[Wooodyii2]

Ok since this is the beginner section, here it goes. I just got a dell 1012 with win 7 pro on it from ebay but it is pretty sluggish and would like to reinstall with a fresh start. Of coarse I have no cd so can I just buy any win 7 pro disc from ebay as long as I have my own product key from the mini?

Also one more thing, I am defraging the drive but I see another drive listed as well. But its called "system reserved"
Would could this be?

Thank you

[holmes4]

To answer your first question - the Mini almost certainly didn't come from Dell with Win 7 Pro, so it was installed by the previous owner. If you have that product key, you may be able to reinstall but it will depend on the source of the Win 7. If it was a corporate or "volume" license, you'd need a DVD with the same license type source.. You might first look for a tool that can show you the license key for the installed OS. An example is https://www.howtogeek.com/206329/how...-product-keys/

The "system reserved" is created by the Windows installer to "align" the allocation of the OS partition for performance reasons. If you delete all the partitions and install fresh, it will be recreated.

[darknessblade]

what you can do is find a windows 7 pro upgrade disk,
and a windows XP pro dell iso.
first to clean the HDD install ubuntu/linux and use the entire HDD
then install xp, download and install all drivers.
after that use the windows 7 pro upgrade iso to install windows 7 pro, and use the key provided on the system.
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since the bios can sometimes nag about the iso, and the current system, this is the best way to install it,

this was in my case on my mini 910