recover back to win 7

[Jos1983]

Hi  All. I am busy fixxing my dads old HP desktop. the modelnumer is  The origanal OS was windows 7. But the pc crashed during an update. I was be able get it running again so i took G-parted, formatted the whole disk and when i was trying to get Win 7 back from Microsoft they told me dat de producknumber is used was not there´s but a lincense given by HP. So i was not be able to get win 7 back. So i was forced to take windows 10, and the strange thing was that win 10 accepted the productnumber. But it is an ols pc but my dad likes it. He is 76 years old and not very handy with computers. He was common with win 7 and he can´t handle win 10. So i hope to find a win 7 recovery so he can use that again. The second reason to get they origanal firmware bak is that win 10 is a to much source demanding OS for this pc. I do not know how old it is but it has an BIOS instead of EUFI. I also want to know if it is possible tu upgrade this bios. I tryed the Manufacturer but the do not answer my mails. The motherboard manufacturer Foxconn is not doing BIOS or Mainboard things any more. Amercan Megatrends is the Bios manufacturer ans i have version 6,05 type 2.6 and i see that it is anstalled at 2010. But the main thing is to recover back to win 7. Because my action to completely erase the disk the function of using HP recovery manager is not be able anymore but it was the only thing to get it running again.

I hope you can help me with this isseu. My mailadres is j.brinsv@outlook.com

[TheOldMan]

Here is the support page for that PC.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/hp-g5200-desktop-pc-series/4269956/model/4325518/how-to

Among the various items listed is a topic entitled  HP Cloud Recovery Tool.  It states "The HP Cloud Recovery Tool allows you to download recovery software to a USB drive."

https://support.hp.com/us-en/product/hp-g5200-desktop-pc-series/4269956/model/4325518/document/c0616...

While I have not actually used that and this is the first I actually saw it on a product page, give it a try.  Let us know if that actually gives you a Windows 7 install, please.  I am waiting for you to tell us how it works.

[Jos1983]

Thanks for your reaction but the cloud recovery is only for devices younger than from 2016. It will also not accept my productnumer and get the advise to buy a expensive recovery programm. 

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi, @Jos1983 

No BIOS updates were ever released for that model.  It is pretty unusual but not impossible.

https://support.hp.com/us-en/drivers/selfservice/HP-G5000-Desktop-PC-series/4269956/model/4325518

I don't know if you will be able to get a recovery kit for that model PC.

There is one site that offers a W7 Home Premium 32 or 64 bit ISO file download, but I don't know if it will work for the European version of Windows.

That's a model sold in the Netherlands, correct?

I guess since the PC is messed up, you have nothing to lose by trying the download if you can still read all 25 characters of the Windows 7 product key on the PC's case...

https://getintopc.com/softwares/operating-systems/windows-7-home-premium-free-download-iso-32-bit-64...

I have zipped up and attached below, the Microsoft utility you will need to transfer the ISO file to a DVD or USB flash drive so that it is bootable.

[TheOldMan]

If you wish to reinstall Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit Edition, it can be done with Windows 7 Home Premium retail disk.  It can be a used disk and the product key is not necessary because that PC came with Windows 7.  If you can find an old Windows 7 install disk, it can be done.  It will be a chore to get all the updates, but I can help you with all of that, too.

Let me know if you find a MS Windows 7 install disk.

[Jos1983]

Hi also thanks for your reaction. In your fisst link i will get to the specifications and possibilities for the devive i work on now. I even tryed to ket that kit bus it is nor availeble for this pc anymore. I also have contact with Amarican Megatrens and the say it is not there responcebility but HP´s and also they do not deal with insividual persens(nice compagnie)  Because of the old bios this pc can not boot from USB so i have to burn it on a dvd . I can not download a version from Microsoft because beforwe the download the ask for the productkey and they won´t accept the key that is shown by the sticker on this pc. They say it´s not there´s but HP install. Ofcourse there are plenty of download sources but most are, or dangerous atached wiyh all kind if adware´s or it´s a cracked what i neighter trust. So my conclusion till now is that i can not have any support from HP but also not from microsoft. Only recory for devices later than 2016. Whitch system from that date runs on win 7.  Because of the age of this device every attempt to get a chat with an agent will be cancelled. I also have 2 other HP devices and i hope never ever to need hp support because they are both more than 2 years old.  Maybe the time has come to take the step to a really open source OS.  But for my dad´s pc this is no option.  But I like your attampt to help me. o and yes, this pc is bought in The Netherlands

[Jos1983]

Hi Paul, I followd the link and have downloaded an image. It looks very thrustfull, neighter my browser or my interset security app warned me for anything. I´m familiar with Rufus and also with Balena Etcher so making a bootable usb is not a problem. But i hope i can burn it on a DVD, i have the app for that but i´m a bit nerves when activating so i like to use your help to get me trough that issue. But like i said in the reacction before, windows, till now does not accept that productkey as an microsoft key but instad they say its a hp product lincense. But with activating win 10 the code was not a problem so i will try. Thanks for your interest and help

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You're very welcome.

The file itself is fine.  It is genuine and as far as I can tell, unadulterated.

But I think since you live in the Netherlands, an EU country, you have to use the Windows 7 N version and not the version used here in North America, South America, Asia, Australia, or non EU countries.

Unfortunately, I don't know where there is a trustworthy source you can download that file.

Microsoft won't let you download the file from their site because they have some crazy rule about not allowing OEM software to be downloaded.  And the key you have is OEM.

But what good is the download without the product key, so I could never understand what the big deal about that is.

Today with W8.1 and W10, with the OEM product keys in the BIOS, Microsoft allows you to download the ISO files from their site.

HP does not offer W7 downloads, and they no longer sell recovery media for any PC that originally came with W7.

Anyway, if your product key gives you an invalid product key error on that file when you enter it, that would be what the problem is.

You need to find a W7 N Home Premium 64 bit ISO file to download.