Reader Chris needs to
reinstall Windows 7 Home Basic on his laptop. Just one problem: he lost his
recovery discs.
A more common problem
is when you need to reinstall Windows and you never had recovery discs to begin
with. Few manufacturers provide them anymore, and many new PCs don't have
optical drives even if they did.
Thankfully, there's a
way around this. All you need is a Windows ISO file (basically the entire
Windows operating system in a single container) and the free Ei.cfg Removal Utility. The
latter deletes a key file inside the former, thus allowing you to install any
version of Windows.
Let me explain that a
bit further. Windows 7 and 8 installation discs are version-specific; they're
designed to match up with your product key. That's why you can't use, say, a
Windows 7 Home Premium product key to install Windows 7 Professional, even if
you have a disc for the latter.
Likewise, even if Chris
somehow laid hands on a Windows 7 Home Premium disc, his Home Basic license key
wouldn't work. That's where Ei.cfg Removal Utility comes in: It effectively
creates a "universal" Windows ISO, one that will install whatever
version matches your product key.
From a high-level
perspective, the process would work like this: Borrow a friend's install DVD,
copy the ISO file from it to your hard drive, and then run Ei.cfg. When it's
done doing its thing, use the Windows
7 USB/DVD Download Tool to
put that tweaked ISO on a flash drive.
Now, just boot from
that flash drive and choose the version of Windows you want to install. Enter
your license key and you're good to go. (Don't bother trying to sneak an
upgrade; remember, your key will work only with the version of Windows that
came with your PC. In Chris' case, that's Windows 7 Home Basic.)
Can't find an install
disc or don't have an optical drive? There are "official" Windows
7 SP1 ISO downloads available
from the Windows 7 Forums.
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