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KRyan

KRyan

Pre-takeoff checklist
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KRyan
OK, here's the story . . .

I bought a used laptop from our vocational school. They were sold with no software at all, other than DOS, or I guess that's what it is. It runs and AUTOEXEC BAT, and when it's done running, I get a C:> prompt.

I want to install Windows on it. The machine had apparently been running Vista, but it meets the sytem requirments for Windows 7.

When I went to buy it, there are different versions. One is an "upgrade" version, which appears to be if you are already running Vista, you can upgrade to 7, then there's a Home version, then there's a professional version, then there are versions that are to be installed on computers that are intended for resale, etc etc.

Which one should I buy???
 
Get the full version (upgrade discs don't install fresh first time) of Pro or look at getting one of the versions of Win8.
 
Henning said:
Get the full version (upgrade discs don't install fresh first time) of Pro or look at getting one of the versions of Win8.
Click to expand...

Get Pro, if you are planning on using it for business, otherwise Home Premium is fine. There should be an economical upgrade available when 8 ships. The main differences between Home Premium and Pro is greater memory support; 16 GB vs 192 GB. encryption capability and the ability to join and be managed by a domain.
 
If you don't have the actual Vista installation CD then I'm guessing an upgrade won't do you much good. If you do then you'll probably need to install Vista first then an upgrade. I've never tried this since I've always had licenses to full versions from work.

I'd go with Windows 7 Home Premium absent any information on how you're going to use it. The OEM license versions are exactly the same as the non-OEM versions.

If you have access to another computer with broadband you could just download Windows 8 Release Preview. It won't last much past the release of Windows 8 later this year but it's free and I haven't found anything yet that will not run on it save for some specific Lenovo utilities for my particular computer. Do this if you're comfortable running some beta software and you think you might be interested in having the latest Windows by the end of the year. Note that if you have older hardware Windows 8 may actually perform better than Windows 7 due to recent MS focus on optimizing for mobile computing.
 
Henning said:
Get the full version (upgrade discs don't install fresh first time) of Pro or look at getting one of the versions of Win8.
Click to expand...

Yes, this is the one you want.

Regretably, you should expect to pay in the hundreds because you're having to purchase a full blown copy. You don't want the upgrade copy.

And you might consider Vista anyway - it runs pretty well and in general with Windows, you'll run faster with an earlier version of the OS.
 
bflynn said:
Yes, this is the one you want.

Regretably, you should expect to pay in the hundreds because you're having to purchase a full blown copy. You don't want the upgrade copy.

And you might consider Vista anyway - it runs pretty well and in general with Windows, you'll run faster with an earlier version of the OS.
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You're not going to beat 8 with Vista... :no:
I boot in less than 15 seconds on 8.
 
hopmedic said:
If the hardware will support it, download and install the Release Preview of Windows 8. You'll need a product key, as well: TK8TP-9JN6P-7X7WW-RFFTV-B7QPF

Then, when Win8 is released, buy a copy of that. No need to buy 7 now and 8 later.
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No offense intended, but it sounds like the OP is not that technical. Most early adopters have other computers they can fall back on and some patience and knowledge to wade through the inevitable issues. I am not sure I would encourage him to become a beta tester. Even if Microsoft's code is perfect out of the box, they don't write thier own drives or ensure compatibility with legacy programs. Also, finding a compatible antivirus solution at this point may be difficult.
 
download and install Ubuntu, CENTos, Redhat or other ...
 
John221us said:
No offense intended, but it sounds like the OP is not that technical. Most early adopters have other computers they can fall back on and some patience and knowledge to wade through the inevitable issues. I am not sure I would encourage him to become a beta tester. Even if Microsoft's code is perfect out of the box, they don't write thier own drives or ensure compatibility with legacy programs. Also, finding a compatible antivirus solution at this point may be difficult.
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Good points.... I hadn't thought about it from that light but should have. I was trying to save him money, but you're right. People who aren't tech saavy aren't necesarily the best ones to be running the RC. Sorry, OP. Follow the other guys' advice. :redface:
 
My daughter bought a new laptop 2-3 years ago. The laptop died, but she still has the Vista discs. From what I understand, Microsoft doesn't care if you install the operating system on another machine, you just shouldn't run it on more than one. All I have to do is install it and register it.

Since my daughter's machine died, and her new machine came with new software, supposedly I could install her old Vista, and then buy the upgrade kit, right?

Now, if she can only find her Vista discs . . .
 
KRyan said:
My daughter bought a new laptop 2-3 years ago. The laptop died, but she still has the Vista discs. From what I understand, Microsoft doesn't care if you install the operating system on another machine, you just shouldn't run it on more than one. All I have to do is install it and register it.

Since my daughter's machine died, and her new machine came with new software, supposedly I could install her old Vista, and then buy the upgrade kit, right?

Now, if she can only find her Vista discs . . .
Click to expand...

Not true. OEM versions of the OS are bound to a specific machine and die with the machine, unless you purchase Software Assurance within 30 days of the purchase of the computer.
 
John221us said:
Not true. OEM versions of the OS are bound to a specific machine and die with the machine, unless you purchase Software Assurance within 30 days of the purchase of the computer.
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True dat.

Also, in many cases, the disks that came with the machine will only work on that make, and in some casess model, of computer. Back when I wanted Win98SE on my Win98 machine, I got around this by putting my hard drive in someone else's computer, but that's not "normal user" stuff... ;)
 
OTOH, if Vista was the original operating system on the computer and the OEM key for it was provided to you with the machine, you could use her disks to reinstall it and activate it with the key that you already have for that specific computer you just bought.

I own a company that is Microsoft Gold Partner and I am somewhat of an expert on Microsoft licensing, as I am professionally engaged with providing this type of advice to my customers, large and small. Microsoft has several licensing programs, OEM (sold with a computer by the manufacturer and attatched to that specific computer), Retail (boxed product), Open Business and Open Value and then they have some volume contracts, like Select and Enterprise that apply to larger business. If you buy a retail version, you would have the right to move that license from computer to computer (this is also true of any of the other programs, except OEM). This also applies if you buy your MS Office license as an OEM license (for instance, through Dell). Then that license, too, would die with the machine and could not be moved to another computer.
 
As a co-worker said the other day...

"When you get to the point where your company offers a CERTIFICATION COURSE and TEST in how to handle licensing your product, you may have gone too far."

Microsoft loves their customers, really they do.
 
denverpilot said:
As a co-worker said the other day...

"When you get to the point where your company offers a CERTIFICATION COURSE and TEST in how to handle licensing your product, you may have gone too far."

Microsoft loves their customers, really they do.
Click to expand...

All you have to do to appreciate MSFT licensing is start dealing with ESRI. It's MUCH easier to pirate than it is to actually legally license.
 
My daughter's original machine was a Gateway, and it came with the Vista. The computer I bought was supplied with Vista, and has the product key sticker on the back, but the Vista that was installed was deleted.
 
KRyan said:
My daughter's original machine was a Gateway, and it came with the Vista. The computer I bought was supplied with Vista, and has the product key sticker on the back, but the Vista that was installed was deleted.
Click to expand...

If you want to install Vista (I am not sure I would bother), your best bet is to contact the manufacturer of the laptop for a download of the recovery disk for that model. That will have all the correct drivers and stuff. Then activate it with the key that is on the machine. As pointed out above, you might have difficulty trying to use the disks for a Gateway and if you don't know what you are doing, you have a good chance of not succeeding.
 
The reason I'm interested in installing the Vista is that I already have it, and can buy the Windows 7 upgrade package cheaper than buying Windows 7 outright. My "new" laptop is a Dell, so maybe I can't do it, though.
 
KRyan said:
The reason I'm interested in installing the Vista is that I already have it, and can buy the Windows 7 upgrade package cheaper than buying Windows 7 outright. My "new" laptop is a Dell, so maybe I can't do it, though.
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Yes, you can call Dell and ask how you can obtain a recovery disk for that laptop. That, combined with the product key that you already have, should get the machine back to how it shipped from the factory. The recovery disks are designed to be fairly easy to use and don't require any significant amount of technical skill.
 
denverpilot said:
As a co-worker said the other day...

"When you get to the point where your company offers a CERTIFICATION COURSE and TEST in how to handle licensing your product, you may have gone too far."

Microsoft loves their customers, really they do.
Click to expand...

Microsoft acknowledges this, but the challenge is in the vast numbers of products and licensing models they need to support (perpetual, multi-tenant, annuity, CAL based, processor based, external access...) , not to mention the different types of clients (retail, business, enterprise, governement, education, non-profit, service provider....). Just try to figure out multi-instance SQL licensing in a virtual environment.
 
John221us said:
OTOH, if Vista was the original operating system on the computer and the OEM key for it was provided to you with the machine, you could use her disks to reinstall it and activate it with the key that you already have for that specific computer you just bought.
Click to expand...
While I agree that you are correct in the legalities, in my experience, most of the OEM disks I've had would simply not install on different computers, as they checked hardware to be sure it was the right MLB before it allowed the install to run.

John221us said:
If you want to install Vista (I am not sure I would bother), your best bet is to contact the manufacturer of the laptop for a download of the recovery disk for that model. That will have all the correct drivers and stuff. Then activate it with the key that is on the machine. As pointed out above, you might have difficulty trying to use the disks for a Gateway and if you don't know what you are doing, you have a good chance of not succeeding.
Click to expand...
This would be the best bet. Has the drivers (and like someone mentioned, OP doesn't sound like a geek like us ;)), you know it will install on the hardware, and the last time I checked (been a while), OEMs were only charging like $10-$15 for the disks, so it's cheap.
 
John221us said:
Microsoft acknowledges this, but the challenge is in the vast numbers of products and licensing models they need to support (perpetual, multi-tenant, annuity, CAL based, processor based, external access...) , not to mention the different types of clients (retail, business, enterprise, governement, education, non-profit, service provider....). Just try to figure out multi-instance SQL licensing in a virtual environment.
Click to expand...

Acknowledging that you're bat-**** crazy is only the first step. ;)
 
You can install the Win7 upgrade on a clean HD if you own a previous non OEM version of Windows. Install it on the machine but don't activate it when it boots up. You get the "trial version" of Win 7. Then reinstall it over top of itself by running the setup from inside Win7. Win7 sees the original installation of Win7 as a valid previous install. Activate it and you're good to go.

See option #4 http://tinyurl.com/yhbv7r6

Did it on a brand new HD and it worked a charm.
 
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