Have a valid unused windows 7 key, but no disc. What do I do?

Vorpal

I have a valid windows 7 key, not used, for 64 bit windows professional. I cannot, however, find a disc for it. A lot of discs of mine went missing when I moved. It's also possible I never had a disk for it as I think it was part of a digital download or something from msdn?

I'd like to install it on a brand new computer I'm building from scratch. (So, nothing on the hard drives).

What I've tried so far has not worked. I've basically been following this guide here:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/248995/how_to_install_windows_7_without_the_disc.html

I downloaded the windows 7 DVD/USB download tool and the ISO.
When I try to burn the ISO onto a DVD-R, it always fails at 99% and tells me it won't burn. I tried a couple different blank dvd's and a dvd rw, all failed. Then I read somewhere that on windows XP (which is what I am currently running) this will always fail.

So...how do I get a bootable copy of windows 7 so I can use my key?

Foomy

do you happen to have a usb stick around? that would be the easiest option if the dvd burn won't work.
otherwise you can contact microsoft and get them to mail you a new dvd, but that costs like $10-15 from what I remember, and a usb stick large enough for the install would actually be cheaper.

you could also try burning the iso to a dvd using some other tool,. imgburn was ok from what I remember, haven't used it in forever though.

Nosf

Grab http://msft-dnl.digitalrivercontent.net/msvista/pub/X15-65805/X15-65805.iso - probably the same download link as yours.

Use this to make a USB key. http://arstechnica.com/business/2009/12/the-usb-flash-drive/ - the usb key method worked for me with that ISO image, it does take a little bit. Just make sure your machine is set to boot off USB devices and you're golden.

Vorpal

I don't have a 4 GB USB drive, but I've just ordered one off of amazon. As you say, that is cheaper than being mailed a disc.

I'll give imgburn a try.

Oddly enough, the ISO I have downloaded is X17-59186 - it is from digital river. Different ISO than yours though so I'm interested in the difference. I'll try yours and see if it works.

Nosf

I'd have gone with an 8 or 16GB key, i thought the image was bigger than 4gb - that and the price diff would be minimal, more use for it later blah blah blah.

The machine I'm posting on is a Windows 8 install I did with USB key media, worked really well.

GnomeTank

4GB will do for a Windows install (the image is 2.5GB). I have two 4GB USB sticks that permanently have Windows 7 Pro x64 and Windows 8 Pro x64 on them, respectively. This is how I install Windows these days. Optical media is so 2010.

OSX on the other hand is much bigger and requires an 8GB USB stick, not that it's particularly relevant to this discussion, but that might be the source of the 8GB/4GB confusion.

Vorpal

Thanks for the help guys. Everything worked out great. I was actually a little surprised at how easy the install went. I put it on my SSD and it *appears* to have worked. I haven't used an SSD before, but things sure seem faster!

dav3yb

I once installed a copy of XP that i got though my college's MSDN thing, but i used the wrong disc. I called microsoft, and they actually gave me a proper key for the disc i was using. I'm not sure how anal the Windows 7 disc's get, but that might be worth a shot if you can just find a random disc to install from.

Nosf

Microsoft aren't hardasses about stuff if you're legit or working towards it; I had a client get audited once by MS for licensing compliance. I remember one conversation that basically went "We're not keen on licensing X on the terminal servers." "What if I juggled these over here, and these over here and then did this with the terminal server?" "Hmm, yeah man, that's cool."

I once tried to re-activate our Actionpak licenses and called the activation #. I explained exactly what was going on, lab PCs, action pak etc. They had no idea, kept waffling. Eventually I got put through to someone higher up and he just laughed, "Never tell them that, just say 'Yes, its on one PC.'"

GnomeTank

Pretty much. When you re-activate Windows post new hardware, sometimes you have to call MS. Don't even try and explain "yes, it's the same PC, but I got a new motherboard and yadayada"...just say "Yes, it's one PC" when they ask. That's it.

Stormwatcher

I have to call the MS robot all the time to re-activate my Office.
Last time it was due to new HDD.