installation - Windows 8-7 downgrade, reinstallation and gpt partitions
2014-07
Theramist
I recently purchased 2 Acer Travelmate B113 11" laptops for use by our SMT guys when going abroad but have run into some problems. They came with Windows 8 pro downgraded to Windows 7, preinstalled with Windows 7. There is no Windows licence key sticker on the laptop, just a windows 8 sticker with no key (to be expected).
When trying to install our encryption software (Safeguard Easy 6.0) it said that it did not support GUID Partiton tables. It seems that this is not possible even with Safeguard Enterprise, only with a Bitlocker integration. This is not really an option for us.
So I wanted to reinstall windows 7 with a partiton table of my choice. Because it is an Acer, I've got no installation media and the recovery media I created using their utility just reinstalls formating the disk to GPT.
From research I've done, windows 8 pro gives you downgrade rights to windows 7 so I should be able to reinstall. Checking the key that Windows 7 is installed with says it's an OEM SLP code. This seems to be a generic code that OEM manufactures can use that does not require activiation.
After lengthy comunication with Acer, they will not supply a plain windows 7 OEM install disk.
I've tried installing windows 7 using the key I extracted but this fails to activate. I have also tried using an activation backup tool but this does not work for OEM's unless you have the SLIC (not sure what this is).
Does anyone understand what to do in this situation with the windows licencing and is there any way round this appart from purchasing a Volume Licence key for Windows 7?
user32569
I bought new Acer notebook. It comes with Windows 7 HP 64bit OEM. But I would like to fresh install it, and make dualboot with Ubuntu.
So, first, if I reinstalled Windows for another legal version, will it destroy warranty? If I had for example a different OS installed, do I still have warranty on whole notebook?
And second, is there a way to reinstall OEM Windows? Like downloading same copy and use OEM CD-Key on it?
Because, let's say my OS gets damaged somehow, and I can reinstall it myself, but I dont wan't to lose waranty or OEM license, and wait month to get notebook fixed by RMA. Is there a legal way to do it? Thanks.
Sathya
You will not lose warranty because of changing the OS, however, be prepared that if you get a problem, the first thing they will probably do is recover the system to its original setup.
Also, they have every right not to support you against problems of hardware not working that is directly due to changing the OS where it would work otherwise (e.g. driver support).
You may get problems trying to reinstall the OS with a different media, it is best to keep a copy of the recovery media. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, there isn't really any logic behind it. It used to be only recovery disks but now, sometimes using generic media with the key works.