Invalid product key help

[BRADD]

I just built myself a new computer over the weekend, so of course there is no previously installed OS, I burned the Win7 Pro to a DVD and got it to get to the enter your product key step but for some reason it thinks mine is invalid. I Purchased the student discounted version of Windows 7 Professional from here

Microsoft Student - Windows 7

Do I need an older version of windows to install this version of Win7?

Thanks for the help.

 

[Brink]

Hello Bradd,

Not sure if this will work on a student copy of Windows 7, but try installing it using the method below instead to see if you may be able to activate afterwards.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/31402-clean-install-upgrade-windows-7-version.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

 

[BRADD]

What if I already installed windows 7?

 

[Brink]

Reinstall using OPTION TWO or OPTION THREE in the link above instead.

 

[BRADD]

So if I do option two or option three I do not need a previously installed OS on that computer or have any kind of old windows OS at all?

 

[Brink]

Nope.

 

[BRADD]

How can I uninstall Windows 7 if there is no other OS on the computer? I found some XP discs and a product key and would rather install XP then Win7 over that, if thats possible.

 

[Brink]

You could use the same installation DVD that you used to install this one, and just basically delete this installation during the installation. The links in the options in the tutorial will help show you how to.

 

[BRADD]

Ok thanks alot

 

[Brink]

You're welcome mate. Please let us know how it went.

 

[BRADD]

So its ok if I basically install windows 7 over windows 7?

Another option I have is, would I be able to pull the hard drive from an old computer that has XP on it, then install or activate windows 7 to my new hard drive?

 

[Brink]

Since you have already tried to activate the currently installed Windows 7, you will need to start completely over as in OPTION TWO or OPTION THREE in the tutorial.

 

[BRADD]

I just did that not an hour ago, everything is up and running perfectly now, thanks for all you help, it saved me alot of holiday frustration

 

[DocBrown]

Congrats Bradd

If you have a second HD, or ext HD, make an image backup now, so you won't have all this to do again.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/663-backup-complete-computer-create-image-backup.html

 

[Brink]

I just did that not an hour ago, everything is up and running perfectly now, thanks for all you help, it saved me alot of holiday frustration

You're most welcome Bradd. I'm happy to hear that you got it installed and activated successfully.

That's a great idea Doc posted.

 

[BRADD]

I'll be sure to do that, thanks guys.

 

[Ivan the SoSo]

Hello Bradd,

Not sure if this will work on a student copy of Windows 7, but try installing it using the method below instead to see if you may be able to activate afterwards.

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/31402-clean-install-upgrade-windows-7-version.html

Hope this helps,
Shawn

It works.....

 

[Brink]

Thank you for confirming this Ivan.

 

[Jones68843]

Hey Guys I'm new here but not to forums in general. Just wanted to say that the upgrade path for win 7 ult 64 bit worked for me on option 3 but I believe it was a backwards slash that worked instead of the dash after the space in the command prompt.

I tried it the first time but forgot to use as admin. but then when I used as admin. in the command prompt all went perfect and it was a breeze. I currrently have win 7 ultimate 64 bit on a ocz vertex 2 120 gb ssd....thing is freaky fast. The computer only gets used at home and pretty much any sensitive stuff is on a 256 bit encrypted external drive that's always locked with a pw.

Without the pw on the initial screen which interferes with the startup speed I would guess I get a start up time of just under 35 seconds for my boot up. I don't really have that much running at the beginning but there is A/V and firewall stuff and a few other programs and stuff but about 6 start up items loading. It's very fast, responsive and everything loads exactly how you want it.

I also have two WD Caviar Black 750 gb drives I plan on using for pics and songs and other files that I don't want on the sdd because I want to keep as much free space as possible. I have half the drive full now and that's with pretty much all the games I play, pse 8 is on there plus the os of course as well as some video editing stuff. I have one 750 gb drive for my wife to use for her stuff and one for me plus 2 WD My Book Essential 1tb external drives for back up. They were $59.99 on boxing day..$40 off and the ssd was $179.99 down from $239.99.

Thanks for reading.

Jones