Going Legit with Windows 7

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eracode

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# 80134 27-Mar-2011 10:32

Prior to the release of Windows 7 our son loaded a beta-type version of W7 on my wife's then-new Asus netbook. It was running fine but now she says it takes 5 - 10 minutes to boot and she is getting 'non-genuine' warnings.

Son has now gone away and we want to sort this out and get legit. What is the best way to do this? We only want a modest version of W7 because she only uses her netbook for very basic stuff. I'm really not sure how to approach all this especialy since the netbook has no optical drive. Clearly happy to pay for the product and also pay someone to to do it for us if necessary.

Comments and advice welcomed.

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freitasm

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# 452307 27-Mar-2011 10:39

Just try www.ascent.co.nz - Windows Home Premium at $168, way less than $389 at Dick Smith. Make sure you get the right one, but being a netbook I'd say 32 bit.

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semigeek

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# 452312 27-Mar-2011 10:45

That's OEM is it not, so the OP will have to buy a piece of hardware to get it at that price, that's normally how OEM stuff works is it not? Even if they were to just buy a cheap cable

valtam

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# 452316 27-Mar-2011 10:48

I would phone Microsoft NZ Support and ask them firstly if you can upgrade from Beta to Retail, and go from there. You may have to resort to buying a copy of Windows 7, transferring it to a USB drive and booting from it to install eg. http://www.intowindows.com/how-to-install-windows-7vista-from-usb-drive-detailed-100-working-guide/ What programs does she use on the netbook? Have you considered using a variant of Linux? Its free.

Support a locally made Linux based Operating System, try Linux Lite.
Download Linux Lite

freitasm

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# 452317 27-Mar-2011 10:49

semigeek: That's OEM is it not, so the OP will have to buy a piece of hardware to get it at that price, that's normally how OEM stuff works is it not? Even if they were to just buy a cheap cable

They don't check this these days.

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eracode

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# 452320 27-Mar-2011 10:54

The $168 version is OEM but there is another $166 Wiindows Anytime Upgrade version that enables upgrade from 'W7 Starter' (whatever that is). Would our beta version qualify as Windows 7 Starter?

Also I am guessing that these come on a DVD. How do we get it onto the netbook?

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

sbiddle

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# 452329 27-Mar-2011 11:02

eracode: The $168 version is OEM but there is another $166 Wiindows Anytime Upgrade version that enables upgrade from 'W7 Starter' (whatever that is). Would our beta version qualify as Windows 7 Starter?

Also I am guessing that these come on a DVD. How do we get it onto the netbook?

AnyTime upgrade enabls upgrades from lower versions of Windows 7 to highger ones, ie Starter to Premium. You don't have a Winodws 7 licence so that won't apply.

To install you'll need to use a USB drive, this has already been detailed above by somebody.

hellonearthisman

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# 452336 27-Mar-2011 11:09

The Home Premium would be way less hassle than an upgrade.
http://www.ascent.co.nz/productspecification.aspx?ItemID=382321

To install it onto the netbook you will need a USB key or SD card of 4GB in size.

You can use http://www.imgburn.com/ to make an ISO image copy of the win7 DVD

Then use http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/ to copy the ISO image to your USB key and make it bootable.

Then all you need to do is plug the usb drive into the netbook and start it up,
press the escape key at the start of boot and select to boot from the USB key,
then it's away and just need to follow the instructions.

Oh an backup your important data before you start.

ArtooDetoo

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# 452351 27-Mar-2011 11:51

eracode: Prior to the release of Windows 7 our son loaded a beta-type version of W7 on my wife's then-new Asus netbook. It was running fine but now she says it takes 5 - 10 minutes to boot and she is getting 'non-genuine' warnings.

Son has now gone away and we want to sort this out and get legit. What is the best way to do this? We only want a modest version of W7 because she only uses her netbook for very basic stuff. I'm really not sure how to approach all this especialy since the netbook has no optical drive. Clearly happy to pay for the product and also pay someone to to do it for us if necessary.

Comments and advice welcomed.

Regrettably there's no upgrade path from the RC (beta) versions of Win7. And to get an installation to stick, you'll need to reformat your netbook's HDD as part of the install process.

So you'll lose all data on the boot disk and if you're running 2 partitions, the data on that as well. Back up before you start this process.

My netbook handles Win7 Home Premium fine, although the spec from MS suggests that Starter is the most appropriate version. Not true, thankfully. :-)

Cheers,
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dclegg

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# 452357 27-Mar-2011 12:12

eracode: It was running fine but now she says it takes 5 - 10 minutes to boot and she is getting 'non-genuine' warnings.

As an aside: This has happened to my daughters netbook twice now. She has a legitimate Win7 version, but has had two separate malware infections. Both of these infections exhibited the same symptoms you describe here. First she was notified that her copy was no longer genuine, and her netbook performance was significantly hampered. The infection also prevented me from showing all processes in Process Explorer, so I could determine which process was responsible for pegging the CPU. The first time this happened, I performed a format and rebuild, but the second time I was able to successfully recover by using Malwarebytes.

In summary: It may be prudent for you to consider a possible infection being the cause of all this.

freitasm

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# 452365 27-Mar-2011 12:52

The OP said it was a beta version.

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dclegg

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# 452454 27-Mar-2011 16:46

freitasm: The OP said it was a beta version.

Yeah, I did read that. But IIRC the Windows 7 beta expired quite a while ago, so figured it was worth mentioning a possible alternative scenario. It sounds like the OP is in the market for a legit Windows 7 license regardless, but if he gets one and "upgrades" an infected system, the original symptoms may remain.

rattewisday

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# 452463 27-Mar-2011 17:12

Do you have any tertiary students in the house? If so you can get student pricing which is usually significantly cheaper (sorry don't have the pricing on me at the moment)..

eracode

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# 452494 27-Mar-2011 18:14

hellonearthisman: The Home Premium would be way less hassle than an upgrade.
http://www.ascent.co.nz/productspecification.aspx?ItemID=382321

To install it onto the netbook you will need a USB key or SD card of 4GB in size.

You can use http://www.imgburn.com/ to make an ISO image copy of the win7 DVD

Then use http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/ to copy the ISO image to your USB key and make it bootable.

Then all you need to do is plug the usb drive into the netbook and start it up,
press the escape key at the start of boot and select to boot from the USB key,
then it's away and just need to follow the instructions.

Oh an backup your important data before you start.

Thanks to all who answered. I think I will run with the process set out above by hellonearthisman.

Unfortunately no longer any students on board to get Academic version.

There is nothing on the netbook that needs specifically backing up (because we have stuff already saved on our main laptop).

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.