Operating system DELETED!!!

[Lewis1987]

I accidentally deleted my operating system a few weeks ago and have since purchased a W7 product key. I downloaded the W7 ISO file and moved it to my flash drive, then connected it to my computer with no operating system. Nothing happened. I checked the boot order in the BIOS settings and can confirm that USB/Floppy disk is prioritized #1.

After retrying several times it still hasn't worked.

HP Pro 3515 Series
AMD A6-5400k APU with Radeon HD
3600 MHz


Need to know anything else? Post below.

 

[BadActor]

You have to use something like Rufus or the Windows Media Creation Tool to make the USB bootable.

https://rufus.akeo.ie/

 

[Lewis1987]

You have to use something like Rufus or the Windows Media Creation Tool to make the USB bootable.

https://rufus.akeo.ie/

I thought so! I’ll pick your answer as the solution but beforehand, I have a followup question. When I downloaded windows 10 onto the flash drive with a media creation tool a while ago, I wasn't able to complete the installation because whenever I selected a drive for it to be downloaded on, no drive was compatible. If the same issue occurs, what then?

 

[BadActor]

Try formatting the USB first and choose FAT32 for the file system.

 

[BadActor]

If you can create a Windows 10 installation USB, you can just install it and use the Windows 7 key to activate it.

 

[Lewis1987]

If you can create a Windows 10 installation USB, you can just install it and use the Windows 7 key to activate it.

If I do that successfully, can I then downgrade to W7? W10 is not for me.

In any case, as I mentioned, I couldn't install W10 due to not having a compatible drive for it. I'm a noob.

 

[USAFRet]

If you can create a Windows 10 installation USB, you can just install it and use the Windows 7 key to activate it.

If I do that successfully, can I then downgrade to W7? W10 is not for me.

In any case, as I mentioned, I couldn't install W10 due to not having a compatible drive for it. I'm a noob.

Where did you obtain the Win 7 license key and ISO file?

 

[Lewis1987]

If you can create a Windows 10 installation USB, you can just install it and use the Windows 7 key to activate it.

If I do that successfully, can I then downgrade to W7? W10 is not for me.

In any case, as I mentioned, I couldn't install W10 due to not having a compatible drive for it. I'm a noob.

Where did you obtain the Win 7 license key and ISO file?

Softwaregeeks - 18.99 professional product key

 

[BadActor]

If you can create a Windows 10 installation USB, you can just install it and use the Windows 7 key to activate it.

If I do that successfully, can I then downgrade to W7? W10 is not for me.

In any case, as I mentioned, I couldn't install W10 due to not having a compatible drive for it. I'm a noob.

Noooo! I assumed you were wanting to upgrade to 10 since you said you had already tried to download it.

 

[Corwin65]

If you can create a Windows 10 installation USB, you can just install it and use the Windows 7 key to activate it.

If I do that successfully, can I then downgrade to W7? W10 is not for me.

In any case, as I mentioned, I couldn't install W10 due to not having a compatible drive for it. I'm a noob.

Where did you obtain the Win 7 license key and ISO file?

Softwaregeeks - 18.99 professional product key

Gray market . . . you know it's possible that MS will not let you use or at some point disable that key?

 

[USAFRet]

If you can create a Windows 10 installation USB, you can just install it and use the Windows 7 key to activate it.

If I do that successfully, can I then downgrade to W7? W10 is not for me.

In any case, as I mentioned, I couldn't install W10 due to not having a compatible drive for it. I'm a noob.

Where did you obtain the Win 7 license key and ISO file?

Softwaregeeks - 18.99 professional product key

Win 7 Pro for $18.99 is not valid.
Be prepared to purchase this again, when MS invalidates that license.

 

[Lewis1987]

If you can create a Windows 10 installation USB, you can just install it and use the Windows 7 key to activate it.

If I do that successfully, can I then downgrade to W7? W10 is not for me.

In any case, as I mentioned, I couldn't install W10 due to not having a compatible drive for it. I'm a noob.

Where did you obtain the Win 7 license key and ISO file?

Softwaregeeks - 18.99 professional product key

Gray market . . . you know it's possible that MS will not let you use or at some point disable that key?

If you can create a Windows 10 installation USB, you can just install it and use the Windows 7 key to activate it.

If I do that successfully, can I then downgrade to W7? W10 is not for me.

In any case, as I mentioned, I couldn't install W10 due to not having a compatible drive for it. I'm a noob.

Where did you obtain the Win 7 license key and ISO file?

Softwaregeeks - 18.99 professional product key

Win 7 Pro for $18.99 is not valid.
Be prepared to purchase this again, when MS invalidates that license.

I didn't know nor was I made aware of that.

 

[SkyNetRising]

I accidentally deleted my operating system

Explain me please, how did you do that?

 

[mjslakeridge]

#1. How do you "accidentally" delete an OS? I suspect the original OS was from a shady source and MS deactivated it.

#2. As said above, be prepared to go through this again. Or keep buying invalid keys and get a couple weeks of use out of them.

 

[USAFRet]

I didn't know nor was I made aware of that.

Generally, with a Windows OS, if you find it much cheaper than the major resellers (Amazon/Newegg/Microcenter), it is not valid.
Does it work initially? Sure. But very, very often, those license keys get invalidated.
The source for those keys is often stolen credit cards (money laundering). Or, MSDN or TechNet licenses that are not valid for resale.

For instance, when TechNet was a thing a couple of years ago, I had a subscription. $200.
For testing within your environment. Multiple licenses of multiple OS's.

I could turn around and sell those for $30 per license, and make a bunch of money. Later, when they get invalidated from MS...too bad for the 100 people that gave me $30 each.

 

[Lewis1987]

#1. How do you "accidentally" delete an OS? I suspect the original OS was from a shady source and MS deactivated it.

#2. As said above, be prepared to go through this again. Or keep buying invalid keys and get a couple weeks of use out of them.

You're completely wrong. Firstly, I've never bought a product key or an installation disc. Every computer I've ever owned had a version of windows readily available, so please, slow down with your judgmental attitude.

I simply did a quick google search, saw an ad with an okay deal which in hindsight appeared to be legitimate and I quickly made the purchase.

I accidentally deleted my OS because after attempting to reset my PC due to wifi adapter and W10 problems. During the reset, there was an error which presumably corrupted the system.

 

[Corwin65]

No judgement, if I didn't know better I'd be snapping those up as well. I'm happy you didn't pay more as I've seen some selling those for 50-60.

 

[mjslakeridge]

If your computer came pre-built with an OS already installed, you might be able to contact the computer's maker and get a recovery disk or new OS from them for no cost, after explaining what happened.