So I received a laptop from a friend who didn't want it any more because it didn't work. I took it and noticed the hard drive was dead. I bought a new hard drive to replace it. After I've inserted it and boot the laptop it tells me "no bootable device -- insert boot disk and pres any key" I've looked in the bios and it's recognizing the hard drive.
You gotta reinstall all the drivers and the OS on the new hard drive my man. Sent from my XT1585 using Grasscity Forum mobile app
If the new drive is empty and unformatted it has no bootable sector to be read.. Insert a bootable CD to start the computer then install an operating system on the hard drive.. ( Windows ) BNW
The only thing is the laptop doesn't had a disk drive. I have my Windows install cd for my ladies pc I built for her. Is there a way I could transfer the install files from that cd to a thumb drive or external hard drive and use that to install on the laptop? Or will that cause legal problems and connection issues? Would it be best to just buy a digital install of Windows that I can copy to my external hard drive?
So I have an old Asus laptop that I never use. It never came with a windows install disk, it had Windows 7 Home premium pre-installed. Could I contact Microsoft and ask for a install disk and tell them my laptop hard drive died? Or could I just use the AI Recovery Burner to burn my recovery discs, then somehow transfer those discs to a usb drive and boot the new laptop off that usb drive and install my windows?
If your girlfriend's edition is the same as your edition on the machine you can use the disc to load the new machine and use your own id from the microsoft sticker on the bottom of the machine.. You can transfer the disc to flash drive and boot from usb stick or you can get a usb external dvd spinner for less than 20$ on e bay. How to: What are my options for obtaining Windows 7 reinstall media? PW
Pointswest is right about being able to use the product code under the laptop to re-register your windows. What OS was it using before? If it was a win 10 machine you could just go to microsoft and use the media creation tool to make a installation disc or flash drive. You would need to know though if it was 32 bit or 64. Now if it wasnt win 10 and a earlier OS you would need to know what type ie: basic, home etc. The key will only work if it matches the type of OS. Ex: if the machine originally ran win 7 premium but you installed home version and tried to use the product key it wont work. Sometimes you can find this info in the bios. If you cant or dont want to bother you have 2 options. 1) buy a new OS install and you're done. 2) if you dont want to buy it and i dont condone doing anything illegal, but you can torrent a pre activated OS and install it. Since microsoft stops manufacturing previous OS when they put a new one out. Oh as for transfering the ISO to a usb since there isnt a disk drive. Use the program rufus its free and pretty straight forward. Put the install disk in your gf comp and connect the flash drive. Run rufus and direct it to the iso in the disk drive. Hit ok and just wait till it finishes.
The new laptop (lenovo) I'm trying to fix was running windows 8. However, I had tried swapping out the hard drives with my old laptop (asus). I got the pc to start, i downloaded all the drivers, but it still had missing pieces. The Asus runs windows 7 home premium. My girlfriends pc is running Windows 8.1 home premium. The lenovo does not have a product key sticker on the bottom of the shell. But my Asus laptop has it's product key for 7.1. I'll look into the rufus program. And also will look into "finding" a windows 7.1 and do a fresh install. Or just be an average joe and buy windows 8.1 like I did for my gf's.
Burn a copy of windows to a USB drive. Works like a charm. Use Rufus. You can find a free copy of windows 7iso somewhere on the net.. Or use your existing windows to make a copy of your windows disk to iso then burn over using Rufus. Sent from my SM-T217S using Tapatalk
The only thing with copying the windows cd my gf has is that it'll be ran on two computers simultaneously. Wouldn't that cause connection issues? Say we're both playing an online game together, wouldn't only one of us be allowed online at a time?
I am not going to get into specifics but it will probably show on the lower right hand corner of the computer of the new install that windows is not genuine but it does not effect the computer from being used... There are ways around that but I don't know whether I am allowed to post that here. Sent from my SM-T217S using Tapatalk
So basically it's just an annoying message at start up that can be resolved by clicking the little X ? I won't have any connection issues while we both play the same games online?
Well I hope this works. Well....I have no clue what I'm doing lol. I have my external hard drive selected, but I can't find an iso image on my windows install cd..
You have to convert the CD to iso then burn the iso USB with Rufus. Try youtube search. Sent from my SM-T217S using Tapatalk
burning windows to a cd to install it is just an operating system. you are not using the same product key and the 2 machines are not linked in any way. somehow i feel like im missing something with your question.
Here lets make this easy. Turn DVD to ISO: How to Make ISO File from CD, DVD, or Blu-ray Disc? Use Rufus to make bootable usb: How to use Rufus to create a bootable USB drive to install (almost) any OS - TechRepublic Rufus Download:Rufus - Create bootable USB drives the easy way or just watch this and follow it:
Thanks for the Linus video! I've been googling all day. Didn't think to look on microsoft's actual website. I stumbled upon that minutes before I checked back on here. Going to give it a try once I copy all my files off my ehdd right now.