windows 7 installation

[DoinItMyself]

The Hardrive on my laptop was removed and formated and used in our camera system. We dont use that system anymore and I put the hardrive back in my laptop. I bought a Windows 7 Home Premium dvd with activation key off of ebay. It starts to install but says that it cannot find a drive to install it to. There are no signed drivers. Do i have to create a drive in command prompt so there is a place to put it? Also it tells me that I have to activate it but it never asks for a product key? How do I connect to the internet when there isnt an operating system on the computer? I would really like to get this computer working it has kicked my butt for over a month. Trying to download recovery disks and other attempts have all left me very doubtful that I will ever get my computer running. Help please!

[TheOldMan]

Well it could be the drive is not recognized in the BIOS, either.  Start with that.  If is shows in the BIOS, then the next thing I would do is try a GParted disk to see what that says.  If that can find it, then the drive might be a unusual configuration that the camera system used.  That unit came with Windows 7, so it should be able to see the drive from the install disk.  So during the install, it does not proceed as far as  the Figure 12 in this posting?

http://www.wikihow.com/Install-Windows-7-(Beginners)

[DoinItMyself]

Ty for your reply so soon. It is alot easier to get this done while fam is at school and work and just so happens babies are napping.lol Anyhow, I make it to #11 in those instructions. After I say Custom install the window opens and there are no drives to install on. It says there are no signed drivers.  It has the *New button there but it isnt highlighted so that i can click it. The only option is to Browse for drivers on Computer. Then Computer has 2 folders in it one titled BOOT and the other 😧

[TheOldMan]

Did you look in the BIOS to see if it is detected?  F10 or F11 immediately after pressing the start button to start with an off PC?  It could be the hard drive is not connected properly or is dead

[mdklassen]

> I bought a Windows 7 Home Premium dvd with activation key off of ebay.

> Also it tells me that I have to activate it but it never asks for a product key?

I wonder about that eBay purchase.

Did you get a "genuine" DVD, with hologram imprinted?

If not, you may have gotten a DVD that contains a product-key in a file stored in a folder.

The Windows Installer will use that product-key, instead of asking you to enter it.

Of course, you can disconnect the Ethernet cable before you start the Installer, and then use "change product key" to enter the purchased key.  Then, connect to the Internet, to activate with your product-key.

I looked at:

https://support.hp.com/ca-en/drivers/selfservice/hp-g62-300-notebook-pc-series/4247529/model/4308552

and the original Windows 7 Home Premium software is not available for purchase from HP.

You might try www.ComputerSurgeons.com   to see if they have that software for sale.

> Do i have to create a drive in command prompt so there is a place to put it?

From that prompt, you could try to enter   diskpart.exe   and press ENTER.

Then, type HELP  and press ENTER.

Read about 'SHOW VOLUME' and 'SELECT VOLUME' and type    HELP CLEAN  to learn how to set the "selected" volume to be  "uninitialized".

[DoinItMyself]

thanks i just got a chance to  get back to lining this prob out anyhow , i checked the disk and it is hollogramed around the center of the dvd... but i notice that the words on the dvd say windows 7 service pack 1 and anytime upgrade... Will that even put the OS on my blank hd? I thank u for your replies, awesome.

[TheOldMan]

Yes, it sounds as though it is genuine M$ install disk.  It should work as described.  If it looks different from the link as you begin, ask for help.  That is why we are here.

[DoinItMyself]

I was told this disk is going to install Windows 7. Is that correct? Service Pack 1 and Anytime Update is what it has on the disk?

[DoinItMyself]

could you elaborate on creating a partition to install the new disk to? I know that it can be and prolly has to be done just not real distinguished on completing things in command prompt. Another thing I am plugging my router/modem into the laptop for network or internet or whatever is this even working because the orange light is lit on the keboard indicating there is no connection?

[TheOldMan]

Yes, that disk will install Windows 7 SP1, as long as it can find the hard drive, which was the original problem.  Considering that hard drives are really cheap, why not just get another hard drive, if the problem continues?

BTW: installing Windows does not require the user to do anything along the lines of using command prompt.  Where did you pick that up from?