PC new build - transferring window7 OS

[sgrech]

Hi I hope someone is able to help with this, thought i knew the answer but that was until I realised a few moments ago that you are no longer able to download Win 7 ISO image files.

Basically this is the current situation.

I have a 32 bit laptop (Sony Vaio) running windows 8.1 on an 240 GB SSD.
Originally the software installed was Windows Home premium 32 bit. I own the retail version of this software (both 32 and 64bit) and possess the product key.

I am about to build a new gaming PC, this which will not have a CD / DVD drive. Once this is up and running I will permanently retire the Vaio :-(

Until Win 10 surfaces I would like to run the 64 bit version Windows 7 Home Premium on the new hardware.

Initially I planned to simply transfer the SSD from the Vaio to the new PC, however I read that this was likely not to work. Then I also decided that I would rather run Win 7 rather than Win 8.

So the plan was to download the ISO image for Windows 7 x64 and save these to a USB drive and then install from there onto my spare SSD before cloning this SSD to my existing SSD (from the Vaio) as this is twice the size - simple? Well not quite as sadly I don't appear to be able to download the 64 bit Win 7 ISO file any longer and these appear to have to be pulled by Microsoft!?

So given the above information, how do I now achieve my objective. My son is very excited about building his own pc and he is going to be disappointed if we are unable to fire it tomorrow and use it.

Any guidance would be much appreciated.

Please let me know if you require any further information or any of the above information is unclear.

Cheers
Simon

 

[sgrech]

Anyone :-(

 

[gregrocker]

If you own a Windows 7 retail license then you should be able to download the ISO file by inputting your Product Key in the new Software Recovery Center. This and other options are discussed in Step 1 Clean Reinstall Windows 7.

As it says I would run 64 bit for 4gb or more RAM, 32 bit for 3gb or less RAM.

Let us know how it goes. If you stick with the steps, tools and methods in the tutorial you'll get and keep a perfect install for as long as you do.

 

[sgrech]

Thanks I did finally discover that the software recovery was the place to go to obtain the required iso. In fact I now have and it and and have made a bootable USB, or I am all set. I just need to build the computer!

 

[sgrech]

I built my new PC this morning and to my surprise it actually powered up!! I was rather proud of my efforts. So then onto installing Windows 7 from my newly created bootable USB stick. I inserted it and booted from it and the Windows install began - sorted, or so I thought

After a short while I got received an error message, unfortunately I did not write down the whole error message but I got the error code 0x80070015. I then tried to exit the install (but was initially greeted but some more messages) eventually i exited and then tried again. This time I got bootmgr is missing. I have googled this message and tried a couple of things but I keep receiving the same message.

Please please please can someone help me as I starting to pull my hair out (and I dont have much left)!

Thanks
Simon

 

[Ztruker]

Some possibilities in this thread: Problems installing Windows 7 on new SSD

 

[gregrocker]

You may not yet be familar with installing to UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) - Install Windows 7 with - Windows 7 Forums.

Most likely the stick was not formatted especially for UEFI as specified in Option One of UEFI Bootable USB Flash Drive - Create in Windows. Make sure you watch that the settings remain exactly as in picture as they can jump around after you add the ISO.

Then boot the stick as a UEFI flash stick, delete all partitions during the install at Steps 7/8 of Clean Install Windows 7 to create and Format New as you wish, or just click Next to let the installer do it for you. But if there are any partitions on the drive now that are from the old MBR format, they must be deleted if not wiped with Diskpart Clean Command