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June 27th, 2014 11:00

Re-installing original OS

Hi

After one of my 'raid 0' drives stopped working I removed it and tried re-installing the OS on the remaining one. What I forgot was that we had upgraded the OS from the original Vista Home Premium.

It appears that the upgrade Win 7 does not accept the product key unless the 'upgrade from' software is installed. I don't appear to have original media or a backup of it after.

The question is; can I get a download or DVD of my OEM Vista OS?

Any ideas anyone?

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June 27th, 2014 16:00

Its a waste of time reinstalling Windows Vista to upgrade to Windows 7.

Use a Digital River .iso and install via BIOS your version of Windows 7 via a clean install. The Digital River .iso will allowing booting via BIOS opposed to requiring installing via the Windows desktop:

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/download-microsoft-windows-and-office/download-microsoft-windows/windows-7-sp1-iso-download/

During installation skip entry of product key and select your version of Windows. To activate follow the instructions here:

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/a-clean-install-of-windows/microsoft-product-activation/product-activation-with-a-windows-7-upgrade-key-after-clean-installation/

You may also look at my Windows Reinstallation Guide/A Clean Install of Windows for more installation instructions:

http://dellwindowsreinstallationguide.com/a-clean-install-of-windows/

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