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    Thinkpad T420 - How to reinstall Windows?

    Discussion in 'Lenovo' started by kingneptune117, Feb 8, 2014.

  1. kingneptune117

    kingneptune117 Notebook Guru

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    Hey all,

    When I bought my Thinkpad T420 it never came with any discs whatsoever. I never got a Windows recovery disk. However, on the batter it does have the serial number for the windows installation.

    How do I reinstall windows on this thing without that disc? Again, I have the serial number.
     
    kingneptune117, Feb 8, 2014
    #1
  2. pipspeak

    pipspeak Notebook Deity

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    If the original factory drive is still in there (and you didn't reformat it or delete any partitions) then you can boot into the Lenovo recovery utility (F11), or burn some recovery disks yourself from the Thinkvantage Rescue and Recovery software. Both, however, will return the computer to the factory state, which means you'll have a 2+ year old version of Windows that will need updating
     
    pipspeak, Feb 8, 2014
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  3. jook33

    jook33 Notebook Evangelist

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    make a bootable usb drive from an iso for win 7 that can easily be downloaded on the internet, if i am understanding your question correctly, then proceed to boot from the usb drive in bios and then you just will install using the key on your laptop, activate it using the phone with microsoft after the installation is complete. make sure you download the correct iso for the matching key on your laptop, can either be 32 bit or 64 bit, that doesn't matter if it says 32 bit and you install 64 bit, install 64 bit though in my opinion.
     
    jook33, Feb 8, 2014
    #3
  4. ZaZ

    ZaZ Super Model Super Moderator

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    You can download a Windows 7 disc in the Windows forum if you want to do a clean install.
     
    ZaZ, Feb 9, 2014
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  5. 5littleones

    5littleones Newbie

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    I too have a T420 that I would like to reset to factory settings. But do not have the restore disk. Where do I download that restore disk from??
     
    5littleones, Jan 3, 2015
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  6. ajkula66

    ajkula66 Courage and Consequence

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    Welcome to the forum!

    You can't download the restore disks - these you'd have to purchase from Lenovo - but you can download an ISO of W7 from here:

    http://forum.notebookreview.com/win...-digitalriver-windows-7-sp1-13-languages.html

    Add Lenovo's utilities that you deem necessary by downloading them from their website, and you're all set.

    Good luck.
     
    ajkula66, Jan 3, 2015
    #6
  7. PatchySan

    PatchySan Om Noms Kit Kat

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    Don't forget to download the basic drivers first before wiping out the drive, I recommend at least your graphics and network drivers (ethernet or wireless) depending on how you connect to the Internet along with the System Update utility. If you're still using the original factory image then you can simply copy over the SWTOOLS folder found on your C: drive and place this on to a USB stick which should cover the missing drivers.

    Also to save time you may want to backup your activation certificate as inputting the product key on the battery sticker alone may still not be enough to fully activate your Windows OS and will require a phone call to Microsoft to initiate this.

    You can use my Windows 7 Clean Install Guide as reference for this process.
     
    PatchySan, Jan 5, 2015
    #7