TDD,

Have you ever used an OEM Win7 HP product key on a Retail Win7 HP
clean install?

I get different answers and different approaches. Some say no, some
say yes. it will work. Some show how to edit a *.cfg file in an ISO
image, so Windows sees OEM or Retail - so the key can be entered for
activation. Some say skip key entry, and use the phone activation
process.

Friend's laptop has OEM Win7 Home Premium (HP) full of bloat ware.
Want to do a clean install from a retail (Win7 HP) disk ....use the
OEM key. I've extracted the key (BBBBB-BBBBB-BBBBB-BBBBB-BBBBB)
(sample)

Just want to use that key on a new, clean install from a retail disk
or a Win7 HP SP1 slipstream ISO image (authentic from MS)

The slipstream image saves a gozillion downloads before SP1 gets
installed and then another zillion updates to get current.

Hopefully, I'm not too confusing

....or a *good* NG for Windows 7? MS has stopped supporting Usenet
NG's