What happens to my copy of windows when upgrading new laptop to ssd?

[revjacob]

Just ordered my very first laptop at amazon. I'm expecting it to arrive this week. It comes pre-installed with windows 7 with the option to upgrade to windows 8 at $15. The first thing I'm planning to do with this new laptop is upgrade it to an ssd. The laptop has only one 2.5" hdd/ssd bay. What happens to my copy of windows 7? Please advise. Thanks.

 

[bignastyid]

The os is tied to the laptop not the hard drive, all you will need to do is install windows 7 on the new ssd and use the coa that should be located on the laptop to activate.

 

[dodger46]

Are you planning to upgrade to 8 immediately? If so, apply for the upgrade with the pre installed OS and take the option to create media, ie disk or USB device. By that time you will have a licence to install 8 and a means to do so. Then all you have to do is install your blank SSD and install 8 from scratch. Otherwise it would entail loading 7 on to your SSD and then upgrading.

 

[4745454b]

Bignasty is mostly correct. The problem will be in finding the media that will work. For example if you borrow a friends copy of win7, it probably won't work as his will be most likely home premium and yours is OEM. (I'm assuming here the laptop you bought is an Acer or Dell or other such true OEM.) You might need to contact whoever made the laptop for the physical medium to install as dodger suggests. You can also try finding it online and use your own code.

If you bought a true "white box" laptop then what bignasty said is true.

 

[revjacob]

Thank you guys for the quick reply. Upon checking the Lenovo G780 unboxing at youtube (which is the same model I just ordered) these laptops don't usually come with Windows 7 installer discs. Where would I get the windows 7 installer for the ssd? Thanks.

 

[dodger46]

As you mentioned Windows 8 I presumed you were planning an upgrade? If so the Media option of installation would have provided you with an ISO of Win 8 which you could have used to burn a disk or create a bootable USB device. Otherwise to install Win 7 to your SSD download a Win 7 ISO from here
http://forum.notebookreview.com/windows-os-software/604187-legal-download-digitalriver-windows-7-sp1-13-languages.html
Make sure the version you choose matches the COA label on the base of your laptop. eg Home Premium. Burn to a disk or create bootable USB device. Download and install drivers from Lenovo website. Win 7 should activate OK, but you may have to phone M'soft and enter a vast array of numbers over the phone...

 

[bryonhowley]

If you take advantage of the Windows 8 $14.99 upgrade then all you will have to do is run the Windows 8 upgrade adviser on the laptop with the HDD drive in then when you download it you will have a choose of creating a ISO or flash disk. After that you can install your blank SSD and install Windows 8 from there. That is what I did on my Asus and it worked great. There was no OS installed at the time and Windows 8 installed and activated with no problems.

The main thing is to run the upgrade adviser on the working laptop first and that will get the install going. I choose to create a ISO then made a flash disk from that that way I had a backup ISO that I burned to DVD for a backup and the flash disk that I used as a install. One more thing unlike Windows 7 where you could skip the key until the install was done you can't do that with Windows 8 in order to move forward with the install you have to insert the key there is no skipping it during the install so have it printed out before you start the install.

Also this time around the upgrade did not need a previous version installed to use the upgrade nor did I have to trick it by re installing the same os to get the upgrade key to work. I installed from a formatted SSD used the key Microsoft gave me and when the install was done it was fully activated and ready to go.

 

[revjacob]

Best answer selected by revjacob.

 

[revjacob]

Thanks bryonhowley for the detailed explanation. I have a follow-up question though: After I upgrade to windows 8 and later decide to return to windows 7 will the serial numbers for my windows 7 still work? Thanks in advance.

 

[dodger46]

Sound advice might be to create a new partition on your laptop, download the Win 8 evaluation copy and install alongside 7 to try. You can use it for 90 days...
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-in/evalcenter/jj554510.aspx
Scroll to bottom of page to download ISO and burn to disk.
I believe your Win 7 licence will still be viable, again you may have to phone M'soft to explain your actions when trying to re-acivate it. Not aware of anyone reverting as yet...