Restoring Windows 7 on a used computer without disks

[niksn]

Hi,
So, I recently bought a used computer from CL. The machine is a Dell Laptop that originally had Windows Vista installed on it. The original owner upgraded to Windows 7 Enterprise and had a bunch of new software installed on the machine. (FL Studio, Photoshop, etc.)

I was able to use the computer successfully for the first day until I installed iTunes. Something went wrong, and now when I boot up in normal mode Windows will freeze as soon as i try to open anything. I can open the Start menu, but anything past that will cause a freeze.

The computer works fine in all Safe Modes.

So, what I would like to do is restore Windows 7 to it's original configurations and still be able to keep all those great programs already installed. However, I do not any of the Windows 7 media that was used for the upgrade. What can I do? Will creating a system image work, or will I end up just copying the freeze problem if I do that?

 

[mjf]

I'd start by uninstalling iTunes and see how you go.
Was the licensed software eg. Photoshop part of the deal when you bought the PC or was it deactivated. If it software was part of the deal then that stuff can be expensive and you want to hang on to it.

 

[niksn]

Hi,
Thanks for the quick reply. I actually can not uninstall iTunes since Windows will freeze after I click the mouse once in normal mode, making it essentially useless. I'll have to do everything in Safe mode which is working fine, but I can not uninstall anything from there and I don't really want to mess with the registry to turn Windows Installer on in Safe Mode.

I've already tried a clean boot and disabled everything using msconfig. I still get that freeze after the first click. I ran chkdisk, sfc/scannow. All came back successful, but still I get that freeze.

AS for the software, it had been previously installed on the computer before I bought it. In fact, that was part of the reason why I wanted it. I don't have any of the licensing information any of it however.

My thought is this: I saw instructions on how to create a bootable USB drive with my Windows 7 on it. If I could somehow also backup photoshop, etc. onto a different USB, could I do a clean install from my Windows 7 bootable USB drive, and then reinstall those programs from the second USB drive?

 

[mjf]

My thought is this: I saw instructions on how to create a bootable USB drive with my Windows 7 on it. If I could somehow also backup photoshop, etc. onto a different USB, could I do a clean install from my Windows 7 bootable USB drive, and then reinstall those programs from the second USB drive?

I don't think it's possible to do this.
You may require some repair action which could further risk 3rd party installed software.
In case you lose all trace of the installed software you could try:
Download SIW Portable and run it from Safe mode. Then run it and select
Software > Licenses and note the keys for installed software.