Can't load disc - please help

In message , Mr Pounder
writes:

"Dave-UK" wrote in message
web.com...
[]
Try downloading a good dvd image and boot from that.

Win7 Ultimate 32 bit:
http://msft.digitalrivercontent.net/win/X17-59463.iso

The lap top is 32 bit.
I clicked on the link using XP and was asked what I wanted to open the link
with? ? I haven't got any DVDs yet anyway.
[]
As Dave-UK said in another post, you download the file, not open it. How
you do that depends on the browser; in most, _right_-clicking (on the
link) will usually bring up a menu from which one of the options is
download (in Firefox it's something like "save link target as"). Once
you've downloaded it (it's going to be a BIG file!), you'll have an .iso
file, as we've already discussed, which you use with imgburn, Nero, or
whatever, to make a real DVD.
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

What's awful about weird views is not the views. It's the intolerance. If
someone wants to worship the Duke of Edinburgh or a pineapple, fine. But don't
kill me if I don't agree. - Tim Rice, Radio Times 15-21 October 2011.

In message , Char Jackson
writes:
On Fri, 30 Jan 2015 17:55:19 -0500, Paul wrote:
[]
time to burn discs for this purpose (booting). My recommendation
on source is version 2.5.0.0, which is free of adware. After
2.5.0.0 is installed, turn off the "update" function, so no
adware can come in that way. Also, turn off the audio sound
effects, which can be ear splitting if you're used to a
relatively silent computer. It "beeps" when the burn is done.

http://www.oldversion.com/windows/do...mgburn-2-5-0-0

2.5.0.0_SetupImgBurn_2.5.0.0.exe 2,169,915 bytes Jul 26, 2009
CRC32: 39CD6FC6
MD5: F3791CFACDAC03B9E676E44AA2630243
SHA-1: E07BCC23B495D0A966BAE359EA9E0E3A11888454

You can use a newer version if you want - just be careful
to untick any box that might cause adware to get installed.
Personally, I'm not interested in taking that chance, which is
why I hunted down and validated that older version. The author
of the program provided checksums, so it is possible to determine
that it hasn't been modified.

I use and recommend the latest version of utilities like this. In fact, as a
result of this thread I updated ImgBurn from 2.5.7.0 to 2.5.8.0 today.

snip

I agree with both of you - in other words, both have their advantages!
(Since I still mainly use XP, I now _tend_ to stick with a version that
works, unless I'm pretty _sure_ the new one [a] still works with XP, [b]
hasn't gained any non-optional parasites and [c] hasn't _lost_ any
functionality which _sometimes_ occurs with freeware.) (As an example of
something I _do_ update, though I keep the previous version's
installer!, IrfanView keeps adding actually worthwhile improvements.
[I've actually bought 1½ copies of that over time, though I'm only a
home user.])

What actual _advantages_(/improvements/whatever), Char, have you found -
that actually make any difference _to you_! - with the new version?
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

What's awful about weird views is not the views. It's the intolerance. If
someone wants to worship the Duke of Edinburgh or a pineapple, fine. But don't
kill me if I don't agree. - Tim Rice, Radio Times 15-21 October 2011.

"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote in message
...
In message , Mr Pounder
writes:

"Dave-UK" wrote in message
aweb.com...
[]
Try downloading a good dvd image and boot from that.

Win7 Ultimate 32 bit:
http://msft.digitalrivercontent.net/win/X17-59463.iso

The lap top is 32 bit.
I clicked on the link using XP and was asked what I wanted to open the
link
with? ? I haven't got any DVDs yet anyway.
[]
As Dave-UK said in another post, you download the file, not open it. How
you do that depends on the browser; in most, _right_-clicking (on the
link) will usually bring up a menu from which one of the options is
download (in Firefox it's something like "save link target as"). Once
you've downloaded it (it's going to be a BIG file!), you'll have an .iso
file, as we've already discussed, which you use with imgburn, Nero, or
whatever, to make a real DVD.

Thanks for everything you guys, my simple mind is now well and truly blown -
but I have learnt things.
When I get the DVDs I'll try to do as advised. If I get frightened and
start to cry I'll come back here and ask for a blow by blow of how to do
this task.
Thanks to you all once again :-)

On Sat, 31 Jan 2015 20:42:07 -0000, Mr Pounder wrote:

"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote in message
...
In message , Mr Pounder
writes:

"Dave-UK" wrote in message
raweb.com...
[]
Try downloading a good dvd image and boot from that.

Win7 Ultimate 32 bit:
http://msft.digitalrivercontent.net/win/X17-59463.iso

The lap top is 32 bit.
I clicked on the link using XP and was asked what I wanted to open the
link
with? ? I haven't got any DVDs yet anyway.
[]
As Dave-UK said in another post, you download the file, not open it. How
you do that depends on the browser; in most, _right_-clicking (on the
link) will usually bring up a menu from which one of the options is
download (in Firefox it's something like "save link target as"). Once
you've downloaded it (it's going to be a BIG file!), you'll have an .iso
file, as we've already discussed, which you use with imgburn, Nero, or
whatever, to make a real DVD.

Thanks for everything you guys, my simple mind is now well and truly blown -
but I have learnt things.
When I get the DVDs I'll try to do as advised. If I get frightened and
start to cry I'll come back here and ask for a blow by blow of how to do
this task.
Thanks to you all once again :-)

A reminder:

If when you put the CD in the slot or tray and look at it in Windows
Explorer, you might see one of two things.

1. What looks like a normal file tree with a file or two and some
directories in the root (X:\, where X is whichever letter is used for
the CD or DVD).

2. A root containing only something.iso

In the first case, you've got it already.

In the second case, you'd have to burn the .iso file to a CD-R or DVD-R
using ImgBurn or a similar program, which would give you a type 1
situation on the new disc.

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

"Gene E. Bloch" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 31 Jan 2015 20:42:07 -0000, Mr Pounder wrote:

"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote in message
...
In message , Mr Pounder
writes:

"Dave-UK" wrote in message
traweb.com...
[]
Try downloading a good dvd image and boot from that.

Win7 Ultimate 32 bit:
http://msft.digitalrivercontent.net/win/X17-59463.iso

The lap top is 32 bit.
I clicked on the link using XP and was asked what I wanted to open the
link
with? ? I haven't got any DVDs yet anyway.
[]
As Dave-UK said in another post, you download the file, not open it. How
you do that depends on the browser; in most, _right_-clicking (on the
link) will usually bring up a menu from which one of the options is
download (in Firefox it's something like "save link target as"). Once
you've downloaded it (it's going to be a BIG file!), you'll have an .iso
file, as we've already discussed, which you use with imgburn, Nero, or
whatever, to make a real DVD.

Thanks for everything you guys, my simple mind is now well and truly
blown -
but I have learnt things.
When I get the DVDs I'll try to do as advised. If I get frightened and
start to cry I'll come back here and ask for a blow by blow of how to do
this task.
Thanks to you all once again :-)

A reminder:

If when you put the CD in the slot or tray and look at it in Windows
Explorer, you might see one of two things.

1. What looks like a normal file tree with a file or two and some
directories in the root (X:\, where X is whichever letter is used for
the CD or DVD).

2. A root containing only something.iso

In the first case, you've got it already.

In the second case, you'd have to burn the .iso file to a CD-R or DVD-R
using ImgBurn or a similar program, which would give you a type 1
situation on the new disc.

--
Gene E. Bloch (Stumbling Bloch)

"Gene E. Bloch" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 31 Jan 2015 20:42:07 -0000, Mr Pounder wrote:

"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote in message
...
In message , Mr Pounder
writes:

"Dave-UK" wrote in message
traweb.com...
[]
Try downloading a good dvd image and boot from that.

Win7 Ultimate 32 bit:
http://msft.digitalrivercontent.net/win/X17-59463.iso

The lap top is 32 bit.
I clicked on the link using XP and was asked what I wanted to open the
link
with? ? I haven't got any DVDs yet anyway.
[]
As Dave-UK said in another post, you download the file, not open it. How
you do that depends on the browser; in most, _right_-clicking (on the
link) will usually bring up a menu from which one of the options is
download (in Firefox it's something like "save link target as"). Once
you've downloaded it (it's going to be a BIG file!), you'll have an .iso
file, as we've already discussed, which you use with imgburn, Nero, or
whatever, to make a real DVD.

Thanks for everything you guys, my simple mind is now well and truly
blown -
but I have learnt things.
When I get the DVDs I'll try to do as advised. If I get frightened and
start to cry I'll come back here and ask for a blow by blow of how to do
this task.
Thanks to you all once again :-)

A reminder:

If when you put the CD in the slot or tray and look at it in Windows
Explorer, you might see one of two things.

1. What looks like a normal file tree with a file or two and some
directories in the root (X:\, where X is whichever letter is used for
the CD or DVD).

2. A root containing only something.iso

In the first case, you've got it already.

In the second case, you'd have to burn the .iso file to a CD-R or DVD-R
using ImgBurn or a similar program, which would give you a type 1
situation on the new disc.

Thanks. I'll report back when I get some discs. I was actually looking at
some the other week and decided not to bother as I would probably never use
them. Doh!!!

On Sat, 31 Jan 2015 09:39:19 +0000, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
wrote:

In message , Char Jackson
writes:
On Fri, 30 Jan 2015 17:55:19 -0500, Paul wrote:
[]
time to burn discs for this purpose (booting). My recommendation
on source is version 2.5.0.0, which is free of adware. After
2.5.0.0 is installed, turn off the "update" function, so no
adware can come in that way. Also, turn off the audio sound
effects, which can be ear splitting if you're used to a
relatively silent computer. It "beeps" when the burn is done.

http://www.oldversion.com/windows/do...mgburn-2-5-0-0

2.5.0.0_SetupImgBurn_2.5.0.0.exe 2,169,915 bytes Jul 26, 2009
CRC32: 39CD6FC6
MD5: F3791CFACDAC03B9E676E44AA2630243
SHA-1: E07BCC23B495D0A966BAE359EA9E0E3A11888454

You can use a newer version if you want - just be careful
to untick any box that might cause adware to get installed.
Personally, I'm not interested in taking that chance, which is
why I hunted down and validated that older version. The author
of the program provided checksums, so it is possible to determine
that it hasn't been modified.

I use and recommend the latest version of utilities like this. In fact, as a
result of this thread I updated ImgBurn from 2.5.7.0 to 2.5.8.0 today.

snip

I agree with both of you - in other words, both have their advantages!
(Since I still mainly use XP, I now _tend_ to stick with a version that
works, unless I'm pretty _sure_ the new one [a] still works with XP, [b]
hasn't gained any non-optional parasites and [c] hasn't _lost_ any
functionality which _sometimes_ occurs with freeware.) (As an example of
something I _do_ update, though I keep the previous version's
installer!, IrfanView keeps adding actually worthwhile improvements.
[I've actually bought 1½ copies of that over time, though I'm only a
home user.])

What actual _advantages_(/improvements/whatever), Char, have you found -
that actually make any difference _to you_! - with the new version?

I rarely used the previous version, and so far I haven't used the new
version, so I can't answer your question. Generally, you can usually get a
feel for the changes by reading the release notes. Personally, when it comes
to system utilities, and I consider this to be in that vein, I want to be
using the latest version unless there's a good reason not to.

In this case, I *thought* Paul was saying that versions beyond 2.5.0.0
_contained_ adware. Note his use of the words "free of adware" when
referring to older versions. That's not true, however. No versions of
ImgBurn contain adware, so no versions should be avoided on that basis. I've
since come to the conclusion that he meant to say that some versions have
optional items that should be unchecked during installation, but again, that
wouldn't be a reason to avoid a piece of software.

--

Char Jackson

You just have to be alert to unchecking imgburn's desire to load the ASK
search and toolbar during its installation.

T2

I have been following this thread with great interest, Gene. In trying
to test my 32G memory from Paul's advise in the "unrecognized memory"
thread, I downloaded the memtest iso as paul suggested and then tried to
figure out what to do with it. First attempt of just copying the iso to
a blank CD didn't get me a boot-disk as I had assumed that was needed.
OK, how about opening the iso with 7-zip and copying the result to a CD?
Nope. Well OK, how about lookinjg inside gthe folders of the original
iso... hmmm, there is an img file. Copy that to the disk too. Nope. OK,
go get ImgBurn as Paul suggested. Install but be sure to uncheck the ASK
search and tool bar stuff during installation.

OK, not for ImgBurn. Quite a complicated little program compared to
letting Windows just copy to the CD. Got to go to the source line in
ImgBurn and SEARCH for the iso you want to get bootable on your CD. OK,
not as to destination. ImgBurn kept insisting it would use somewhere on
my C drive as a destination. Kept changing it to D:, my optical drive at
which point the ImgBurn would ask if I would rather Write. Oh well, how
do I write? Fumble around ... oh, there is is check write.

Ok there it goes on the blank CD. Leave it in and restart and YES, it
boots to the memtest program.

Summary: ImgTest is free and looks to have lots of capability, but
doesn't make it obvious as to how to make a bootable iso. I assume that
if I were to download a Win7 or Win8 iso from Digital River I would need
to use the same procedure to make a bootable window install disk?

T2

"Tom Thompson" wrote in message
...

I have been following this thread with great interest, Gene. In trying
to test my 32G memory from Paul's advise in the "unrecognized memory"
thread, I downloaded the memtest iso as paul suggested and then tried to
figure out what to do with it. First attempt of just copying the iso to
a blank CD didn't get me a boot-disk as I had assumed that was needed.
OK, how about opening the iso with 7-zip and copying the result to a CD?
Nope. Well OK, how about lookinjg inside gthe folders of the original
iso... hmmm, there is an img file. Copy that to the disk too. Nope. OK,
go get ImgBurn as Paul suggested. Install but be sure to uncheck the ASK
search and tool bar stuff during installation.

OK, not for ImgBurn. Quite a complicated little program compared to
letting Windows just copy to the CD. Got to go to the source line in
ImgBurn and SEARCH for the iso you want to get bootable on your CD. OK,
not as to destination. ImgBurn kept insisting it would use somewhere on
my C drive as a destination. Kept changing it to D:, my optical drive at
which point the ImgBurn would ask if I would rather Write. Oh well, how
do I write? Fumble around ... oh, there is is check write.

Ok there it goes on the blank CD. Leave it in and restart and YES, it
boots to the memtest program.

Summary: ImgTest is free and looks to have lots of capability, but
doesn't make it obvious as to how to make a bootable iso. I assume that
if I were to download a Win7 or Win8 iso from Digital River I would need
to use the same procedure to make a bootable window install disk?

T2

"Tom Thompson" wrote in message
...

I have been following this thread with great interest, Gene. In trying
to test my 32G memory from Paul's advise in the "unrecognized memory"
thread, I downloaded the memtest iso as paul suggested and then tried to
figure out what to do with it. First attempt of just copying the iso to
a blank CD didn't get me a boot-disk as I had assumed that was needed.
OK, how about opening the iso with 7-zip and copying the result to a CD?
Nope. Well OK, how about lookinjg inside gthe folders of the original
iso... hmmm, there is an img file. Copy that to the disk too. Nope. OK,
go get ImgBurn as Paul suggested. Install but be sure to uncheck the ASK
search and tool bar stuff during installation.

OK, not for ImgBurn. Quite a complicated little program compared to
letting Windows just copy to the CD. Got to go to the source line in
ImgBurn and SEARCH for the iso you want to get bootable on your CD. OK,
not as to destination. ImgBurn kept insisting it would use somewhere on
my C drive as a destination. Kept changing it to D:, my optical drive at
which point the ImgBurn would ask if I would rather Write. Oh well, how
do I write? Fumble around ... oh, there is is check write.

Ok there it goes on the blank CD. Leave it in and restart and YES, it
boots to the memtest program.

Summary: ImgTest is free and looks to have lots of capability, but
doesn't make it obvious as to how to make a bootable iso. I assume that
if I were to download a Win7 or Win8 iso from Digital River I would need
to use the same procedure to make a bootable window install disk?

T2

Oh dear, now I'm 100% confused.
I also tried that Memtest thing ages ago and it did not work for me.
Just looked at my ancient CDs. All scratched on the bottom - to the bin they
go.
If I did not like to mess around I'd take this slaptop to my local computer
shop guy and give him the 20 quid to do the job for me.
As I'm curious I have Googled how to format Vista without the disc,
*nothing* has worked - elevated mode the lot. I'm Administrator.
Beats me how some guy managed to downgrade this laptop from W7 to Vista, you
are not supposed to be able to do that.
I even tried to put a retail copy of XP Pro on it - failed as the current
version of Windows is newer than XP.
In the old days I could use Basic and owwwwwwww Wordstar DOS.

On Sun, 1 Feb 2015 12:06:03 -0800, Tom Thompson wrote:


I have been following this thread with great interest, Gene. In trying
to test my 32G memory from Paul's advise in the "unrecognized memory"
thread, I downloaded the memtest iso as paul suggested and then tried to
figure out what to do with it. First attempt of just copying the iso to
a blank CD didn't get me a boot-disk as I had assumed that was needed.
OK, how about opening the iso with 7-zip and copying the result to a CD?
Nope. Well OK, how about lookinjg inside gthe folders of the original
iso... hmmm, there is an img file. Copy that to the disk too. Nope. OK,
go get ImgBurn as Paul suggested. Install but be sure to uncheck the ASK
search and tool bar stuff during installation.

OK, not for ImgBurn. Quite a complicated little program compared to
letting Windows just copy to the CD. Got to go to the source line in
ImgBurn and SEARCH for the iso you want to get bootable on your CD. OK,
not as to destination. ImgBurn kept insisting it would use somewhere on
my C drive as a destination. Kept changing it to D:, my optical drive at
which point the ImgBurn would ask if I would rather Write. Oh well, how
do I write? Fumble around ... oh, there is is check write.

Ok there it goes on the blank CD. Leave it in and restart and YES, it
boots to the memtest program.

Summary: ImgTest is free and looks to have lots of capability, but
doesn't make it obvious as to how to make a bootable iso. I assume that
if I were to download a Win7 or Win8 iso from Digital River I would need
to use the same procedure to make a bootable window install disk?

Since you have Windows 7 (assuming that since this is the Windows 7
group) right click the iso file and select 'Copy Image to CD/DVD'.

--
Faster, cheaper, quieter than HS2
and built in 5 years;
UKUltraspeed http://www.500kmh.com/

Rodney Pont wrote:
On Sun, 1 Feb 2015 12:06:03 -0800, Tom Thompson wrote:

I have been following this thread with great interest, Gene. In trying
to test my 32G memory from Paul's advise in the "unrecognized memory"
thread, I downloaded the memtest iso as paul suggested and then tried to
figure out what to do with it. First attempt of just copying the iso to
a blank CD didn't get me a boot-disk as I had assumed that was needed.
OK, how about opening the iso with 7-zip and copying the result to a CD?
Nope. Well OK, how about lookinjg inside gthe folders of the original
iso... hmmm, there is an img file. Copy that to the disk too. Nope. OK,
go get ImgBurn as Paul suggested. Install but be sure to uncheck the ASK
search and tool bar stuff during installation.

OK, not for ImgBurn. Quite a complicated little program compared to
letting Windows just copy to the CD. Got to go to the source line in
ImgBurn and SEARCH for the iso you want to get bootable on your CD. OK,
not as to destination. ImgBurn kept insisting it would use somewhere on
my C drive as a destination. Kept changing it to D:, my optical drive at
which point the ImgBurn would ask if I would rather Write. Oh well, how
do I write? Fumble around ... oh, there is is check write.

Ok there it goes on the blank CD. Leave it in and restart and YES, it
boots to the memtest program.

Summary: ImgTest is free and looks to have lots of capability, but
doesn't make it obvious as to how to make a bootable iso. I assume that
if I were to download a Win7 or Win8 iso from Digital River I would need
to use the same procedure to make a bootable window install disk?

Since you have Windows 7 (assuming that since this is the Windows 7
group) right click the iso file and select 'Copy Image to CD/DVD'.


They have an example here, and the text shows "Burn disc image".

http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tuto...-image-or-iso/

One reason for not letting Microsoft do my laundry, is they forget
to do stuff. The advantage of Imgburn, is there is a log you can
look at, to see how things fouled up. And if you do something
strange, the author of Imgburn is more likely to educate you
than Microsoft is.

At one time, the Microsoft built-in could only do CD and
not DVD, but I guess they fixed that. I guess I've never
wasted the time checking in each OS, to see if Microsoft
learned anything or not. Who knows, maybe they know how
to burn a Blu-Ray by now ?

Another reason for using third-party tools, is I used to
buy optical drives and they came with a Nero CD. So I could
install Nero as a burning tool and use that. Saved a lot of
grief back when the alternatives weren't nearly as developed.
And you could barely get ASPI working.

Now that optical drives are $20, they're OEM and don't
even come with screws, Nero isn't a freebie any more.
But Imgburn has nicely filled the bill.

As a question for anyone has tried if, if you use the
above Win7 "Burn disc image", is it smart enough to erase
your DVD+RW reusable media for you and then do the burn ?
Or does it give you a hassle and request that you erase first ?

I was using the Windows backup program, and testing output to DVD,
and the stuff was busted... because the backup software
wanted to be handed a "formatted" DVD (not an "erased" one).
You have to hop out of the backup program, run off and format
the media, then shove the fresh cookie into the burner and give
the disc back to the Windows backup software. Such careful integration...
This is why I don't trust Microsoft further than I could
throw them. At first, I couldn't even figure out what
the program was asking me to do (it shows a 0x8xxxxxxx error
code). But I Googled up a recipe from somewhere, and yes,
you could "fix" the process yourself. But it means sitting
next to the burner, and feeding the thing like you stoke a boiler
on a steamship. I was exhausted, after finishing a four disc backup,
not because of the effort, but because of the amount
of time spent "glued" to the machine. It might have taken
around two hours for me to complete my little experiment.

So if you told me Windows had a "working" function for this,
I would tend to not believe you... :-)

Paul

In article t.me.uk,
says...

On Sun, 1 Feb 2015 12:06:03 -0800, Tom Thompson wrote:


I have been following this thread with great interest, Gene. In trying
to test my 32G memory from Paul's advise in the "unrecognized memory"
thread, I downloaded the memtest iso as paul suggested and then tried to
figure out what to do with it. First attempt of just copying the iso to
a blank CD didn't get me a boot-disk as I had assumed that was needed.
OK, how about opening the iso with 7-zip and copying the result to a CD?
Nope. Well OK, how about lookinjg inside gthe folders of the original
iso... hmmm, there is an img file. Copy that to the disk too. Nope. OK,
go get ImgBurn as Paul suggested. Install but be sure to uncheck the ASK
search and tool bar stuff during installation.

OK, not for ImgBurn. Quite a complicated little program compared to
letting Windows just copy to the CD. Got to go to the source line in
ImgBurn and SEARCH for the iso you want to get bootable on your CD. OK,
not as to destination. ImgBurn kept insisting it would use somewhere on
my C drive as a destination. Kept changing it to D:, my optical drive at
which point the ImgBurn would ask if I would rather Write. Oh well, how
do I write? Fumble around ... oh, there is is check write.

Ok there it goes on the blank CD. Leave it in and restart and YES, it
boots to the memtest program.

Summary: ImgTest is free and looks to have lots of capability, but
doesn't make it obvious as to how to make a bootable iso. I assume that
if I were to download a Win7 or Win8 iso from Digital River I would need
to use the same procedure to make a bootable window install disk?

Since you have Windows 7 (assuming that since this is the Windows 7
group) right click the iso file and select 'Copy Image to CD/DVD'.

"Copy image to CD/DVD not one of the right click options. Copy/send-to
doesn't work either. Looks as though something like ImgBurn is needed
to really make the img bootable. Since I have installed ImgBurn, "Burn
using ImgBurn" is a right-click option.

T2

"Mr Pounder" wrote in message ...

Oh dear, now I'm 100% confused.
I also tried that Memtest thing ages ago and it did not work for me.
Just looked at my ancient CDs. All scratched on the bottom - to the bin they
go.
If I did not like to mess around I'd take this slaptop to my local computer
shop guy and give him the 20 quid to do the job for me.
As I'm curious I have Googled how to format Vista without the disc,
*nothing* has worked - elevated mode the lot. I'm Administrator.
Beats me how some guy managed to downgrade this laptop from W7 to Vista, you
are not supposed to be able to do that.
I even tried to put a retail copy of XP Pro on it - failed as the current
version of Windows is newer than XP.
In the old days I could use Basic and owwwwwwww Wordstar DOS.


Let's try again - you have a laptop with Vista installed.
Download the Win7 iso file from Digitalriver, using whatever machine you have, Vista or XP.
The iso is a bootable image file.
You need to 'burn' the bootable iso image file onto a dvd, NOT copy it over.
Here is a free simple dvd burning program:

https://cdburnerxp.se/en/home

Install this program onto whatever machine you have a cd burning unit on.
Run the program to burn the bootable iso image onto a blank dvd.
Now you should have a bootable Win7 dvd.
Make sure the laptop can boot from a dvd and boot using the new Win7 dvd.
Install Win7.