J. P. Gilliver (John) wrote:

Doesn't matter, as I suspect it's highly unlikely you have any retail
keys for W7 anyway.

https://s13.postimg.org/pwmlcxkh3/mu...installers.gif

I used a Windows 7 Sp1 Home Premium retail DVD to reinstall
Windows 7 on my Acer laptop. I used the license key on the COA sticker.
I had to use the "phone activation" method. The laptop will print
phone numbers on the screen for your country, as to where to call
to activate.

This is the method people are supposed to use, if they have
lost the original hard drive, the media you make when
you get the laptop new (the emergency recovery discs made from
the recovery partition), and you don't have any copies of the
recovery partition either.

This is why I was lamenting the lack of sources of Retail media,
because the COA sticker on the laptop can be used with a Retail
disc. As long as it's the same Trim level. The original OS
was Win7 Sp1 Home Premium Acer OEM with SLIC activation.
The current OS on the laptop is Win7 Sp1 Home Premium retail
with COA+Phone activation. This new OS doesn't have Zynga games
in it, or the NTI backup utility. The "cruft" is missing :-)

Paul