USB 2.0 ports are often controlled by USB 3.0 controller so they still won't work in many cases.

Fine, but like I said, I would very much like to be able to keep my Office 2010 and not have to downgrade to 2000.

That may come in handy - thanks!

Well I wouldn't say that's "dirt cheap". I looked at the link and only the cheapest one was really dirt cheap, and that was for auction, so it'll probably sell for a lot more. Also, taking into account shipping...

In any case, that wouldn't do me much good for being able to reinstall Office 2010 though.

Well that's good to know about USB versions. I think it's lazy for Microsoft to put such a poor search that it only finds something in the exact place that it's looking for it, if it has the exact correct name, but I guess I'll have to just deal with that.

I'm not sure what Clonezilla is but I'll check it out. So it can't go on a smaller partition even if the original backup only used a very tiny percentage of its partition? Is there a way that I can manually modify a copy of my backup (I'll keep the original in tact, just in case), so that I can trick it into thinking that the drive was smaller than it was?

Really? That's pretty stupid!

Sure it wouldn't.

And all the weeks you've wasted on this could have been used to just install Linux and port most of the code into a more cross-platform friendly language...

Have to say, I almost admire your impalpable tenacity on this matter :P

PS: Your only option is either (A) copy/borrow from someone, or (B) download from torrent/DC++ (either 'clean' or modified).

And then you have to pray that MS is still allowing people to activate their copy, because if they don't, you have then yet another two options; (A) crack it, or (B) run your own KMS server in a closed network (also from torrent).

OP, have you considered checking the Internet Archive (archive.org) for Windows 7 Installation media, or trying out a Linux distro like Robolinux, which has "a pre-configured virtual machine support pack with Windows XP or Windows 7 - a VirtualBox setup which allows the user to install and run the Windows operating system seamlessly alongside Robolinux."

Well, can I run compiled .NET programs on that? And run Visual Studio itself to make them? In any case, I haven't the slightest idea how to use this Wine thing, and have never used it before. So I have to get another operating system and an emulator-type thing. And for that matter, will it give me Office 2010?

Such as what language? I'm using .NET, which I'd like to be able to upgrade to version 2015, which would then be compatible with all major operating systems. The only other cross-platform language that I know of is Java (it needs to be compiled, not open source) which, as I understand it, would have similar installation difficulties for me as .NET, and for that matter, translating all of the code from one language to another may not be easy at all, especially considering any libraries or imported files that it uses.

What exactly do you mean? It's always possible to activate a copy of Windows, as long as it's valid, because why wouldn't it be? I know they don't support old versions, but that just means that there's no customer support, right? You can always still install and run it.

I haven't considered that, only because I've never heard of archive.org or Robolinux (but I'll look them up), and when you say a virtual machine, are you implying one that connects to some server online? Because the computer that I'm trying to do all of this stuff on doesn't currently have an Internet connection, and though it will for a specific part of this process, that's only after I wipe everything out and start fresh, and ideally, I'd really like something that I can test (perhaps on the small partition that I made) and verify that it works before I take it to that stage. Or am I misunderstanding you? Can I do that with your method?

EDIT: But again, whatever method I do, I'd REALLY like for it to ultimately result in my restoring an image from a backup, so that I'll be able to keep installed software for which I don't have any extra copy (such as Office 2010).

1: Wine is Not Emulation. That's literally the name of the program.
2: Probably yes. It can run MONO type programs, .net shouldn't be too hard as long as you've got the right ones installed.
3. Sure, but why would you bother with that? LibreOffice exists, as do a billion other alternatives.

Cross platform languages:
Java
JavaScript, plus electron for desktop
Python

In fact any interpreted language should be cross platform. .net is only recently coming to that fold, as with all M$ they catch up years late, and only to a certain extent.

As for office, another product M$ have gone out of their way to destroy. There are plenty of better options for each of the applications. Which ones are we talking? Access is outstripped by all other databases, and word is appallingly bad. Excel is useful though I will admit, even if everyone uses it for purposes other than it was intended. OpenOffice is an alternative, though I never got on with the scripting in it for some reason. Me, I tend to find a specific app for what I need at the time rather than a suite like office.

About a week ago, I entered my Win7 Pro OEM license key on MS's official Download Windows 7 Disc Images (ISO Files). It run a check, and after telling me that it was an OEM license, I was offered a Win 7 Pro SP1 OEM iso to download. Perhaps MS changed things since Win7 is no longer supported, though note that mine came with a DVD with Win7 Pro SP1 I bought, so perhaps that plays a role (i.e. don't know if these keys are different from those on a sticker when the OS is pre-installed).

Either way, OP has nothing to lose giving it a try, if he decides to got that route.

As Morrowslant suggested, Archive org is often your friend and way to go, and it is here when it comes to solving your lack of Win7 media - This is an all in one image, as in has all that OS versions in x86/x64, which you choose from during installation. You will of course need your valid license key.

===>Show all files then go for the first link which is the direct ISO download (4.2GB)

https://archive.org/details/win7-all

Before I reply, I'd like to point out one thing: not to be rude, honestly, because I really appreciate everyone's help, but it's just that I want to restore my Windows backup. Is that so much to ask? I don't know why it would be so difficult, because it's a built-in Windows function which was made for that exact purpose. But for some reason, people have mostly been giving me advice about how to do everything except the specific thing that I want to do - you say reinstall the OS from scratch, install Linux instead, etc. but nobody seems to be trying to just fix or avoid the specific errors that I'm getting when trying to restore an image. Obviously it's possible to use a backup to restore Windows in this way, because that's the entire purpose of the images, isn't it? I mean it may not necessarily be easy, but I don't think that Microsoft would put something into Windows that can't possibly work no matter what you do, would they? So please, just tell me how to restore my backup. Thank you. With that in mind, I do have just a couple of things that I intend to try in a couple days when I have the time, such as testing loading the backup on different USB drives, and if I absolutely have to then I'll see if I can load the backup from my external hard drive, but I'd have to back up everything, reformat it, etc.

Perhaps, but I'm used to Office, I know how to use it well, and I like it. And whatever I use, it would have to be compatible with DOC format at the very least (which I think those other ones are) and ideally also DOCX (though I have converted my important documents to DOC just in case, but I don't think there's any disadvantage other than space - oh dear me, it'll use an extra 20 KB on my 880 GB HD!).

For what I'm doing, I need something that I can compile into a type of byte code (not open source/interpreted directly from the code, and not machine language), and the single compiled file with be cross-platform compatible. I'm not sure about Python, but Javascript is out, and in any case, converting can lead to incompatibilities or difficulties if I'm importing any code for which there may not be an equivalent source code file to import in another language.

I'll check that, but again, I'd really prefer to get this backup image to work, so that I can keep all of my software that was included with my computer as well (which, as far as I know, is the entire purpose of doing that kind of backup, rather than just reinstalling the OS the normal way).

EDIT: By the way, I do have an OEM key, for what it's worth.

You could try the windowsseven forums?

https://www.sevenforums.com/

They have a pretty good range of topics and answers to Windows 7 specific issues? I'm not sure how good GOG can be for the kind of complexity you might need is all :)

Assuming you did everything correctly when you made that image/backup, you should not get that much grief restoring it. The thing with MS is that you have the theory and practice when it comes tho certain things. Bottom line is, once you chose the backup/image you want to restore, say it's on your F:/MSback, you should then have no problem restoring it on the target drive of your choosing. But if you want to restore on a different drive/partition than the current C:/ and assuming the size is large enough to accommodate the restore, like it or not it WILL format the target drive/partition, meaning everything on it will be wiped out. Also the image/backup must be on an internal drive otherwise the restore would be problematic.

If you manage to get it done. do yourself a favor and use another more reliable program to do your images backing/restoring.


As for the win7 disc, it wouldn't hurt for you to grab it anyway, so at least you have it should you need it.

Python can be compiled into a byte code. Java is compiled into byte code. Most other languages you can compile directly to an os. Not sure why you have a need for intermediary compilation, though I really don’t see a need for any of what your doing. You seem intent on taking the hardest route possible.

I'll check it out. But is it part of Microsoft's forum? It seems that to register for that they need to send me a text message, which is problematic, because I'm not sure that my phone can even send or receive them, and because there's NO way I'm giving my phone number to them! Also, the reason why I came here to do this is because historically, whenever I post anything in any forum anywhere else on the Internet, either I get very few replies, or they're not helpful at all, and often very rude and insulting, but here, people tend to actually take the time to read what I say and reply thoughtfully, even if it's about topics not directly related to games and such.

Why is that? The fact that it's on an internal drive seems to be what's causing the error in the first place! This is because it complains that it's just a different partition on the same drive that I'm trying to restore, and doing so would supposedly wipe out the backup itself, so then how the hell am I supposed to put it on the internal drive?

Besides, in this context I wasn't referring to a USB drive, if that's what you're thinking (well, actually, it's plugged into USB, but it's not one of the little portable drives, but it's a big hard drive which sits on the desk and has its own power supply).

Well I also tried to do it with AOMEI Backupper, but I got a similar error, and also, that doesn't seem to be able to run outside of Windows (I don't think I can boot from it, which would be preferable), so I didn't think it mattered which way I tried to do it. Also, one of the Windows backup images was made when the computer was new, so it doesn't have a bunch of superfluous junk on it, some of which I'm not sure how to get rid of, and I thought it might be nice to start fresh. But I could try the Backupper file again.

I didn't know that about Python. I've never used it before. I knew that about Java, but like I said, translating all of the code would be difficult, and not necessarily even possible, if some of the dependencies on imported files are specific to the language. I'm not sure how to say that any clearer.

I agree, but that's only because given my specific circumstances and the evident extreme incompatibilities of all possible forms of relevant software with what I'm trying to do, it's the only route available to me, as far as I can tell, to be able to accomplish exactly what I want to do.