Obtain Windows 7 Recovery disk or product key

[rsaritzky]

I'm helping a friend with a Touchsmart 420 all-in-one.  The hard drive has stopped working.  I can replace it fine, but she has moved twice since purchasing the computer and doesn't have the recoverty CD (don't know if this machine came with it) or any documentation with Windows product keys.

Is there any way to obtain the original product key or recovery image for this machine?  It's about 6 years old.

Thx

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

If the PC came from HP with W7, there should be a Microsoft W7 COA sticker on the case.

If it has one, and you can read all 25 characters of the Windows 7 product key on the PC's case, you can make W7 installation media as follows...

Click on the Windows ISO Downloader.exe link below to download the tool to create the W7 ISO file download.

This link downloads a file that accesses the Microsoft Techbench W7 ISO files and generates the ISO file download you need.

https://www.heidoc.net/php/Windows-ISO-Downloader.exe

Select the Windows COEM ISO file download for the version of W7 the product key is good for.

I have zipped up and attached the Microsoft utility below, that will allow you to either put the file on a USB flash drive or DVD, or you can use a different free utility such as Rufus.

Then you can install the drivers and available software from the PC's support page...

If the PC does not have a W7 product key, HP no longer sells recovery media for that model series.

The only place I know of that may still have recovery media is this vendor at the link below...

http://www.computersurgeons.com/

You will need to enter the full model number or product number of the PC in the search window on the website.

The product number can normally be found on the same label as the serial number.

Recovery media is model specific.