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General discussion

Recovery from: Win7 Ultimate - Pirated Copy

by lemaech56 Jan 21, 2014 4:40AM PST

My problem started with what Microsoft said is a pirated copy of Win7 Ultimate, fully shrinked wrapped, I bought online a few months ago. I installed Win7 Ultimate on my new i7 4770K desktop with 256 GB Samsung 840 SSD as "C" drive. Attempts to activate failed.

I really don't need Win7 Ultimate, so I plan to purchase Win7 Pro Full or Win8.1 Pro Full. Since I have no personal data on drive, data loss is no concern. I have two major questions:

1. Can I clean install Win7 Pro on SSD without formatting?

2. Can I clean install Win8.1 Pro on SSD without formatting?

Thanks for your assistance.

Discussion is locked

9 Posts
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1. Doubtful.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Jan 21, 2014 4:47AM PST

2. Doubtful.

Why the aversion to formatting? It's not as if this saves any steps for drivers and such.
Bob

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Re: Recovery from: Win7 Ultimate - Pirated Copy
by lemaech56 Jan 21, 2014 7:34AM PST

Bob wrote:


> 1. Doubtful

> 2. Doubtful.

> Why the aversion to formatting? It's not as if this saves any steps for drivers and such.

Actually, I'm not. I'm asking because there seems to be so many discussions on the net advising against it. I plan to clean install Win8.1 Pro and will reformat SSD "C" drive. Thanks for your advice.

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The thing is, formatting is just a few sectors of writing.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Jan 21, 2014 7:46AM PST

A clean install could do this in about 20 seconds so I'm still wondering what the issue is. It's not as if we are doing that long format.
Bob

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Re:The thing is, formatting is just a few sectors of writing
by lemaech56 Jan 21, 2014 10:02AM PST

Something went terrible wrong on my attempt to do a clean install of Win8.1 Pro Full, on SSD "C" Drive with bad copy of Win7 Ultimate:

1. Booted to Win8.1 Pro DVD
2. Selected Clean Install
- Selected Format (of SSD)
- There are two partitions:
Partition 1: 100MB System Reserved
Partition 2: 238.4GB Primary

3. Received following warning:
"Windows can't be installed on Drive 0 Partition 2. The selected disk has an MBR Partition Table. On
EFI systems, Windows can only be installed to GPT disks."

What are my next steps? Thanks for your support.

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There should be an option to
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Jan 21, 2014 10:27AM PST

Delete those partitions so it can create them as it wants.

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Re: There should be an option to
by lemaech56 Jan 21, 2014 2:08PM PST

Bob wrote:
> Delete those partitions so it can create them as it wants.

I did that and the installation proceeded flawlessly and very fast. The setup and configuration was also problem free. While I'm no fan of the Start menu, my experience with Win8.1 - I decided I didn't need Pro version - is very positive and I expect this to improve. Thanks for the great advice and help over the years. CNET Windows Forum really rocks!!

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Good to read. MY ADVICE WHEN YOU GET A CHANCE
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Jan 21, 2014 2:13PM PST

Is to take a look as Classic Shell. It's what I use.
Bob

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Re: My advice when you get a chance
by lemaech56 Jan 22, 2014 12:38AM PST

Bob wrote:
< Is to take a look as Classic Shell. It's what I use.

I shall. Thanks for tip. I'm also reading reviews of Start Menu alternatives for Win8 in MaximumPC 9/2013 issue.

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Go legal, go Linux
by James Denison Jan 21, 2014 7:57AM PST
Back to Windows 7 forum

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