On Fri, Nov 25, 2011 at 8:11 PM, Mark Phillips <mark@phillipsmarketing.biz> wrote:

Michael,

Look on the bottom of the machine, back of machine, top of machine, etc. - you should see a MS sticker with the key if you got Windows pre-sintalled.

To create a backup, click start, click on all programs, click on maintenance, click on make a backup. Be sure to make a restore cd when the backup is complete. You will need a place to put the backup - a usb drive would be the best place. You can also create backup CDs - it will tell you how many you need.

Once you have the backup and restore CD, I suggest you restore to your computer to make sure it worked. If it didn't, since it is brand new, you should be able to get some support from the reseller or manufacturer.

Finally, once the backup is done, wipe the drive and install what you want.

Note - if you restore sometime in the future, it will wipe your disk and restore to what you backed up. The WHOLE disk, not just the Windows partition.

Mark

On Fri, Nov 25, 2011 at 12:13 PM, Michael Havens <bmike1@gmail.com> wrote:

They didn't give me a key!

On Fri, Nov 25, 2011 at 7:04 PM, Michael Butash <michael@butash.net> wrote:

If it's a new pc, I wouldn't bother - it's all spy/adware/demo anyways im sure. Otherwise just liveboot with a linux cd, pop in a usb drive, and rsync -avh the ntfs filesystem somewhere in case there's something you need you forgot. I usually keep them a few weeks (or whatever if have the space) and end up deleting it later.

It's easy enough to find a oem windoze cd online, just install in a vm with your key, and call microsoft to reset your wga for the vm - instant portable windoze. This is what I've done with an xp image on vmware/virtuabox for a good 6-7 years now. I don't need anything else considering it's a) always behind a nat for protection, b) never gets used to browse, and b) just runs visio. If you move it around, just don't change the mac or hardware types much or it'll reset the wga bulls***.

Really need something like a portable citrix xenapp for this kind of thing that doesn't cost a left arm or require infrastructure...

-mb

On 11/25/2011 11:36 AM, Michael Havens wrote:

I thought to myself that I would keep Windows7 until it got loaded up
with viri and spyware and all those nice things because I thought that
there were things that would be cool to use for a bit..... then I got
the machine home! I don't even WANT any of the crap they got on there!

On Fri, Nov 25, 2011 at 6:31 PM, Michael Havens <bmike1@gmail.com
<mailto:bmike1@gmail.com>> wrote:

Before I blow windows away I think I should make a copy of the hard
drive in case I need to re-install it. How do I do that and can I
back up the boot sector as well? I'll be backing up to a cd. Would I
use dd?

--
:-)~MIKE~(-:

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