How to get windows 7 into my new SSD?

I own a k53ta that I recently purchased a new SSD for and I'm having a hard time figuring out how to get windows 7 installed into my new harddrive.

I tried to dl the windows 7 ISO from microsoft so I could install it on a USB stick but it said that my product key was bought from a manufacturer and that I should try contacting them regarding any issues.

I do own a Windows 7 DVD that I bought back direct from microsoft when I was a student but the DVD has always refused to work on my Asus laptop and it doesn't appear to have come with the product key attached to the envelope that it came in, it only has a sticker that says certificate of authenticity with a bunch of random numbers that don't say product key. I'm guessing the only product key they sent was to my student email and I have no idea how to recover that since my university wiped out their entire email system, much like microsoft did to my nokia email account .

What are my options? short of cloning my old drive

 

You can install Windows, but not activate it? Or you can't install it, either?

If you can install it but not activate it over the internet, have you tried phone activation?

 

I have 2 copies of windows, the one in that came with the laptop which is stuck inside the old drive and the one that I purchased while I was a student for which I lack a product key for since microsoft never wrote the key on my physical copy. I prefer to use my laptops key anyway since it's for windows 64 where as my key is for 32.

The DVD didn't work on my laptops optical drive so I borrowed a friends PC and loaded it into a USB stick, so that issue is solved now. Though I have no idea why my laptops OD refused to read the windows DVD, it can read every other DVD I've put in except the window one.

Never tried phone activation, how does it work? You just tell them your product key or is there something else I can tell them for them to give me the key that I lack?

 

When you receive the prompt that you can't activate Windows, there is supposed to be an option to activate by phone. It's usually just an automated system that asks for your Windows ID (found at the bottom of the System Properties window).

Activate Windows (see " activate using the telephone")

If it still doesn't work, you might have the option to talk with a live person, though I'm not sure how much they can help at that point.