My searches on this forum, and many others, e.g. Tom's Hardware, Microsoft Support, some others, left me
with the impression that if I cloned my OS HDD to a new one, swapped the new one into the Disk 0 spot and
rebooted, I should find myself in the same place, with maybe a need to call MS and explain about the new
HDD. Basically, no problems.
If I am wrong about that, I apologize, that's the impression I got.
So, using Acronis, I cloned my 250GB Barracuda C:\ drive onto a new WD 1TB, mothballed the Barracuda and
plugged in the 1TB to the Disk 0 spot, and, lo and behold, everything worked great. Much new speed, much new
space. There were a few niggling things I thought I could fix with more googling, but nothing unsettling.
But over the hours things got worse, Indexing wouldn't run, Windows Search service was on Auto(Delayed) load and I
couldn't get it to stay back on Auto when I booted, and then came the pop-up that I was running an unauthorized version
of Windows. No problem, I'll just reactivate.
First tried online activation, was rejected.
Next called them up, only to have the MS rep talk me through filling out the same Activation Screen, to the
same result. When I explained the situation, he told me that I had to call HP, because HP had blocked the
Product Key and there was nothing he could do if he couldn't read that key.
I called HP, and their representative told me, in so many words, that, "We do not generate product keys and
cannot block them, go talk to MS." I said, "They sent me here," he gave me the opportunity to call (some
number) and *purchase* a new product key. When I asked how HP could sell me one if they don't generate them,
he said something to the effect that he had given me the number and that was all he could do, was there
anything else he could help me with today. So I politely ('cause I figured I'd be back) said good-bye and
called MS again. This was at around 9:30 Friday night.
Different guy at MS started to go through the same script, I stopped him and said we'd been through that and
it didn't work, and that I had spoken to HP and they said what they said. Then I told him that my System
Screen displayed, as plain as day, that I was running Genuine MS Windows and that it was activated. He said,
"Hmmmmm. Well, it's probably just a technological hang up of some kind, I would connect you with tech support but they've
all gone home for the night. Take two aspirin and call back in the morning." We said good-night.
Next morning (Saturday) I called MS and got some fellow whose accent was so thick, and who talked so fast ,
that I could barely understand him. But I did make out that he was leading me down the same path,
unimpressed by, or unable to understand my recitation of what I'd done the night before, particularly the
part about the MS rep telling me that it was probably alright, and call back during business hours. When I
had asked him to repeat something, slowly, several times, because I really couldn't understand the last
thing he said, and he repeated it the same way, I asked to speak to a supervisor. He tried to discourage
that, but when I told him, "Look, we've all got supervisors," he said, "Well, you can talk to the
supervisor, but you'll have to wait..." as though that might disuade me; I said I'd wait.
When the supervisor came on, who spoke impeccable English, accented but absolutely clear, I went through the
same recitation. He said to give him the Product Key, (which I had gotten off of Speccy, Magical Jelly Bean
and KeyFinder, and my own System Screen). He said, "Nope". When I protested that the HP rep had said they didn't
generate or block product ids, he said, simply, "He lied". No pussyfooting around, just "He lied". He told
me about what he called the SLP product key, which he said the manufacturer did indeed issue with the
computer, and so on. So I thanked him for being so clear, and went back to google, this time with the new
search term "SLP" (which, oddly, also stands for Speech Language Pathologist) which got me almost
immediately to the difference between an SLP key and a COA key, the latter being the one that is on the
sticker on the computer case. AHA.
Back to MS, new guy, of course, and before we got very far, I asked, "Couldn't we just try the COA key?" He
hesitated, (was I not supposed to know this?) and then said to read him the number. He wasn't easy to
understand either, but he was very patient as we went over it a half dozen times, and we finally agreed on
the number, and he said to wait a minute, after which he came back to check the number again and said wait a
minute again, and came back and said he wanted to check with someone else. Another fellow picked up the
phone, tried the number again and said, "I sorry, that number does not resolve into a product key we can use
to activate your existing copy of Windows". He finally said, the only thing I could do was talk to the
seller, in this case Newegg, and tell them that their sticker key doesn't resolve. Naturally they're not
open until Monday, if then, (President's day). I've got all my numbers, but it was four years ago.
Now. That was all preamble, here's the question:
I have two clones and an image of this old disk, and also a couple unopened Windows 7 cds, plus the
possibility of restoring from the recovery partition, which I'll try first. But the whole point of cloning
was to avoid collecting and entering four years worth of drivers, programs, etc. If I have to do a clean install,
is there a way to generate a list of the drivers I'm currently using so that I don't have go track them down
from part numbers, or maybe could even just copy them over from the earlier OS drive or from one of the clones?
If you've read this far, thank you.
fibber
with the impression that if I cloned my OS HDD to a new one, swapped the new one into the Disk 0 spot and
rebooted, I should find myself in the same place, with maybe a need to call MS and explain about the new
HDD. Basically, no problems.
If I am wrong about that, I apologize, that's the impression I got.
So, using Acronis, I cloned my 250GB Barracuda C:\ drive onto a new WD 1TB, mothballed the Barracuda and
plugged in the 1TB to the Disk 0 spot, and, lo and behold, everything worked great. Much new speed, much new
space. There were a few niggling things I thought I could fix with more googling, but nothing unsettling.
But over the hours things got worse, Indexing wouldn't run, Windows Search service was on Auto(Delayed) load and I
couldn't get it to stay back on Auto when I booted, and then came the pop-up that I was running an unauthorized version
of Windows. No problem, I'll just reactivate.
First tried online activation, was rejected.
Next called them up, only to have the MS rep talk me through filling out the same Activation Screen, to the
same result. When I explained the situation, he told me that I had to call HP, because HP had blocked the
Product Key and there was nothing he could do if he couldn't read that key.
I called HP, and their representative told me, in so many words, that, "We do not generate product keys and
cannot block them, go talk to MS." I said, "They sent me here," he gave me the opportunity to call (some
number) and *purchase* a new product key. When I asked how HP could sell me one if they don't generate them,
he said something to the effect that he had given me the number and that was all he could do, was there
anything else he could help me with today. So I politely ('cause I figured I'd be back) said good-bye and
called MS again. This was at around 9:30 Friday night.
Different guy at MS started to go through the same script, I stopped him and said we'd been through that and
it didn't work, and that I had spoken to HP and they said what they said. Then I told him that my System
Screen displayed, as plain as day, that I was running Genuine MS Windows and that it was activated. He said,
"Hmmmmm. Well, it's probably just a technological hang up of some kind, I would connect you with tech support but they've
all gone home for the night. Take two aspirin and call back in the morning." We said good-night.
Next morning (Saturday) I called MS and got some fellow whose accent was so thick, and who talked so fast ,
that I could barely understand him. But I did make out that he was leading me down the same path,
unimpressed by, or unable to understand my recitation of what I'd done the night before, particularly the
part about the MS rep telling me that it was probably alright, and call back during business hours. When I
had asked him to repeat something, slowly, several times, because I really couldn't understand the last
thing he said, and he repeated it the same way, I asked to speak to a supervisor. He tried to discourage
that, but when I told him, "Look, we've all got supervisors," he said, "Well, you can talk to the
supervisor, but you'll have to wait..." as though that might disuade me; I said I'd wait.
When the supervisor came on, who spoke impeccable English, accented but absolutely clear, I went through the
same recitation. He said to give him the Product Key, (which I had gotten off of Speccy, Magical Jelly Bean
and KeyFinder, and my own System Screen). He said, "Nope". When I protested that the HP rep had said they didn't
generate or block product ids, he said, simply, "He lied". No pussyfooting around, just "He lied". He told
me about what he called the SLP product key, which he said the manufacturer did indeed issue with the
computer, and so on. So I thanked him for being so clear, and went back to google, this time with the new
search term "SLP" (which, oddly, also stands for Speech Language Pathologist) which got me almost
immediately to the difference between an SLP key and a COA key, the latter being the one that is on the
sticker on the computer case. AHA.
Back to MS, new guy, of course, and before we got very far, I asked, "Couldn't we just try the COA key?" He
hesitated, (was I not supposed to know this?) and then said to read him the number. He wasn't easy to
understand either, but he was very patient as we went over it a half dozen times, and we finally agreed on
the number, and he said to wait a minute, after which he came back to check the number again and said wait a
minute again, and came back and said he wanted to check with someone else. Another fellow picked up the
phone, tried the number again and said, "I sorry, that number does not resolve into a product key we can use
to activate your existing copy of Windows". He finally said, the only thing I could do was talk to the
seller, in this case Newegg, and tell them that their sticker key doesn't resolve. Naturally they're not
open until Monday, if then, (President's day). I've got all my numbers, but it was four years ago.
Now. That was all preamble, here's the question:
I have two clones and an image of this old disk, and also a couple unopened Windows 7 cds, plus the
possibility of restoring from the recovery partition, which I'll try first. But the whole point of cloning
was to avoid collecting and entering four years worth of drivers, programs, etc. If I have to do a clean install,
is there a way to generate a list of the drivers I'm currently using so that I don't have go track them down
from part numbers, or maybe could even just copy them over from the earlier OS drive or from one of the clones?
If you've read this far, thank you.
fibber
My Computer
At a glance
Windows 7 Pro x64 SP12.8 Xeon W3530 quad core6 Gb 1333 DDR3ATI FirePro V5800 Driver 8.770.6.0
- Computer type
- PC/Desktop
- Computer Manufacturer/Model Number
- HP Z400 FM045UT#ABA
- OS
- Windows 7 Pro x64 SP1
- CPU
- 2.8 Xeon W3530 quad core
- Motherboard
- HP 0B4Ch X58(R13)
- Memory
- 6 Gb 1333 DDR3
- Graphics Card(s)
- ATI FirePro V5800 Driver 8.770.6.0
- Sound Card
- HT Omega Claro 7.1
- Monitor(s) Displays
- Asus VH242H
- Screen Resolution
- 1920 x 1080
- Hard Drives
- Western Digital Blue WD10EZEX 1TB 7200 RPM SATA 6.0Gb/s
BUFFALO DriveStation 2TB USB 3.0 External Desktop HD
WD My Book 3TB USB 3.0 WDBFJK0030HBK-NESN
- PSU
- 475w
- Cooling
- Fan
- Keyboard
- Logitech wireless
- Mouse
- Logitech M305 wireless
- Internet Speed
- Charter Cable...anybody's guess.
- Antivirus
- Microsoft Security Essentials
- Browser
- Firefox
- Other Info
- Luddite Windows 7 forever.
