I'm trying to repair a laptop that has a Genuine Windows 7 key code sticker on the underside of the laptop. It is a 5 to 7 year old laptop that has seen much wear.
All but one of the letters on the Key Code sticker are readable. We need to reinstall Windows 7 on a new hard drive as the old one has failed. So we need a way to determine the missing letter. It looks like it could be one of three possible ones.
Is there a way to test the key code with each the three alternatives for the unreadable letter to determine which one is valid.
We can't simply read the original key code from the Windows operating system because the hard drive has failed. It won't boot up and it won't past the Windows Recovery hard drive diagnostic test.
Going to Microsoft's web site to download Windows 7 installation media doesn't work either. Looks like official access to Windows 7 from Microsoft may have been disabled in anticipation of the release of Windows 10. Perhaps, anyway.
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