Thinkpads Forum

My Windows sticker from the bottom of my T420i is gone. And I can't locate the Windows installation disk. It was so long ago that I don't even remember if my laptop came with it. I do need, however, to reinstall Windows 7 on this laptop. Is there any way to do it without paying for Windows again?

You just need another copy of the Recovery disc that came with your T420i.
The disc itself contains the product key (it's part of the installer) so you don't need to enter a product key.

Post a "Want to buy" at the Marketplace section of this forum.

If it's the original HDD the Lenovo "restore" partition might still be present OR if you have the original HDD still you could swap HDD, make the RESTORE media then swap back the desired HDD.

Usually the COA on a T420 is hidden under the battery.

If the COA is not under the battery and you can't remember which version of Windows the machine shipped with, use the MTM lookup tool at the top of the forum here to search. Even if the MTM sticker is also gone from the computer, you can enter BIOS by pressing F1 and the machine type and serial number will be listed on the summary screen.

Oh, the COA is in fact under the battery. Thank you! So do I just download a retail version of Windows 7 Home Premium and use this COA to activate it?

Like axur-delmeria already said, get a recovery-set with W7-Pro 64-bit (preferably with SP1 already in it) either through our Marketforum or contact Lenovo.
That COA will only work with an OEM-Lenovo version of W7, not with an M$ .iso-download.

The .iso from MS worked fine with my key.

I thought everyone used loaders in this day and age.

TonyJZX wrote:I thought everyone used loaders in this day and age.

Win7 OEM keys seem to go for $30 on the 'bay.
My loader days are over since my workplace gets a few desktops to junk with good keys.

These guys seem ligit and claim they buy keys in bulk from MS directly. I've dealt with them and service was fast and the key was good.

http://www.keysaleonline.com/

I had to have a key for my T500 when I loaded Windows 7. It came as a Vista machine without an OS and the key was no good.

OR: install a modded Slic2.1 BIOS from MDL and use any Lenovo set of W7 recovery disks...

SLIC 2.1 is in the bios already.

One of the reasons I love classic Lenovos is that the T61 to T420 age all do not need stickers. Bios and oem loader is all you need.

I can assure you that on many, if not all of the T6X's and T400's SLIC 2.1 IS NOT installed. SLIC 2.0, perhaps.

Use the Lenovo site and see what it originally shipped with Vista = 2.0. Im not the authority on this but I have had only 1 machine that was native 2.1, and I bought it because it was native. On the others I added 2.1, as well as Middleton or Ender's bios mods.


Ron