Using an oem license to activate a retail copy of win 7

I'm buying a Sony laptop to replace my dell. The dell came with vista64 I bought a retail copy of win7 64 to put on. When the Sony comes I'm expecting it to have a load of bloatware on. If it doesn't come with a disc to do a clean install was hoping to use the oem to reintall my retail copy. This way I can leave the retail copy of win7 on the dell and give them the product key.
Hope this makes sense can anyone offer advice on this ?

 

check out the activation thingy that exists on this forum. abr?

ABR Beta With Windows 7 Support | directedge.us this one?

activation backup and restore. that way, you can do a clean installation, and just copy back the activation.

 

as far as i know, OEM key cannot be used on retail SKU.

For me, I would just use the retail key as Microsoft usually gives you some slack so you can use the same key to activate on multiple machine.

You can also manually remove the bloatware via uninstall. I did that to my Vista that comes with my notebook. Just do a defrag after that.

 

That was true with XP but was changed in Vista and Win7.

Nowadays OEM and Retail discs are same, price tag and license terms differ.

Also to note: there is 2 kinds of OEM available. One you buy from shop yourself or some small shop builds a machine with it, the other one is big brand preinstalled and automatically activated.

ABR works only with big brand preinstalled systems. License sticker under laptop is similar as you would buy separate license from shop.

 

well, abr will work on the sony i guess. it works on dell, hp, asus, acer.. should work on sony, too.

 

ABR works only if the system uses SLIC 2.1 in BIOS and a manufacturer OEM SLP key.

 

Just tried ABR to backup the key of my Windows 7 Professional (retail copy) installed in my Sony VAIO machine. The machine came with pre-packaged Windows Vista but I prefer to use Windows 7 on it.

ABR only able to create the file backup-key.txt and the content is "BBBBB-BBBBB-BBBBB-BBBBB-BBBBB". I assume ABR failed to do the back-up?

 

ABR to work, you need
1. Compatible BIOS (Slic 2.1 for Win7, Slic 2.0 for Vista)
2. Manufacturer specific install key (included in install disc)
3. Manufacturer specific certificate file (also in install disc)

In your case, none of those apply.

 

Thanks for replies, looks like I'll have to stick vista 64 back on the dell to sell it and use my retail copy of win7 for the Sony when it turns up, if I cant get rid of the bloatware by simple uninstalls

 

You need to run ABRBackup from a flash drive on your Sony since it has Win7 preinstalled from the factory.

ABR will produce a text file and a certificate file saved to your flash drive.
Pull out the flash drive and pop in the Windows 7 Retail DVD.
Boot from the DVD and follow the setup wizard to install Windows.
Eventually, you will get to a screen that says "Please type your Windows key."
Leave the text box blank and UNCHECK the "Automatically Activate Windows Online."
The next screen will let you choose which version of Windows you want to install.
You MUST select the version that your Sony originally had. (Usually Windows 7 Home Premium.)
Let Windows finish installing.
Once you get to the new Windows desktop, pop out the DVD and insert your flash drive.
Run ABRRestore from your flash drive and it should reload the OEM activation from the Sony factory install.

 

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