Win 7 in refurb'd PC, need system disk

[TriDee]

I recently got a refurbished PC to have as a 2nd machine. It's an older Dell, originally came with Vista, but the refurber installed a new copy of win 7 pro 64 bit. As with many OEM installs, I got no system disk, but there's some manner of backup in a 2nd partition on the 1TB HDD that came with the PC, which can supposedly be used to reload the OS in event of trouble. Since I tend to build my machines, I've never encountered that setup before (having no OS cd/dvd). I have the Windows "genuine" sticker, and the product key for the OS. Is there any way to burn a usable/universally installable PRO 7 system install disk from the data that came with the refurbed unit (the "restore" partition). Any way I can accomplish these things?

TIA

Fred

 

[Reyaz123]

Here's the site for that:
Follow all steps given, and it should allow you to create the disc.
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-recovery


Once the disc is created, go into your bios settings at power on by pressing the del key (might be different for your PC model)

Go to the boot tab, go to boot priority and move the CD drive to the top of the list using the - or + keys on your keyboard. Save and reboot with your disc in the drive.

Once it boots from the CD, proceed with the installation

 

[TriDee]

Thanks for the reply. I had tried that before, but it doesn't recognize my key (which I'm sure is correct, since it is in the docs that came w/the PC & also appears in Speccy). I hadn't "activated" the install yet (there's a link to this on the desktop, but since the OS hadn't been bugging me about it as it usually does, I hadn't done it yet), so I just did so, & will try the DL site again tomorrow or Monday. Clearly just dl'ing an .ISO would be best, but should this not be doable, is there any way to get a workable installation disk from the data in the restore/backup partition?

 

[Reyaz123]

I personally think you should call microsoft or your PC company. They will most likely help you with it since you have your key written down.

The only way to get a workable installation disk is only through the ISO file. If you had created a recovery media while your PC was still functional, it could've been repaired.

Something else you can try is using that pc hard drive into another computer as a secondary drive and create a recovery disc from that, but it wouldn't give you the full setup and only access to the recovery files

 

[TriDee]

I personally think you should call microsoft or your PC company. They will most likely help you with it since you have your key written down.

The only way to get a workable installation disk is only through the ISO file. If you had created a recovery media while your PC was still functional, it could've been repaired.

Something else you can try is using that pc hard drive into another computer as a secondary drive and create a recovery disc from that, but it wouldn't give you the full setup and only access to the recovery files

 

[TriDee]

The refurb'd PC runs fine. This is to be a 2nd/backup machine. My main machine (build) now runs win7 HOME 64 bit. The refurb'd one is PRO. The PRO install is on a 1TB HDD. What I was planning to do after obtaining a usable PRO install disk was put a fresh install of the PRO on the SSD in my main machine, then install HOME (I have a retail disk) on a 2nd SSD, installed in the refurbed/backup machine, using the 1TB drive now running PRO as storage in the 2nd machine. I'll try the ISO site a couple more times, and if it's still nogo, I'll try calling M$.

 

[TriDee]

I should add that another reason I want to do a reinstall on the refurb'd one is it's currently running SATA under ATA, I'd prefer AHCI, which should be faster. Tried simply switching that in BIOS, but OS won't boot, no surprise.

 

[Reyaz123]

I should add that another reason I want to do a reinstall on the refurb'd one is it's currently running SATA under ATA, I'd prefer AHCI, which should be faster. Tried simply switching that in BIOS, but OS won't boot, no surprise.

If you have any of these options in your refurbished PC bios, try these
"Secure boot option" disable
"Fast boot" disable
"Launch CSM" enable
Maybe it will boot from AHCI after changing these settings

 

[TriDee]

Thanks, I'll give that a try. I appreciate your input!