Windows 7 -need to reinstall but........

[hayburner]

OK, long story short. Bought Dell Studio 1558 lap top 2 yrs ago. Has Windows 7 home premium 64 bit - pre-installed. Tried when we got it to make the restore discs, which failed (after several attempts). Forgot about it.

Well now we have several critical updates that won't load. Microsoft tech says we need to re-install windows. It appears we don't have a clean copy (I do have a full system back up but it was AFTER the windows issues)

What can we do to fix this? Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Core]

If the recovery partition still exists, your best bet would be to use Dell's recovery tools to create a Windows installation disc, or simply use the recovery tool to install Windows anew directly (make sure to have your data backed up somewhere else as the recovery tool will likely wipe the whole hard drive). Refer to your manual to find out how to access the recovery software.

If the recovery partition is destroyed or corrupt, you can contact Dell about getting a setup disc from them. It usually comes with a nominal fee and you just install Windows using the CD key which is printed on a sticker somewhere on your computer.

Finally, you can also go and purchase a retail copy of Windows 7 and use that. A retail copy will not come with OEM drivers, however, so you may need to download drivers from Dell's site to get all devices running right.

OEM (manufacturer) DVDs of Windows are not available online for download. If you see download links for Windows 7 disc images, those are for retail copies, and you cannot install them using the product key on your computer.

 

[TrainableMan]

OEM (manufacturer) DVDs of Windows are not available online for download. If you see download links for Windows 7 disc images, those are for retail copies, and you cannot install them using the product key on your computer.

Over the weekend I downloaded and reinstalled the W7 SP1 Home Premium (from Nib's links) onto my sisters' Dell laptop and I was able to activate it using the Product key on the bottom with no problems ... so it might be worth trying.

I was only missing a few drivers (wireless NIC being one of them) but even those all downloaded just fine once I hard-wired it to my router.

The only issues I'm still facing are the Dell "extras" that come installed on their version but are not included on the retail (Delldock, Dell backup). I'm hoping she doesn't use them and won't miss them.

 

[Core]

That is actually how I do it too. I can use the downloadable ISOs just fine with my OEM keys, but I didn't want to suggest it since I am not sure it's technically allowed. I don't personally care about that, but there are some who do...

 

[hayburner]

I spoke to Dell yesterday. The tech said you can restore to factory with the F8 function, I tried several times last night and got to 2 different menus, any function that talked about going back to factory required the recovery discs. They did say I could buy the discs but that I REALLY needed to purchase the support because its a difficult process as the drivers are not part of the OS and they come seperately. I have a hard time believing its that difficult. I have dumped our XP machine a few times (the F8 does work on that one)