OT How do I convert an Ubuntu box into a Windows 7 box?
TSasha Smith
Posts: 27,246
in The Commons
I have a windows 7 computer that I put Ubuntu onto it. Now I want to put Windows 7 back on it. How do I do that?
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Does the hard drive still have the original "Recovery" partition?
Or is it possible to check the computer manufacturer's support website to see if they offer a Recovery disk?
Of course you can always try to find a new copy of a Windows7 OEM installation disk for about $100.
see this article
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WindowsDualBoot
hopefully you made a partition when you installed Ubantu and did not wipe your windows partition, or you used a dedicated drive for the install.
If not you should always make a backup, especially for these situations.
Do you have the Windows 7 disk?
If not, do you at least have the Windows 7 key?
As long as you have the key, then try this link to get an iso.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/software-download/windows7
Or you could just download Windows 10 instead, there is a link to it in the link I've posted. Personally, not a fan of Windows 10. Lots to like, but...
How you do it depends if you want to dual boot or not.
An alternative is install on a seperate hard drive and use an HDD power control panel to isolate HDs; it removes the need to dual boot. I prefer it to dual booting.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/ORICO-HD-PW4101-Drive-Switch-Controller/dp/B005NVU1S2 is 4 switch, but there is 6 switch available too.
okay got ISO but how do I put it on an usb while using ubuntu
Here's one tutorial...
http://www.webupd8.org/2010/10/create-bootable-windows-7-usb-drive.html
unetbootin did not get a bootable usb with windows on it
Have MS stop supporting Windows 7 can't remember ?
I don't think so. I'm still getting periodic updates for my windows 7 machine.
Including them keep sneaking in the wretched Win10 nag ones, whci I keep removing
Windows 7 is getting security patches (and patches relating to the Windows 10 upgrade) but not stability or improvement patches, I think.
Yep...that's about all it's getting.
Still trying to figure it out
I think I figured something out. Will know more tomorrow.
I got WIndows 7 back on my computer and activated it. What I did was format the usb to NTFS format and then mounted the Windows 7 iso and moved the files to the usb and restarted.
How do I change my user name for Windows 7? I somehow made it ' and that is confusing.
Windows 7 is now out of what Microsoft call "Mainstream support". It is now in what they call "Extended support" which is scheduled to go on until January 14th 2020. Extended support means that Windows 7 still gets security related updates but no new features.
Yeah, I think I remember reading they intend to move to 'Windows 10 in a stream of development mode' and that's Windows 10 is the last release of Windows. That's why they skipped Windows 9. It's weird to think that they actually said Windows 10 is the last release of Windows. I wonder how long before they release Windows 2020.
Wow 2020 is soon or at least sooner than I thought.
That's part of why they skipped 9. It was also all the idiots who did version matching for 95/98 by matching for "Windows 9" in the version string...
Depends. Do you need to change the username itself, or just how it's displayed? If you need to change the actual username, you'd probably be better off just creating a new account with the correct name. If it's just the display name that needs fixed there's a few ways to do it.
And if it is the only account and an admin one...it's probably easier to just reinstall.
If it's the only account, it would have to be an admin account unless they went out of their way to make it a limited account :)
and for something like this reinstall is massively overkill
A brand new, fresh install...usually just easier to wipe and start over, in my experience. Now if all the user software has already been installed...no, a reinstall isn't worth it.
We'll have to agree to disagree on that one since I deal with this kind of thing on a fairly regular basis. :)
I have a craptop I am planning to dispose of so I booted it up with Linux Centro and removed all traces of windows vista
I am wondering to be sure if reinstalling Vista from my discs wll make certain no traces left of my info, am too lazy to drill holes in the hard drive
is not really worth much as overheats on boot up and battery is dead
Well, in theory someone who really wanted to could still retrieve the info unless you did a secure wipe of the disk. Realisticly, the average person wouldn't know how to do it and probably wouldn't have the desire to do it so you're probably fine. :)
MS is trying to get me to upgrade to Windows 10.
They're bad about trying to push it on people. I didn't catch it and it upgraded a system of mine that they claim is compatible but actually isn't. Well technically it is, if you don't mind a lack of OpenGL 1.3 support as Intel refuses to update the drivers for the graphics chipset in it even though it would literally just be a matter of updating the .inf file and resigning the Win 8 drivers...
Back in the day...before drivers HAD to be signed, I did more than a few Intel driver 'hacks'...
I'm actually running that system in driver development mode with a hacked .inf to allow it to install. I could just resign the driver package myself,but it's more effort than it's worth for a system I only physically sit for about 3 hours a month :)
Intel has always done that...and hacking the inf was the easy way to get more life out of it...or put Linux on it.