Able to use retail DVD of Win7 Home Premium with OEM key?

Hi

I have a desktop PC with Win7 Home Premium 64bit with a dire need of a reformat. Unfortunately I do not have any rescue discs or recover partition to restore the OS.

I do have a retail copy of Windows 7 Home Premium, so I was wondering if I could use this to reinstall the OS after a format in conjunction with the OEM key that came with the desktop PC? Or will the retail disc not work with an OEM key?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks
Sam

 

If the retail version came with a COA/Product Key, use that one. OEMs are usually "locked" to the macine they came with.

 

Unfortunately I am using the retail key on a different machine. So I pretty much have no choice but to use the OEM key for the machine I need to re-install the OS.

So basically I still need to know if I can use the OEM key to install Windows 7 Home Premium from a retail disc.

 

Just to clarify - I am wanting to use the OEM key on the machine that I purchased it with.

 

The repair trade does just that all the time so it will probably be OK. But if it was mine I would image the system as it is first, just to be on the safe side. Don't overlook to create the bootable CD with whatever imaging software you use or you would not be able to restore your current system should you need to.

 

EDIT - your OEM key has to be 64-bit too of course or it probably won't work. For imaging the system you could use Win 7's Backup and Restore - no need for 3rd party software in this case.