Installing without a disk

[Robert N]

Hello all.

I have two boxed copies of Windows 7 Home Premium (or did, until I mislaid one)and both are currently installed as 32bit versions on 2 different PC's on my network.

I intended to move over to 64bit on one of them, but I cannot for the life of me find out what I've done with the blasted disks (or the box for that matter). I have the product key written down from when I installed it, and have verified its accuracy by using "Produkey" on the current 32bit installation.

Does it matter if I use the other disk to carry out the installation? I'm hoping that the disks are just disks and that it is the product key that matters.

Box boxed copies came with 2 disks, one with 32bit and one with 64bit Windows.

I intend to format the disk that currently has 32bit Windows on it, install 64bit and then activate it using the same product key. My understanding is that doing that is OK. I'm just a bit worried about the product key being hard coded onto the disk. I had that problem with an XP upgrade disk a few years ago.

I downloaded an ISO last night but have discovered that I don't have any blank DVD's

 

[Anthony]

As long as you have the key then you can download your version from here: Official Windows 7 SP1 ISO from Digital River « My Digital Life

Goto Part 2: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/31541-windows-7-usb-dvd-download-tool.html?filter

 

[Golden]

Hi,

The key and ISO/DVD are completely separate, so you are good to go.

If you have a spare 4GB USB flash drive, you can use this tool to write the ISO to it, and boot & install from the flash drive:

Windows 7 USB DVD Download Tool

Regards,
Golden

 

[Robert N]

Thanks for the replies

So just to clarify, I do not have a large enough flash drive, and I do not have any blank DVD's. So using an ISO is out of the question for today. So if I want to carry out this installation today, am I OK to use the installation disk from the boxed copy that I haven't lost? The installation will accept the product key that belongs to the DVD that I cannot find?

 

[Golden]

Hi,

By "other disk", do you mean the 64 bit DVD from one of the Home Premium boxed sets? If so, then the answer is YES. There is no relation between DVD's and product key - for example, if a friend had the same DVD you could have used that as well.

Regards,
Golden

 

[Robert N]

That's brilliant, thanks for the rapid repleis. My problem has been solved

Just out of pure curiosity, am I right in thinking that I can't boot between 64bit and 32bit on the same PC using just the one product key?

Not that I intend to do that, but I am curious. I have a PC that has XP 32bit, Windows 7 32bit, and Windows 8 32bit on it, but all of those have their own unique product keys.