Find out which Win7 is installed?

[lp231]

For XP when you press F8 and select "Choose OS Menu" it will tell you whether it's XP Home or Pro.
For Win7 it doesn't give you that option.
Is there a way to find out which version of Windows 7 is installed when a system won't boot?
Using the Win7 disc and run a command through repair console to find out?

The label on the Win7 disc or COA tells you, but just want to know if there is another method.
Thanks!

 

[Zenthar]

For XP when you press F8 and select "Choose OS Menu" it will tell you whether it's XP Home or Pro.
For Win7 it doesn't give you that option.
Is there a way to find out which version of Windows 7 is installed when a system won't boot?
Using the Win7 disc and run a command through repair console to find out?

The label on the Win7 disc or COA tells you, but just want to know if there is another method.
Thanks!

Do you have the actual license of the installed Windows, this can be reversed to get the information.

 

[DelroyMonjo]

Control panel/System and security/System.
Look 3 lines down and there it is.
Problem solved.

 

[Zenthar]

Control panel/System and security/System.
Look 3 lines down and there it is.
Problem solved.

From the original message:

Is there a way to find out which version of Windows 7 is installed when a system won't boot?

 

[lp231]

Do you have the actual license of the installed Windows, this can be reversed to get the information.

Like how?

 

[Zenthar]

Like how?

With tools like this one.

 

[lp231]

That only works in Windows...
I'll try to explain the best I can with my question as I'm still searching for this answer myself.

Let's say a friend of yours bring you his Win7 machine and it will not boot.
You tried all possible troubleshooting methods (safemode, last know, etc...) and none
of them works. Now you want to reformat and put in a clean version of Win7.
You spot the license sticker on the case, but the label that tells you what edition of Windows 7 installed has fade out with only the product key left intact.
You ask your friend what edition of Windows 7 he has and does he have the original disc? He replied, he doesn't know what Windows 7 edition he's running and the computer never came with any disc.
Now what?
Windows 7 has 4 editions for the consumer: Starter, Home Premium, Professional, and Ultimate.
You can do trial and error by installing each edition of Win7 and see which edition will accept that product key, but Win7 ask for the key after the installation (Vista is the opposite), and that will take lots of time.
How can you find out which edition of Windows 7 was installed onto your friend's computer when the system will not even
let you get into Windows, without having going through that trial and error process?
Is there a command you can type in recovery console to bring up the edition that was installed or is there another method?

BTW, if you go to start\Run and type in Winver it gives you the edition your running.
Inserting a Win7 OS disc and typing the same command in recovery console under C:\windows
system32 gives you the same dialogue box, but it doesn't tell you what edition of OS your running. So this
method isn't the solution to that question.

 

[DelroyMonjo]

How'bout this. Remove the HDD from the 'unknown' and install it in a known working computer as drive C: Then if it boots, use the aforementioned suggestions.
I am going to assume the computer will POST, is this correct?

 

[Herr_Koos]

Best way I can think of would be to insert a valid Win7 disc (any version), boot from it, and then select the Repair option. This will look for existing installations of Windows to repair and should show you what version currently exists on the drive.

 

[Zenthar]

That only works in Windows...
I'll try to explain the best I can with my question as I'm still searching for this answer myself.

But you can run the application on another working Windows machine, it doesn't have to be the machine you are trying to diagnose. So you could use the software on your own PC, enter the product key and see what it says, it will even tell you if it's Retail or OEM.

 

[lp231]

How'bout this. Remove the HDD from the 'unknown' and install it in a known working computer as drive C: Then if it boots, use the aforementioned suggestions.
I am going to assume the computer will POST, is this correct?

Drive wont' boot, then it will also not boot from another computer.
If the drive is working and you took it to another computer, the chance of actually booting are slim because
Windows 7 recognizes the board it was originally installed on, this is why when someone changes a board, they will have to reinstall the OS. Sometimes if you're lucky you won't have to or another way is to get a board with the same brand chipset, although it's not always guarantee it's going to work.

Best way I can think of would be to insert a valid Win7 disc (any version), boot from it, and then select the Repair option. This will look for existing installations of Windows to repair and should show you what version currently exists on the drive.

Insert Win7 disc, hit repair, it only says "Windows 7" and nothing else. Then I realized it must be something to do with the boot file so I did a experiment.

I installed Windows 7 Home Preimum 32bit on a virtual machine.
After the install, I fired up command prompt and type in
[cpp]Bcdedit /enum[/cpp]
It gave me all the info of the boot file and next to description it says "Windows 7"
I then edit that description by typing
[cpp]bcdedit /set {type identifier code here} description "Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit" [/cpp]
The change completed successfully.
I restarted the OS, boot from Win7 disc and hit repair, Now under "description", instead of saying
"Windows 7", it says "Windows 7 Home Premium 32bit".

But you can run the application on another working Windows machine, it doesn't have to be the machine you are trying to diagnose. So you could use the software on your own PC, enter the product key and see what it says, it will even tell you if it's Retail or OEM.

Looks like this is the only method, but it would suck if you don't have a spare machine lying around.
I can't believe XP has this option while Win7 don't

 

[Zenthar]

Looks like this is the only method, but it would suck if you don't have a spare machine lying around.
I can't believe XP has this option while Win7 don't

I think it's because back in the XP days the "core" of the OS was different from one to the other as for Vista/Win7, it's all the same except for some features (even the installation medium is the same; just delete the ei.cfg file on the DVD and you get an universal one). But yes, I do agree there should be something even if just a .txt file saying what was activated last.

If you don't have a spare PC, I'm sure you can call Microsoft and they will tell you what product the key is for.

 

[lp231]

Yeah, I have created a Win7 all in one disc with all the editions (including both 32bit and 64bit) into a single 4.7GB DVD.
If I were to choose between the trial and error or call MS for support.
I'll rather go with trial and error.
Amount of time doing trail and error will be a lot shorter than calling MS!