How to install windows 7 using own product key?

[Brokencarr00t1]

Hey! I just bought new PC. I never bought any windows with it. I have already windows 7 product key from my laptop. So i wonder how can i install windows 7 and use that product key?

 

[Britton30]

You can do this: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...lation-transfer-new-computer.html#post1161038 which will leave the laptop with no Windows on it. The key can only be used on one computer at one time.

 

[Kari]

In addition to what Britton mentioned above, if the key you have is a so called OEM key meaning it belongs to a pre-installed Windows on your laptop, you cannot use it on any other PC:

In other words when you buy a computer which comes with a pre-installed Windows, the key is tied to that and only that computer and cannot be reused on other computers.

If your Windows 7 is a retail copy you have bought yourself separately, you can use the key on any computer but only on one computer at the time, as Britton already mentioned.

Kari

 

[Brokencarr00t1]

How do i know if Windows 7 is OEM or retail copy?
Its says on product key : Windows 7 home premium OA

 

[Britton30]

If it came installed on a computer it is OEM.

 

[Brokencarr00t1]

Yes. When i got laptop it was windows on it.

 

[Kari]

Sorry but you need a new, valid Windows 7 and product key to your new PC.

 

[Britton30]

From the previously posted link:

   Warning

Using this method causes Windows 7 to lose all activation information, and it needs to be reactivated afterwards. If your Windows 7 is an OEM version, you might not be able to reactivate it, at least not without phone activation option.

I do not recommend to use this method on RAID systems. All experiments on RAID I know have failed.

 

[gregrocker]

The Warning Box applies to retail builder's OEM which will sometime get a reactivation variance from MS sctivation phone agents for good reason to move it, as Kari can tell us.

Factory OEM will never get such a variance for reactivation on another PC since it came with the PC and cannot be moved at all.