[ale] help, windows 7 boot error

[Michael B. Trausch]

On 01/26/2015 08:30 AM, Boris Borisov wrote:
> Windows CDs are free download from M$ site. ( Actually is a different
> site that provides the hosting ) . You just need to download matching
> CD to your serial number. (Pro Home x86 64 and so on) and create USB
> stick.

Please provide links to legitimate resources if they exist.

That said, those won't be the OEM preactivated versions.  Those you can
only get from the manufacturer.  OEM preactivated versions of Windows
are preinstalled, configured, and then imaged to media.  Typically that
media is present on a recovery partition that you can press a function
key at boot time to boot from.

Dell, Lenovo, and others offer the recovery media on (typically burned)
DVD sets for anywhere from $15 to $50.  They charge for the time it
takes to produce it on-demand, for the media itself, and for the two-day
shipping so that you're not waiting forever.  It's a quite reasonable
charge, actually.  Figure if you pay less than about $20, they're
probably taking a (minor) loss.

> Not that I encourage installing Windows :)
>
> But I'm dealing with it because my boys play their games.  

It's a large (but shrinking) part of the business and gaming worlds,
thankfully.

    — Mike