You can format the HDD and reinstall the operating of your preference. The drivers for Windows 7 are available for this system in the support website. You can use the Operating system CD you purchased two years ago. However the system warranty will not support any issue with regard to the Windows 7 Operating system.
Please find the link below to download the drivers for Windows 7 Operating system:
Please follow my wiki A Clean Install of Windows 7. I assume you have a retail license. In that case you should use the 64 bit .iso with Service Pack 1. You can use your DVD also but I recommend the .iso if your DVD doesn't have Service Pack 1 or if your DVD is 32 bit, you shouldn't install the 32 bit version of WIndows 7 on this model. The product keys are the same for both versions (32 bit or 64 bit) so it doesn't matter if your original DVD is 32 bit.
You should disable Secure Boot. If the installation still fails you may need to change UEFI to "legacy" in the BIOS setup and start the installation again. See here and here.
Yes you should get the option on where to install Windows. When you get to this screen you should have multiple hard drives listed, pick the largest partition on the 250 GB SSD.
Thanks to both of you for all this helpful information! It really is amazing how you've documented everything so it's easy to understand. Very nice! I would like to ask one more thing. My XPS has the 250gb ssd along with a SATA. When I install Windows 7, I can install to the 250gb ssd... right??
DELL-Sujatha K
Community Manager
•
3.3K Posts
1
November 30th, 2012 07:00
Hi mshomo,
You can format the HDD and reinstall the operating of your preference. The drivers for Windows 7 are available for this system in the support website. You can use the Operating system CD you purchased two years ago. However the system warranty will not support any issue with regard to the Windows 7 Operating system.
Please find the link below to download the drivers for Windows 7 Operating system:
http://dell.to/NLbej8
Click on the link below for the order in which the drivers has to be installed.
http://dell.to/P0Ddgn
Philip_Yip
9 Legend
•
16.1K Posts
1
November 30th, 2012 18:00
Before starting, create Windows 8 Recovery Media just in case:
• How to Restore using USB Recovery [Video - Dell Travis]
Please follow my wiki A Clean Install of Windows 7. I assume you have a retail license. In that case you should use the 64 bit .iso with Service Pack 1. You can use your DVD also but I recommend the .iso if your DVD doesn't have Service Pack 1 or if your DVD is 32 bit, you shouldn't install the 32 bit version of WIndows 7 on this model. The product keys are the same for both versions (32 bit or 64 bit) so it doesn't matter if your original DVD is 32 bit.
See my post here about loading the SATA drivers.
You should disable Secure Boot. If the installation still fails you may need to change UEFI to "legacy" in the BIOS setup and start the installation again. See here and here.
Philip_Yip
9 Legend
•
16.1K Posts
1
December 1st, 2012 05:00
Yes you should get the option on where to install Windows. When you get to this screen you should have multiple hard drives listed, pick the largest partition on the 250 GB SSD.
http://en.community.dell.com/cfs-file.ashx/__key/communityserver-wikis-components-files/00-00-00-00-18/6787.Capture9.PNG
mshomo
14 Posts
0
December 1st, 2012 04:00
Thanks to both of you for all this helpful information! It really is amazing how you've documented everything so it's easy to understand. Very nice! I would like to ask one more thing. My XPS has the 250gb ssd along with a SATA. When I install Windows 7, I can install to the 250gb ssd... right??
mshomo
14 Posts
0
December 4th, 2012 07:00
Thanks for all the help. I installed Windows 7 and everything went fine.
Philip_Yip
9 Legend
•
16.1K Posts
0
December 4th, 2012 11:00
Great :)