Clean install ISO bulked at the download stage.

[Loose rivets]

Vaio i7 fully operational and has updated loads of times. Checking shows validated.

I purchased this used from a guy with a local business in Texas. W7 Pro all working well. However it does seem to have some detritus here and there so decided that would be a second reason to fit an SSD. Purchased one yesterday not anticipating problems.

Should have known better.


Read up on what to do and having downloaded the tool, set about downloading W7 to make the ISO. Of course, now they ask for the key up front. Fair enough. For the first time I checked the Key against a Belarc probe. They didn't match. Label loud and clear on the bottom - one key. Belarc, another. Neither will qualify the ISO download.

Is there still a way to get the simple Windows 7 program and apply the key upon installation? as I could contrive some means of booting.

I realise it may still not work, but I'm at a loss to know why the software on there has been validated several time. (or the check run) It's taken the updates and is offering W10

As mentioned the other day, I've had good experience with MS support, but having said that, they seem to throw out the line - "Then you will have to buy another key." rather readily these days. they probably wouldn't understand folk who had to save string in the war and don't part with money without a darn good reason.

[le Pingouin]

I haven't used this procedure so can't comment directly: https://blog.hqcodeshop.fi/archives/207-Transferring-Windows-7-OEM-license-to-a-new-hard-drive.html

Is the nature of the "detritus" that desperate? Cloning the drive is a hell of a lot less hassle.

[Loose rivets]

It's just that neither the sticker Key, or the Belarc reported Key, would allow the ISO to be downloaded - as though both were bogus keys.

I had a sudden yen to have an SSD drive on what is a powerful laptop since it does seem rather slow to boot. I get these desires, but it would probably just have been better to use the darn thing until it becomes obsolete.

Obsolescence will probably come about because of the sheer mass of the thing. Nice keyboard though, and it takes a lot to pry me away from my Ligitech OEM's - despite the letters being worn away. :uhoh: The otherwise nice earlier Vaio* had a bendy keyboard which I can't stand.

N.B. Most of my hard work is editing and I find I need a large screen for that. Odd. Spot far more mistakes than on the little laptop screens.

*my son saw it being stolen in Best Buy in Texas. He let the manager know, and son passed the $50 store thank you credit to me to add to the already good price cos it was a Vista. Heck of a deal. I loaded W7 on it and it really flew. W10 seemed quite nice at first and that's why I let it seep into my PC, but not so sure now.

[le Pingouin]

I think you're going to have to source an ISO through alternate means as apparently you can't download from MS using OEM keys - it requires a retail key.

Download Windows 7 ISOs, Legally and for Free | PCsteps.com (http://www.pcsteps.com/45-download-windows-7-iso-legally-free-digital-river/)

Just make sure the MD5SUM for the download matches.

[Loose rivets]

Gosh. Well that confirms what's going on. Thanks.

I'm wondering if I managed to install a clean 7 on the SSD, whether I'd be able to put the original HD back again. There's no doubt a point at which it is disqualified, but could that be when the new one on the SSD is Activated?

Kind of rhetorical, that. ;)

[le Pingouin]

Given that the original is still activated there is no reason they couldn't both remain activated - the original is activated via the BIOS provided details & the SSD would be activated by the printed key.

Just a thought - I think the ISO you download from MS is generic and not specific to the key provided. Not sure about the pro/home side of things though. If you can find someone with the required version installed they could download an ISO for you.

And another - have you tried creating recovery media using the laptop?

VAIO User Guide | Creating Recovery Media (http://docs.esupport.sony.com/pc/VPCEG1_EH1_EJ1_EL1_series/EN/contents/02/13/12/12.html)

[Loose rivets]

A while back I rescued some photos for a friend. Her laptop was so stuffed with photos that it choked. It had taken her weeks to train around the UK - everything from dingies to cathedrals - with her new D90, and the beautiful HP seemed a good place to put them. She didn't want to load Ccleaner in case it bit her. When it wouldn't go, she decided that it might help if she lifted it 6" above the table and let it drop.

She was very nice, but blond.

I set about the problem, with two possibilities: Use my Vista recovery that I'd created years ago for my machine, or take the safe route with Ubuntu. I took that latter and it took me hours.

Curious, I then booted it with my home made Vista disc and it was repaired in minutes. Crystal balls come to mind.

So, backups are a wondrous thing but in the early days of PPRuNe computer section, Saab agreed with me. Yes, he did. Just that once. A clean install every so often is like a breath of fresh air. Or more like purging the bowls.:\ Why now is it so difficult?

Now, one just has to spend a day getting rid of things, or with W10, turning them off. Only today, I've been directed to another four things to be turned off, though the well known magazine did say that 10 was a fantastic operating system - once it'd been contained. I suppose a checklist of things to contain or kill would save a lot of time. To be able to put that OS onto discs in its tamed form would be a blessing.