Windows 7 windows 7 beta expired...help me!

[minglemonkey]

Hello I am new to this forum so be nice

Anyway my Windows 7 beta has expired and it is the only OS I have currently installed on my system and ever since it has expired I can not access the internet, and to make matters worse i cant find my Restore DVD (I don't think I was given one) I don't want windows 7 anymore but I don't want to lose any of my files is there a way that I can get a free restore DVD and also not lose any files whilst restoring please
reply soon thank you

 

[minglemonkey]

Why do people swap out non-beta Operating Systems to betas???

Anyway, sorry for 'venting'... if you have no (original) OS media or recovery media there are basically 2 ways you can go.

1. Buy an OS; do a clean install. You may also need to get the M/B drivers & install them after the OS.
2. Contact the computer manufacturer & have them send Recovery media to you... likely there will be a cost to that as well.

Have fun.

Drew

Oh ok thanks for your time ill try that

 

[RAK]

Can you still access the OS+ It is not too clear from your post. If you can, then best copy your personal files to a DVD or make another partition. If you cannot access, then get hold of a Linux live cd.(There are quite a few around) and then copy the files to a safe place.

 

[john3347]

Good Plan, but how?

If you cannot access, then get hold of a Linux live cd.(There are quite a few around) and then copy the files to a safe place.

RAK, this would be a fabulous "butt saver" to many of us; will you outline the procedure? I obviously have never tried this procedure even tho it possibly could have saved a total system melt-down that I experienced a few days ago. (Ironically, it was a dual-boot problem with a Linux OS that caused the melt-down) I guess I just assumed that if the primary OS would not boot, that a Live CD (in any OS) also would not load. Perhaps this could save many "I lost everything" stories. (Fortunately, I had all my "stuff" backed up elsewhere and only lost a few hours time and a few desktop internet shortcuts.)

 

[Joe S]

Something else to watch is I think the Beta went to a 2 hour shutdown then later on random shutdown then dies. If you are going to do much keep an eye on the time if you are trying something like partitioning. You can partician with Disk management Link Removed
Another suggestion buy an external HD for backups.
Joe

 

[SIW2]

RAK, this would be a fabulous "butt saver" to many of us; will you outline the procedure? I obviously have never tried this procedure even tho it possibly could have saved a total system melt-down that I experienced a few days ago. (Ironically, it was a dual-boot problem with a Linux OS that caused the melt-down) I guess I just assumed that if the primary OS would not boot, that a Live CD (in any OS) also would not load. Perhaps this could save many "I lost everything" stories. (Fortunately, I had all my "stuff" backed up elsewhere and only lost a few hours time and a few desktop internet shortcuts.)

There is a free Paragon Rescue cd - includes a file transfer wizard - boot the cd , select file transfer wizard - there you go.

FREE Rescue Kit 9.0 Express | PARAGON Software Group - free partition software, hard disk partitioning

 

[RAK]

Hi John. Well, there is one solution. The instructions are thorough, and can be found by browsing. There are small variations, according to the live cd used. Rather than wast space here, I,ve indicated a couple of examples. Might be a good idea to sticky this thread?
Geek to Live: Rescue files with a boot CD - Boot CD - Lifehacker

Link Removed

 

[john3347]

Thanks to all for the Info

Thanks especially to RAK, SIW2, and JoeS, these are all good reference sites. I don't know how to do it, but it would be good to have all these links in the "downloads" section in this forum. That would make them easy to find and "sticky" at the same time. In my personal crash last week, I had a Windows Home Server restore CD that would get me into my files and I probably could have saved them from there if I had needed to. Even though I could load Windows with the WHS disc, neither Windows System Restore nor WHS restore CD would repair Windows to boot normally. (Seems that the WHS connector restore CD does approximately the same thing as a Linux Live CD in this particular instance) Eventually, I did a format and reinstall to repair the Windows boot problem then restored from WHS. WHS saved my butt one more time!!!