mjmooney Posted August 1, 2015 VT Supporter Share Posted August 1, 2015 Is that what comes up when you just leave it to start up on its own? Try tapping F8 constantly when it boots, it should come up to this screen, select repair computer. Hopefully that shouldn't ask for a disk. If it does or that's what you've already tried, yeah, any disk will work. If you're just using the repair menu rather than reinstalling, I'd just download a Win7 installer from a site of questionable morality, burn it to USB and boot from that. F8 Repair Computer gives the same message I got above. Looks like I'll have to cadge a Win 7 disc.Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrenm Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 Dell should have a recovery option when you first turn it on. It should say press f10 or something to repair. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted August 1, 2015 Administrator Share Posted August 1, 2015 Oh, I opted out of all of that stuff. The Rock Paper Shotgun blog had a handy step by step guide. As long as it was a clean install, you're good. Otherwise it had already copied everything it wanted before you opted out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenz Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 Hey guess what? It **** ed my laptop. Got the message saying it was ready to go, I started the upgrade, and away it went. Until it hung at 48%. Several hours later I Googled for some advice on this sort of hang, and everybody says power off, wait a few minutes, and power back up, and it will revert to previous version (Windows 7). So I did, it said it was reverting to previous version, but failed and said it needed the Windows 7 installation discs. Which of course I have long since lost. OK, I've got a spare laptop (WIndows 8) and a smartphone, but I would like to recover the other one. Any tips? I'm sure you can download the iso from Microsoft itself. As long as you have a legit serial key then there's no problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrenm Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 Nope. Dell will use an OEM version of windows which will only work with a dell OEM key. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 Oh, I opted out of all of that stuff. The Rock Paper Shotgun blog had a handy step by step guide. As long as it was a clean install, you're good. Otherwise it had already copied everything it wanted before you opted out. It's ongoing big data. I'd be a hypocrite I were too offended by it given that I'm posting this message from a smartphone. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Davkaus Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 Nope. Dell will use an OEM version of windows which will only work with a dell OEM key. For a repair installation? Pretty sure you can use any Win7 install disk for that. He's not trying to do a clean install with a retail disk using an OEM key. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darrenm Posted August 1, 2015 Share Posted August 1, 2015 Maybe a repair will be OK. Any install that needs the key won't work. Although I'm sure I tried to use a retail disc to repair an OEM install before and it wouldn't have it. Was a while back though, possibly even XP. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PompeyVillan Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 Mike if you know anyone with a win 7 computer of the same edition as yours (home premium or professional I would guess), they can burn a startup repair disk for you. This will 'repair' your computer in exactly the same way as an installation disk following the on screen instructions. I will say, its doesn't sound promising. I'm guessing you didn't create a backup before you upgraded? I wish Microsoft would advise this before installation begins. Sounds to me like you to will need to try to 'upgrade' install using a win 7 install disk, this will hopefully save your data and fix the issue of corrupt, missing win 7 OS files. But it isn't guaranteed. Failing that a clean install, which means you lose your data. As long as you have your reg key written somewhere, sometimes it's on the bottom of the laptop on the windows sticker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PompeyVillan Posted August 2, 2015 Share Posted August 2, 2015 (edited) Nope. Dell will use an OEM version of windows which will only work with a dell OEM key. For a repair installation? Pretty sure you can use any Win7 install disk for that. He's not trying to do a clean install with a retail disk using an OEM key.Has to be of the same edition other wise it simply won't work unfortunately. I have an old Dell at home and I'm pretty sure they all have a comprehensive recovery partition, but it isn't obvious however to boot to it. I'm not at home at the moment so I can't find out at the moment. Edited August 2, 2015 by PompeyVillan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgyknees Posted August 3, 2015 Share Posted August 3, 2015 We've an ASUS laptop, nothing special, running on W8.1, is it worth downloading 10? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted August 3, 2015 Administrator Share Posted August 3, 2015 We've an ASUS laptop, nothing special, running on W8.1, is it worth downloading 10? Not until 10.1. Not if you value your privacy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjmooney Posted August 3, 2015 VT Supporter Share Posted August 3, 2015 Of course I didn't make a full backup. Of course I didn't make a boot disc. Of course I didn't make a note of my registration number. I worked in IT for 30-odd years. Do as I say, not as I do. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted August 3, 2015 Administrator Share Posted August 3, 2015 .... and you'll still continue to use this crapware Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgyknees Posted August 3, 2015 Share Posted August 3, 2015 We've an ASUS laptop, nothing special, running on W8.1, is it worth downloading 10? Not until 10.1.Not if you value your privacy. Tbh, I just hate windows. The laptop is only used for something which will get me warning points, and rhymes with both warrant a dream. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted August 4, 2015 Administrator Share Posted August 4, 2015 This isn't a match thread and streaming isn't illegal per se. If that's all you use it for then why not just use something better? Do you still have the plastic seat covers on your sofa? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stevo985 Posted August 4, 2015 VT Supporter Share Posted August 4, 2015 We've an ASUS laptop, nothing special, running on W8.1, is it worth downloading 10? Not until 10.1. Not if you value your privacy. Tbh, I just hate windows. The laptop is only used for something which will get me warning points, and rhymes with both warrant a dream. Chromebooks say hi 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dodgyknees Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 We've an ASUS laptop, nothing special, running on W8.1, is it worth downloading 10? Not until 10.1. Not if you value your privacy. Tbh, I just hate windows. The laptop is only used for something which will get me warning points, and rhymes with both warrant a dream. Chromebooks say hi A great shout. But we're not looking to buy atm, so just want to use the Windows machine till it **** up, which lets face it, won't be long 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meath_Villan Posted August 6, 2015 Share Posted August 6, 2015 It just feels like im using a rip off of android .. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted August 8, 2015 Share Posted August 8, 2015 It just feels like im using a rip off of android .. It looks like Android, but Android looks like WIndows Phone 8 and Windows Phone 8 looks like WebOS. Everything is a remix. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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