At some point during my move from another state I lost a binder full of computer disks, including my copy of Windows 7. I ran a scan yesterday and when I restarted it a message came up saying that it could not restart. My son came over and looked at it, and after messing with it for a bit he said that I need to reinstall Windows 7 in order to fix the problem. What would be awesome would be if I could purchase and download Windows 7 and the product key online and burn a cd, but I don’t want to get anything illegally or from someone sketchy. Is this available to download or do I need to hunt down a copy to buy and have sent to me? Is this something that is readily available in retail stores? Would something local (north of Seattle) still carry Windows 7?
Please be kind, I am a senior and I am disabled, so I am a little slow technologically and I don’t get out shopping much.
You could create a Windows Recovery Disc and put it on a DVD/USB drive to use to fix your Windows install. Unfortunately you need to know someone who still has Windows 7 to do it but it’s a fast and free process if you can find someone.
You can legally download the Windows 7 iso file for free from Microsoft if you got the product key from here (be sure to choose the right version, either 32 or 64 bit). Look at the case of your desktop or at the bottom if it’s a laptop for a sticker with the key. Provided you find it, download the iso file and burn it to a DVD (note that it doesn’t fit on a CD) and install from there. Alternatively, you can also create a bootable USB drive. If you plan to go that route, I could point you to resources where this is explained.
Well, if you’ve lost your original product key, I’m afraid I can’t be of much help. I don’t know if Windows 7 is still commercially distributed, but I doubt it.
Thank you! My Dell laptop with Windows 7 is getting seriously slow. I wanted to just reinstall Windows 7 and start over, but Dell didn’t put the reinstall files on the hard drive and you can’t get a disk from them anymore. I was going to buy a disk off ebay for about $6 I think, but I wondered if it was legit. I’d much rather download it from Microsoft (and I have the key number from the back of the laptop). This is awesome. I’ve bookmarked the link and it’s on my list of things to do. Thanks again. I’m glad I stumbled across this!