Windows 7

John1914

New Member
I posted this on another forum but I didn't get many bites so I thought I would give it a go here.
"So I got tired of dealing with my old computer and a friend of mine had a used computer from his job they were getting rid of. It's a Dell Optiplex 7010 and it didn't have anything wrong with it with the exception of Windows 10 and I'm not ready for Windows 10. I upgraded the boot Drive to a 500 GB Samsung 860 Evo SSD and put in 16 gigs of G skill 1600 memory along with my 4 terabyte hard drive for storage. I installed Windows 7 Professional as per the label that was on the computer itself and tried using the 25 character key from that label but it won't work so I was wondering if I'm supposed to use a specific build of Windows 7 Professional or does it have to be one that's downloaded specifically from Microsoft. I was under the assumption I could throw any Windows 7 Pro on there and be able to use the CD key from the label. Any help would be appreciated in figuring this out otherwise I'd have to call Dell and buy their restore flash drive and I'd rather not if I don't have to."

After nothing got resolved, I figured I would just bite the bullet and order the recovery media from Dell but they told me they no longer offer support of media for this PC. This is why I have always hated Dell in the past, not the PC itself just the Crappy CS. So I can't download Windows 7 from Microsoft cause my Key is invalid (someone suggested that it's because it was used to download Windows 10) and I can't get it from Dell. If there is something i'm missing I would appreciate the heads up.

Thanks A Bunch
John
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
The key on the sticker is for an OEM version of windows 7 Pro. Your copy of windows 7 Pro was probably the full version so the key on the sticker won't work. The restore media is the only way to get 7 back on there. All OEM's are like this, has nothing to do with Dell specifically. You know you can get windows 10 to look exactly like windows 7 as far as start menu, task bar. After that its not that different.
 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
You can buy windows 10 pretty much at any online retailer. However if the system already had 10 on it and you wiped it or using a new boot drive then it's just a matter of downloading windows 10 here.

It will auto activate when it gets to desktop as long as there is an internet connection.

 

johnb35

Administrator
Staff member
You can try entering the key off the sticker here and see if it will allow you to download the iso but from what I hear, OEM's don't work on that site


Otherwise you will either need to search ebay for windows 7 or bite the bullet and go to windows 10.
 
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