Win 7 PC swithc

[Tilda]

Hey guys,

Quick question about switching around copies of windows 7.

I had a netbook with windows 7 home premium 64x on it. It got damaged while on holiday and so was sent to the insurers and ultimately replaced.
Before posting it off, I took a picture of the CD key for Win 7.

My replacement netbook obviously has a different windows 7 install.

My question is, is it possible to reuse the initial windows 7 key on a different PC? If so, how do I do it? (the original netbook didn't come with Win7 cd's)
Do I need to download a Win7 disk image, and if so, which one, or does it matter?

Cheers,

Tild

 

[Moriath]

if it was oem its usually only that piece of equipment that it was registered to that can use it.

You can try getting a ghost of the win 7 dvd and try authing it with m$ and see if it works but not a guarantee

 

[Tilda]

Thanks Moriath, how do I tell if its an OEM one?

How do you mean get a ghost of the cd, any random one of the net? Ideally I'd like to be able to figure it out and know for sure before starting to try and install stuff on my dads pc.

 

[soze]

If its a sticker on a laptop its 99% OEM. Licences give you no Key in that way and Retail comes with a box and CD.

MS say you can not move OEM to a new machine (even swapping a MB needs a call to MS) but it is possible to download OEM media. But Win 7 is pretty good at taking almost any key so if you have a different copy of Windows it might be worth a try.

 

[Kryten]

Am I missing something obvious? As in, surely you should be getting a like for like? Therefore it's the insurer's responsibility?

 

[soze]

I think Tilda wants to use the old key on a separate machine not the new Netbook.

 

[Tilda]

If its a sticker on a laptop its 99% OEM. Licences give you no Key in that way and Retail comes with a box and CD.

MS say you can not move OEM to a new machine (even swapping a MB needs a call to MS) but it is possible to download OEM media. But Win 7 is pretty good at taking almost any key so if you have a different copy of Windows it might be worth a try.

Soze is correct. I have a replacement, but wanted to see if I could reuse the previous licence key (from the dead laptop) on my dads pc.

Soze, How do you mean if I have a different copy of windows? ie on my dads pc upgrading from xp to windows? My issue is I dont know what "copy" of windows 7 I need to download - ie is there an OEM specific one? or country specific etc?

 

[Moriath]

thers no difference between oem and main stream apart from the key ....

Go for windows 7 home edition i guess that was what was on your last pc ...

Then use your old code for that

See if you can then authorise it with m$

alternatively if you got he disks withyour new pc then use those instead of dling a version and use your old key.

Either way they will or wont once you ring them up to auth it.

Cause i doubt it will work online you will have to end up ringing their auth centre for it

 

[Ch3tan]

Most times it will work fine. I doubt you'll be asked to auth it.