Activation on SSD Windows 7 fresh install

AcerUser12345
AcerUser12345 Member Posts: 3 New User

Hi all, hoping an Acer pro can help here. Just a basic question, but I need to know before proceeding.

 

I need to replace a laptop's aging hard drive. If I do a "clean" fresh install of Windows 7 (rid of all Acer extras), will the original activation key work for the fresh install? (Yes, it's the same version of Windows 7.)

 

Also, are there any steps I should take to "de-activate" Windows on the current hard drive so I don't encounter any false claims of duplicating the key?

 

 

Thanks to any and all!

 

Answers

  • EEuk
    EEuk Member Posts: 10 New User
    Hi, I was wondering if you worked out how to do this. I too want to switch hard drive and was hoping I could simply download Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium SP1, burn it to USB and install. I've read this article: http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2012/06/blowing-away-bloatware-a-guide-to-reinstalling-windows-on-a-new-pc/ which made me think that I'd rather install using the base media - as I've always had problems with some of the stuff that came pre-loaded with the acer PC, particularly the AV products, with endless pop-ups and performance hangs. However, when I followed the link from that article, through to the M$ website, that I could download the software from it tells me my license key is not valid. The license key i tried to use is printed on the bottom of the laptop. Looking at some other articles on the web it appears that the only way to install windows is by getting the rebuild disks from acer - which I really don't want to do or buying another copy of windows 7... are they really the only options?
  • AcerUser12345
    AcerUser12345 Member Posts: 3 New User

    Sorry, I'm still waiting for an answer before attempting it. Too many hardware steps for a blind run.

    That's a great link you posted. Thanks for sharing it.

    As for how to get Windows, I bought a (non-key) installation disc off eBay for less than $10. The hope is to use the current hard drive's key on a fresh install on the new drive, and then retire the current drive.

     

    But yeah, looks like we reached the same conclusions about what Microsoft and Acer want us to do with our old machines. Went to that part of the Microsoft site, too, and also got a message about contacting the manufacturer. I'm not about to spend $50 or $100 or more for Windows when I already own it for this machine and only plan to use it for this machine. For that cost, I'll save for a new laptop. But since we only need a new hard drive, I'm still determined to see if this works.

     

    I'll probably give the installation a try within a couple weeks even if I haven't heard anything else here. Need to solve it soon, before any greater risk of drive failure. But I do hope someone else can chime in about it. Others have surely encountered this and could share whether the original Windows key worked on a replacement hard drive. Anyone, please!

  • Wibell
    Wibell Member Posts: 5 New User

    Yep, I brought is laptop from ebay and found that the OEM key was used 124 times and would no longer work, But i have an old HP laptop with windows 8 so i pulled the OEM key from that:

     

    But the manufacturers don't like you taking one from one say HP to Acer, because the "The key should live with the machine throughout it's life" - but for me that's like saying "please don't replace your battery in your phone, just buy a new phone!"  

     

    how pull you key

    http://www.howtogeek.com/206329/how-to-find-your-lost-windows-or-office-product-keys/

     

    Call windows and tell them your hard drive is died and you have your KEY can they activate it.

     

    It might be a good idea to release your key from the drive as well.

     

    http://www.howtogeek.com/124286/how-to-uninstall-your-windows-product-key-before-you-sell-your-pc/

     

    Finding the Win 7 iso might be a problem - But i'm sure you can find it. . . if you look hard through

  • AcerUser12345
    AcerUser12345 Member Posts: 3 New User

    Great info. Thanks for sharing!

    In this case, the key has (hopefully) only been used once, for this laptop, in the many years since I bought it new. So you're saying if I call Windows and explain how this truly is legitimate use of a legitimate key, someone there will help to activate it?

  • EEuk
    EEuk Member Posts: 10 New User

    Hi,

     

    just a quick update with where I've got to... which isn't a great situation.

     

    I created myself a USB boot drive and put a vanilla windows 7 64bit install on there.  I downloaded the drivers from here for the 5742, one issue is that the acer 5742 comes in various flavours so there are some drivers that aren't applicable and its not obvious how to tell which they are.  I put the drivers and some AV software on the USB drive.

     

    I rebooted and altered the BIOS to boot from USB and having tested my bootable windows installer powered it off, took out the battery and switched the drives.

     

    next reboot went fine, and the installation process worked like a dream.  I just selected defaults and the installation completed and the PC rebooted.  I then went through licensing, adding the key from the base of the laptop and now appeared to have a working machine although with no AV or drivers loaded.

     

    I then started adding drivers - one of the first was the network driver which once activated started downloading windows patches.  At some point i started getting messages to reboot to activate the drivers/software, however, before I had chance to do so I got a black screen of death and the machine went into a reboot cycle.  The only way out of the reboot cycle has been to power off (hold down the power key for 10seconds), I can't "f2" into BIOS and it doesn't seem to recognised the USB bootable drive anymore - despite me not changing BIOS back to lower the priority of the USB.

     

    I've since switched the original hard drive back in - machine works fine.  I've also quick formatted the new HD and put it back in - this time as soon as it rebooted following the initial windows install I ended up back in the reboot cycle - and again despite not changing the boot priority I can't get it to reboot from USB.

     

    I've found similar reports of this reboot problem on there, but, no solutions - I've added a similar update to one such posting here: http://community.acer.com/t5/Notebooks-Netbooks/Acer-Aspire-5742-rebooting-contineously/m-p/286300/highlight/false#M45310

     

     

    How do I debug this further? any thoughts?

     

     

  • Alan-London
    Alan-London ACE Posts: 793 Pioneer

    It has been reported that this problem is caused by registry corruption.

    I would try:

     

    Check the BIOS and ensure your SATA Mode has AHCI selected.

     

    Confirm your exact driver requirements (from Device Manager) from your working installation and only have those available for loading.

     

    Disconnect network to initially prevent any updating.

     

    Perform a fresh install on SSD and load correct drivers only.

     

    Reconnect network and configure.

     

    Attempt Windows update.

     

    If you run into the same problem then reboot from USB drive (or CD drive) and use recovery console - details can be found here:

     

    http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/fix-windows-7-infinite-reboot-loop/

     

  • EEuk
    EEuk Member Posts: 10 New User

    I don't see how it can be a registry corruption problem - its not actually got to windows start-up.  As far as I can tell its still doing POST checks.