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May 28th, 2021 06:00
Windows 7 Home Basic, Inspiron M5040
BIOS = A06. Replaced the HDD with an SSD.
Firstly this laptop is quite old now and I do not have the recovery disks anymore and therefore cannot reinstall the Windows 7 OS.
The following link will not work:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/software-download/windows7
The product key you entered appears to be for software pre-installed by the device manufacturer. Please contact the device manufacturer for software recovery options.
Any assistance will be welcome.
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Kflash08
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May 28th, 2021 07:00
Do you still have the original HDD that came with the laptop? Is it in working condition and does it still have the factory recovery partition on it? If so, reinstall the HDD and see if you can create a set of recovery CDs or a USB flash drive which you can then use to reinstall Windows on your SSD.
Seeing that Windows 7 is no longer supported by Microsoft, you can try to install and activate Windows 10 using the Media Creation Tool, though this method is not guaranteed to work anymore. When prompted for the product key, enter the key found on Windows 7 COA label on the bottom of the laptop. If you can retrieve the Windows 7 product key from the old hard drive, you can use that as well. Once Windows 10 is installed, install any missing network adapter (LAN, WiFi) drivers and connect to the internet. Open the Settings app, navigate to Update & Security and click on Activation on the left hand side to verify your activation status.