
        KeyOutput = Mid(Chars, Cur + 1, 1) & KeyOutput
        If (((29 - i) Mod 6) = 0) And (i <> -1) Then
            i = i -1
            KeyOutput = "-" & KeyOutput
        End If
    Loop While i >= 0
    ConvertToKey = KeyOutput
End Function

 

[gregrocker]

Looks good, Urth, and works.

Is there a way to run this from WinRE or disk Command Line?

 

[whs]

Why use special programs when Belarc Advisor is easy and displays ALL product keys on a system plus a lot of other useful info.

 

[Urthboundmisfit]

Looks good, Urth, and works.

Is there a way to run this from WinRE or disk Command Line?

Dunno... unfortunately that question is above my pay grade

...alternatively, open an elevated command prompt and type (or copy/paste) slmgr -xpr | slmgr -dlv
View attachment 311548

if OEM then under description it will say OEM_SLP channel as pictured above.
Credit to maxXPsoft @MSFN.org for the above...more @ link.

 

[Raul]

@ gregrocker

Hehe I think we might have had some sort of misunderstanding along the way. It may be because of me, as English is not my first language.

When I said my friend would help me get the key, I meant that he would get the key of the registry not that he gave me the disk or would give me a disk.

I bought the disk from way back. It has the genuine windows logo and everything on it, I just don't have the key saved somewhere anymore.

I think I'll have to go with the link whs provided.

 

[Raul]

@ whs I will have to do this another day, thanks.

A question though.

I have now 107GB of 140 free space on C. Minus the OEM partitions, whom are 13GB combined, If I do delete them, that would make C 120Gb free space of 140GB.

I dont have any big files on C, like music or any big documents.

That would make 20GB of stuff I dont know what is. Does that sounds about the amount windows/OS would need to run?

I have some programs. Bitdefender, Opera, Office 2013, CCleaner, SuperAntiSpyware, Winrar, Vlc, Powerios.

Should I still do clean install?

 

[Raul]

@ Urthboundmisfit

I can honestly say that I have no idea what that is or what to do with it. But thanks for the input

 

[whs]

An installed Windows 7 is around 20GBs including some programs. So that sounds about right because you do not have any real big programs - Office is a bit bigger. It is 335MB on my system.

 

[Urthboundmisfit]

@ Urthboundmisfit

I can honestly say that I have no idea what that is or what to do with it. But thanks for the input

Lol It's actually a lot less complicated than it looks... however using Belarc as Wolfgang (whs) suggested is a very good choice... I have the program installed on all my boxes.