How to boot a win 7 hard drive that was in Ubuntu system?

Karl Auer kauer at biplane.com.au
Thu Apr 6 09:47:03 UTC 2017


On Thu, 2017-04-06 at 09:21 +0200, Liam Proven wrote:
> On 6 April 2017 at 02:51, Jim <jf_byrnes at comcast.net> wrote:
> > All the solutions I have found require that I use a Win 7 install
> > disk to fix it
> 
> You can download a Win7 ISO direct from Microsoft. You do need a key
> to do it, though. Do you have the sticker with the product key?

Firstly, I'm pretty sure that you can install and use Windows7 without
a key, at least for a while - a month I think. Unless you can't even
download it without a key, which I somehow doubt.

Secondly, if the installed copy was licensed, it should be possible to
extract the key from that licenced copy, even without booting the
operating system. This is one possibly helpful link, Google will have
many more:

https://www.howtogeek.com/206329/how-to-find-your-lost-windows-or-offic
e-product-keys/

Thirdly, if all you want to do is run one program, don't bother about
installing or re-installing on a hard disk, install it in a virtual,
install and run the program you need, and throw the whole thing away
when you are done. This has the happy benefit of not requiring an
actual disk - you can mount the ISO directly for e.g. VirtualBox.

Fourthly, if you want Windows7 on an ongoing basis, combine recovering
the key with installing a virtual. You can even install the virtual on
your now-spare disk :-)

Regards, K.

PS: Silly question I know, but did the Windows7 you have come with the
computer? The licence key may be on a sticker somewhere. And if the
digits of the key have worn off, as they often do, sometimes the
barcode is still readable.

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Karl Auer (kauer at biplane.com.au)
http://www.biplane.com.au/kauer
http://twitter.com/kauer389

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