Recover windows.

[thomas_surles]

So I just purchased a cheap pc on ebay. There are no serial stickers or anything. There is no OS on the hdd, but it was believed to previously have windows. Is there any legal way to get windows back on for free without knowing the product key? Or without knowing what windows version was on it? Or would I just be better off purchasing windows? Btw I'm not interested in Linux for this particular build.

[Malenko]

you need either the OEM sticker or windows installed to pull the key from using a VBS script.
While not strictly legal, you could put a cracked win7 on there and defend yourself with "fair use" personally I'd just buy a Win7 CD

[JDFan]

Is it a brand name system ? ( ie. Dell or HP etc.) If so does it have any Identifying stickers on it - like a serial number or service tag ? If it does a call to the manufacturer may be able to get a new product key since they should have a record of the OS that it came installed with. ( or using their recovery software might activate the install automatically (depending on the OEM BIOS installed) if you download a copy of the recovery disk that shipped with the system) 

[Malenko]

JD, I thought that too, but when he said no stickers I figured no service tag sticker either.

[JDFan]

JD, I thought that too, but when he said no stickers I figured no service tag sticker either.

You're probably right but figured I'd mention in case he just meant no Microsoft sticker 

One more option would be to PM TKW4rr10r - I know for awhile he had some extra product keys from the systems he couldn't refurb to sell in his sales thread that he gave (or sold at a decent price) to some members - so might be worth a PM to see if he still has any spares that are going unused.

[thomas_surles]

I just won the auction. So I will have to wait to take delivery before I can verify that there are absolutely no stickers.


Looking back at the pictures I see an Intel sticker and a small Barcode sticker.

[JDFan]

I just won the auction. So I will have to wait to take delivery before I can verify that there are absolutely no stickers.

YOu posted while I was editing my above post but you might try PMing TKW4rr10r as noted in my edit above !

[thomas_surles]

I just won the auction. So I will have to wait to take delivery before I can verify that there are absolutely no stickers.

YOu posted while I was editing my above post but you might try PMing TKW4rr10r as noted in my edit above !

Ok cool. I vaguely remember that thread.

[Malenko]

he hasnt been around that much, GL with it though!

[SlammedNiss]

yea, I also recommend giving TKW4rr10r a pm. He's been very generous to me with a few W7 Pro keys. He might take some time to respond but he always did eventually get back to me.