Can I reinstall Win7 Using my Win7 upgrade disc & my friends OEM Prod KEY?
I'm thinking doing a clean install of Win7 on friend's virus happy computer. Viruses are preventing me from using the Recovery Utility. I have a OEM Win7 Product Key on the side of the computer and I have my Window7 Upgrade Disc. So, can use my disc & his Key?
How-To Geek Forums / Windows 7
Can I reinstall Win7 Using my Win7 upgrade disc & my friends OEM Prod KEY?
(25 posts)
Supernaut617,
To answer your first question would be no because each key is registered to that software. Now, if you have a key on the side of your computer why not use that to do the reinstall? I am lost on why you need your friend's key for your computer when you have one for your system?
John
Why not clean install it ?
http://www.askvg.com/direct-do.....nd-64-bit/
Look at the sticker on your friend's computer, with the OEM Product Key, and download the appropriate ISO image (with SP1):
Select the correct version: Home Premium, Professional, Ultimate.
Select 32-bit or 64-bit.
Select the language you like the most (you can use a different language from the one that was installed).
Use the links posted above by Lighthouse. Those are official Windows 7 images, you can do a clean install from them as long as you have the product key. To burn the image into a DVD you will need a program like ImgBurn.
More info (if needed),
http://www.vistax64.com/vista-.....rrott.html
Just for clarification of the wording. The key that is on the COA sticker on the side of the box is the Microsoft key. That is unique for this one PC - and only for this one.
An OEM key is something different. That is the key the OS came with from the OEM manufacturer. This is a generic key that the OEMs use to activate many systems at the same time. It cannot be used for a reinstallation (except if you reinstall from the recovery partition) nor can it be used on another PC.
@Lighthouse He means that the key sticked to your computer is not the OEM Product Key. The OEM Product Key is used by Original Equipment Manufacturers on all the computers they build, the same key goes in all of them (or at least in all computers of the same model) but it won't work with normal installation media. You can check that key by looking at the Windows key of a non-reinstalled computer with Speccy for instance, it won't match the one on the sticker.
The sticker attached to the computer, that's the Certificate Of Authenticity (COA), and the key on it is different from the one your computer was originally activated with, and it's unique to each computer (although I believe you can swap those keys between computers of the same model, but that is useless anyways, as both will have a COA of its own).
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