Installing fresh windows on non-ROG Asus Laptop - P550CA

[mr_zen256]

Hi all - Sorry in advance if this is not the appropriate forum to ask this. I could not find a forum specific to other Asus laptop models and I figure the fundamentals must be fairly close.

I have recently purchased a P550CA laptop for work and we have replaced the HDD with a SDD. However, we are having some difficulties getting the laptop up and going.

The preferable option for us is to do a clean install for Windows 7 (comes bundled with W7 Pro 64bit). We have installed Windows 7 Professional 64bit via a legal OEM ISO. The issue we are facing however is that windows activation will not accept the volume license supplied by ASUS for the original installation. We called Microsoft and they said they could not help.

I have tried to use the ASUS License Restorer to activate windows but after rebooting the product is still not activated. Can anyone tell me if that application should theoretically work with other Asus Laptop models or is it specific to a particular range?

Our other option would be to clone the HDD. Upon initial attempts at this the error "Invalid signature detected. Check secure boot policy in setup" was displayed at post.

When disabling Secure Boot in the BIOS, the Windows Boot Manager fails to load the Windows installation.

After reading a few different guides in these forums, many are recommending the use of a secondary SATA HDD bay. Unfortunately this particular model of laptop only has one drive slot.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!

[Clintlgm]

Well your problem seem to be a MS/Asus Window problem. I've found the Window 7 forum very helpful. Elsewise Asus support would have to solve the Activation issue.
A secondary hard drive could also be a external hard drive connected by USB or eSATA
It sounds like this NB is set up UEFI not mbr? is so you'll have to use cloning software that is UEFI GPT compliant. I assume this since secure boot is only available in UEFI systems. Macruim Reflect has work very well for a lot of people.
Clean Install is probable the best way to go but your going to have to get through this activation thing the Key on the bottom of the NB should work if its the same version. All version ISO are available on the Window 7 forum or direct form Digital River.

[mr_zen256]

Thanks for the reply. After cloning the drive I ran the "Factory Restore" function (F9) and that has resolved the activation issue.

Everything appears to be working correctly now.

[Nodens]

I have tried to use the ASUS License Restorer to activate windows but after rebooting the product is still not activated. Can anyone tell me if that application should theoretically work with other Asus Laptop models or is it specific to a particular range?

The application works just fine with ANY ASUS laptop. Not only ROG ones. It will only fail if one or more of these are true:

a) Wrong product key. It needs the COA SLP key. If you're not entering the proper key it will not activate of course.

b) Some sort of security application (eg antivirus) is preventing the tool from working.

c) You have used some sort of grub4dos based loader to emulate OEM activation and it conflicts with the LRestorer as it expects, and only works, with the original ASUS OEM license info that is stored in the laptop's firmware.

d) Windows installation media is "Frankenbuilt". Meaning it is modified with activation related stuff patched or copied from a beta windows version.

There is no other possibility. It is one of those 4 options.

Our other option would be to clone the HDD. Upon initial attempts at this the error "Invalid signature detected. Check secure boot policy in setup" was displayed at post.

When disabling Secure Boot in the BIOS, the Windows Boot Manager fails to load the Windows installation.

This indicates that there is something wrong with the boot manager or bootloader and it is not signed or is signed with an invalid certificate. It could point to option C above or corrupted boot manager/bootloader or malware infected.