I Need to Install Win 7 Ultimate Afresh

[NoelC]

I'm replacing an old system for which I bought Win 7 Ultimate and installed it back in 2009.  I still have the original installation disc and the product code that came with it.

 

The system has since burned out and I have bought a new one.

 

Of course I could install from the original disc and go through the zillion updates that have been released in the lifetime of Win 7, including the Service Pack, but...  It would be nice if I can just install from a Win 7 Ultimate SP1 ISO (which I have).

 

Should I expect problems (installing Win 7 SP1 media with an original Win 7 retail product code), and should I just install from the original media (which I'll have to transfer to a USB)?

 

I'm assuming I'll have to ask Microsoft to allow the (re)activation because the hardware's different.

 

-Noel

Edited April 26, 2015 by NoelC

[submix8c]

Install from the latest ISO without entering the key (skip it, it will use the trial one), then use "slmgr.vbs -ipk" (append the original key), then Activate it. I doubt you'll get much hassle from MS during Activation, but if you do just call and explain.

BTW, be sure you have the latest *Ultimate* iso.

Get all the updates via Windows Update Downloader en-mass and use a script to install them (the script is floating arounde here).

 

HTH

 

edit - Slipstream all (slip-able) WUD files into the INSTALL.WIM. See this post:

http://www.msfn.org/board/topic/173769-whats-on-with-vista-vlite/#entry1098207

Edited April 26, 2015 by submix8c

[NoelC]

Thanks!  I'm waiting on one last SSD that's in the mail before the system is complete, then I'll report back on how it goes.

 

 

Edit:  I've received the last SSD and built the RAID 5 array (3 SSDs).

 

Windows 7 x64 Ultimate is installed, as instructed above.  Activation via phone was no problem at all.  I didn't do anything fancy, just installed the released SP1 ISO let it do all its (several hundred) updates afterward.  So far so good.

 

The only thing even slightly out of the ordinary was that I had to install an Intel MAC driver for the network interface, since the system/chipset are newer than Windows 7 SP1 and no driver for it came in the ISO.

• The system boots very quickly, disk I/O is blazingly fast (disk read performance is over 1 GB / sec).  Intel RST reports all is well.
   
• Explorer enumerates all files on drive C: (right click, Properties) at a rate of more than 50,000 per second.
   
• SFC /SCANNOW passes with flying colors.  Takes about a minute to run.
   
• The system has been burned in for a week+ now, and the new SSD for a day.  The only system error logged so far was a controller error on the Western Digital MyBook USB backup drive (I've seen these before on other systems as well; they're innocuous).

 

Thanks for the good practical advice.

 

-Noel

Edited April 30, 2015 by NoelC