New Hard Drive, New OS, Driver help

[Scdc44]

I have an Acer Aspire 5742 that originally came with Windows 7 HE. My hard drive failed recently and I had to replace it. Unfortunately I did not make any recovery cds for windows 7 and I no longer own the windows 7 installation disks. What I do own is Vista reinstallation disks.... so I put vista (32 bit) on the laptop. I am now at the point where I need to install all of the drivers, and I went looking for them... unfortunately the only drivers I can find for the laptop are for windows 7, 8, and 8.1. So my question is twofold, and if anyone can help me with either one that would be amazing.

1) Is vista compatible with this laptop, and if so how can I find the drivers (Not even Acer's website has vista drivers)

2) Failing that, is there a place where I can download windows 7 Home Edition (I have a product key for HE) and somehow burn it to a cd/put it on a flash drive.


If I could afford it I would just go out and buy a new copy of windows 7 and bypass these problems, but I cannot at the moment.


Thank you all

 

[andy_Man]

Windows 7 is essentially Vista SP3 and greater. afaik You can try installing the windows 7 drivers. As far as downloading windows 7 home edition, I don't know have you tried Microsoft? Also Acer might have an option to send out new cd's.

 

[Neur0nauT]

If you still have your activation key then you can probably get download links from Lenovo support for your Windows 7 recovery disks. Just goto their support and register the laptop if not already done, and see what they suggest.

 

[andy_Man]

Also try going directly to the manufacturer of the hardware for drivers. Example go to Intel website for chipset/raid/nic drivers. Amd/Nvidia for graphics. Realtec for audio. (If it's them). You can get some guidance for this by looking at the drivers for the other OS's. If you see it has a certain sata controller by _____ Company. Go to that website and look for a vista driver.

 

[Louise Porkolt]

Hi Scdc44,
I have a question for you: do you have a 2nd PC to download the win7-HE-cd ? ;-)
"the what-was-first? the-chicken-or-the-egg-issue", heheh.

I did the same thing recently (download an CD with all the versions of win7 ISO-file)
I can show you a spot where to download them but if MS sees this it wouldn't last long before they remove it... I think.

I did a search in google like this: +"parent directory" +"index of" +"Windows7" +"iso"
and found it into FTP-sites where it's easy and safer to download.

Once the ISO downloaded I got it burned on a DVD and started the installation.

Next... the problems are only starting... the CD found was not made for the PC and all the drivers had to be downloaded manually. Except if you find the network-adapter-driver first and install it via a USB-stick.
Then let windows find the drivers automatically.

if you need more help just let me know.
cheers, Louise..

 

[Scdc44]

I also have an ASUS laptop (N550jk) so yes I do.

 

[APassingMe]

As long as you have the windows 7 license key you should be able to use a compatible version of windows 7 and activate with the oem key. You will have to download the drivers for your computer though. Another option is to buy the windows 7 recovery CDs from Lenovo.

 

[APassingMe]

Here is a completely legal link to downloadable windows iso files... you will need a valid windows key for the edition that you download (SP version matters too).

http://www.w7forums.com/threads/official-windows-7-sp1-iso-image-downloads.12325/

 

[Louise Porkolt]

if you do the search the 2nd website (russian) is quite ok.
They have russian and english win-version !

I installed my friends with an downloaded iso from there ! (I had a windows-key on the bottom of the laptop, so it's still legal !

Let me know if you managed with the drivers !
cheers, Louise

 

[andy_Man]

Ding ding ding winner winner.

 

[Louise Porkolt]

@APassingMe, thanx for that link.
didn't know that existed... I`m just stuck searching that other way.

cheers, Louise

 

[Scdc44]

That link is actually perfect, I have the product key still on the back of the laptop, so all I need is the actual installation os. Thanks for your help, I'll download that and then I'll try to do all the drivers.

All of your answers are/were greatly appreciated, thank you^^