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Can I install Windows 7 on a Windows 8 desktop if I have the disc and a fresh hard drive?

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I have a number of Dell 8700 Towers as well as a number of laptops, everything runs Windows 7, as I need it to for work related things.

I just unboxed an 8700 tower that was mistakenly sold as a Windows 7 computer from new. It's Windows 8.  From what I read online (tell me if I'm understanding it correctly) as long as it's a Windows computer with the Windows 8 key properly licensed in the bios or wherever it's tucked in from new, that the Windows 7 will load and work with my Windows 7 disc. and automatically work with some generic key...  Is this correct?    I'm in a pinch, and can't wait for a new key to arrive from Ebay or wherever, (I'm working on this over the weekend) and the last time I asked Microsoft for any help with something like this I was on the phone for 2 hours and didn't get anything solved.


Thanks for your input!


Inspiron 3531, July 2014, Windows 8.1, Reset

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Sister-in-law is having trouble with her laptop. Forgotten Power On password. rror code- 296f3C5E5EC49DE2.  Please advise on how to reset this machine.

Switching to AHCI in BIOS disabled most Windows 10 services

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XPS 8900, bought new in February 2016. I'm planning to buy an SSD drive, use it as the primary OS drive, and use the original hard drive as a data and backup drive. In the BIOS of the computer, the drive is set up as a RAID drive. From what I've read, the new SSD drive should be set up as AHCI. So I figured I'd change the BIOS setting from RAID to AHCI. When I changed the setting I got a message saying that changing it might cause Windows to stop functioning. I'd already made a restore point (just in case), and I figured that if changing to AHCI stopped Windows from functioning, I'd just change it back to RAID.

I changed it to AHCI, exited the BIOS, and instead of Windows coming on I got an error message saying that there was a problem and Windows had to restart. After this happening a couple times, I went back into the BIOS, put the setting back to RAID, and exited.

Windows now came on, but things were screwed up. No Internet access, no sound... I tried to restore to the restore point I'd made, instead got an error message saying that the service wasn't available.

I went into Windows services (services.msc). Most things there, instead of being set to manual or automatic, were set to disabled. I changed all of the network settings to automatic, and was able to get on the Internet. From there I went to Black Viper's Windows 10 configuration page (here). It shows the Windows 10 default services settings, plus his safe and tweaked settings. I reset all of the Windows services to the Windows default.

Everything is back to normal now. I'm just wondering why this happened? How (and why) did most Windows services get to disabled?

I'm getting the SSD drive this week. When I get it I'm going to do a clean install of Windows 10 - of course before doing it I'll change the drive BIOS setting from RAID to AHCI.

Identification of Dell Recovery Media

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Okay, it's dumb question time.... [:D]

I'm going through a load of unlabeled USB drives of varying sizes, from 8GB upwards. Several of them appear to be Dell OS Recovery drives that I've created at some point, and then stupidly not labeled. I'm sure I meant to label them, I just got distracted in the moment before I managed to.

The problem is, I've got a number of different Dell systems. There's a Precision M4600, a Precision 5510, an Inspiron Mini 3010, a Venue 11 Pro (7140), and a now dead Venue 8.

How do I know which computer the recovery media I have in my hand is for? Frankly, how do I work out which version of Windows is on it easily? 

I know it's not going to be the M4600 - I never created media for that, and it's unlikely to be the 5510 as I actually bought USB media for that when I bought the laptop, and that's nicely labeled. So... is it for the Inspiron Mini, or one of the two Venues, or is it even older than that, from one of the many, many Dells or Alienware systems I've had over the last few years? 

I really wish there was a nice .txt file or .inf file that I could just look in and see, but I can't find anything like that for the life of me [:^)]

So... anyone got any bright ideas?

Here's the root directory of one of the drives...

...then digging in a little...

...and then a little deeper still...

...but none of the XML files, batch files, or registry update files seem to have anything other than an OEMID set, originally enough, to Dell.

I'm open to any bright ideas (or even not so bright ideas [;)])

WinPE 10 - 7480 UEFI

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I have been having the hardest time using PXE to get our new 7480 laptops to image using SCCM.
I have included all the x64 folder of the Dell WinPE 10 driver cab in the boot image. Does anyone have experience with which drivers to use? It appears to get far enough in the process that the boot image starts but then when it goes to check the network connection it restarts the laptop.

DISPLAY DRIVER DELL INSPIRON N7010

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Hi,

MY LAPTOP KEEPS TELLING ME DISPLAY DRIVER DID NOT START, USING MICROSOFT.  WHEN GOING TO DELL SITE FOR DIVER AND DOWNLOAD, TEST TELLS ME ALL DRIVERS INSTALLED AND UP TO DATE. ALTHOUGH, I KEEP GETTING MESSAGE DRIVER DID NOT START.   WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? CAN SOMEONE PLEASE HELP!!!!  

DELL INSPIRON N7010 NOTEBOOK

WINDOWS 10  64-BIT

INTEL(R) i3  CORE   

VIDEO CARD - INTEL(R) HD GRAPHICS

 DRIVER VERSION: 8.15.10.2900, 11-26-2012 / PROVIDER: INTEL

INTERFACE: PCI     VIDEO CARD CHIP TYPE: INTEL(R) HD GRAPHICS(CORE i3)

DISPLAY - GENERIC PnP MONITOR

MODE: 1600X900 (32-BIT) (60Hz)    why 32-bit??

PREFERRED MODE: 1600 X 900 (60Hz)

SIGNAL TYPE: - DIGITAL

VIDEO CAPTURE DEVICE - INTEGRATED WEBCAM: DRIVER PROVIDER: MICROSOFT

DRIVER VERSION: 10.0.15063.447, 6/21/2006

*WHEN THEY SAY DISPLAY DRIVER DID NOT START, WHICH DRIVER ARE THEY TALKING ABOUT? BECAUSE IT DOESN'T LOOK LIKE FROM THE SYSTEM INFORMATION, THAT THE DISPLAY DOES NOT HAVE DRIVER!!.. VERY CONFUSED...

CYNTHIA  (e-mail:<Email id removed>)

Please Help  

Windows 10 Home Bitlocker encrypted

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I just bought a Inspiron 13 2-in-1. Now i see that my OS is Windows 10 home but my C: drive is 'Bitlocker encrypted'. As far as I know the Home edition doesn't have the Bitlocker application. How can i remove this encryption?

XPS 8500 won't reboot. Power Surge!

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Reboot and Select proper Boot device or Insert Boot Media...Don't have any!  What can I do?  Also, have not created image.  Windows 10 cannot repair.  Diagnostic:  could not find hard drive.


XPS 15 Performance Issues After Factory Service

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I sent in an XPS 15 laptop to have the display replaced recently. The tech said they did an update of the operating system (Windows 10 Home) as well.  Now the performance using Internet applications has slowed to a crawl.  Checking Performance Monitor, I see a Service Host local system process using nearly all the Internet bandwidth.  I have a 3mbps connection, so it's not very fast and this process uses about 2.8 mbps continuously.  Because it's a system process, I can't tell if it's only Microsoft software hogging the network. 

In Event Viewer, there are multiple event 1035 instances for Msinstaller, showing it has reconfigured all the applications on the system every time I boot it.  A check of Microsoft's support site shows this is likely due to an incorrect use of Group Policies, but on the Home edition the Group Policy Editor is not available to check further. 

I also see periodic app crash events for DDVDataCollector.exe.  Since this didn't happen prior to sending the system in for service, I suspect Dell's factory update is at issue.  I'm posting here in case others are seeing similar behavior.  Please chime in if you have and if you've fixed it.  Thanks.

Dell Vostro v131

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Soo, I reinstalled my windows, I installed my drivers, all of them (even the audio ones), everything was working perfectly and then I restarted my laptop. After I restarted the laptop, my audio drivers disappeared, I reinstalled them and everything was fine, but this is kind of annoying to do. I was wondering, why does this keep happening? I considered to change to windows 8.1 (from windows 7), I installed everything again, but this time the audio drivers say "Can't recognize such a device" or something like that. I've got a big red X on the audio icon. Could somebody help me?

Dell PowerEdge R410 driver update

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I'm trying to update the processor driver version the current version is 6.3.96 to newer one, I tried the intel chipset driver on Dell download website for windows 2012 server.

I also tried through intel driver utility update, it's also failed

Reinstall Windows 10 on XPS 8910/8920 with default storage configuration

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Hello,

It was suggested I post this topic here as I originally posted in the hardware forum.

I have been looking at getting an XPS 8910/20 with m2. SSD and hdd preinstalled. 

I've read through the forums and see the issues regarding installing a different brand SSD such as Samsung. What is the best way to install Windows from scratch with the existing SSD and HDD that is already included with the pc?  I see there is no Windows media that comes with the computer. 

Is it pretty straight forward utilizing the existing hardware or would I have to download some drivers before doing so or change the bios settings? I've seen mention of Intel drivers and changing bios Sata/Raid settings but wasn't sure if that's strictly if changing the ssd or if it applies to re imaging the existing drive. 

Thanks!

Ludwig68

Using my Win10 Pro embedded licence on a different machine

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I have an Inspiron 15 7560 which came with a licence for Win10 Pro. My company overwrote that with a their own copy of Win10 Enterprise.

Can I use the Pro licence on another machine? I have a Win 10 Home machine, which I really want to upgrade to Pro so I can RDP to it, but I can't justify spending £115 just for that one feature.

IF I can legally use that currently unused licence, how do I get the key? Apparently it's somehow embedded in the motherboard.

Thanks,

Chris

Just installed Windows 7 Ultimate on a new XPS 8700 that came w/ W10. Will I have problems?

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I just unboxed another Windows 10 tower and installed Windows 7 Ultimate (I have a disc) instead, and everything went through quickly and perfectly... it didn't ask me for a key or anything. 

  Will I run into a problem at some point?  It seems to be working fine at the moment, could it be that the later Dells have permissions to run Windows 7 and it's not advertised, or is there something I'm not realizing?

Thanks in advance!

Problem Reinstalling Windows 10-64 bit Pro

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Hi, I have Precision T1700 and trying to reinstall windows 10 Pro 64-bit I used Media Creation Tool to create bootable installation via USB, and it does go thru the install but when it reboots it shows No Boot Device Found here are some screenshots any help is appreciated


XPS 17-L702X, Windows 7, need realtech audio software file name

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I need to know the name of the file that installs the realtech waves max audio controls for windows 7. The software was deleted by a concierge guy who was working on another problem. I also need to know if I need to uninstall quick set before I reinstall?

Windows 10 Recovery Drive. Can't create one.

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Brand new yesterday Inspiron3668 desktop.

Following advice from Dell to create a recovery drive.

Using a new unused 32GB USB drive. I connect the USB (formatted FAT32) and select Next in the create recovery drive window (Back up system files to the recovery drive is left ticked).

Green bar moving across the "Please wait" window for a few minutes.

Next message is The drive must be able to hold at least 16 GB, and everything on the drive will be deleted.

The Next button at the bottom is greyed out, leaving me with the only option of cancelling.

What am I doing wrong please?

Any ideas fixes etc. gratefully received.

Office 2016

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Hello.

I upgraded Microsoft Office to Office 2016.

Every time i open .mpp file with the help of Microsoft Project get the error message "Cannot recognize this file format."

Other Office applications are working fine.

Can you light me up the possible root cause?

win7 boot mgr manager

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"boot mgr missing" error message at start up. No further progress. laptop delivered w/o win7 discs. Help?

Recovery partition not available

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I have an OptiPlex 390 that I recently purchased from a 3rd party. This machine came preinstalled with Win7 Pro and so did my previous machine. The hard drive was swapped but I can't access the recovery partition to reinstall Windows and I never made a recovery disk. Any suggestions?

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