Hard to put it all here so read my message....

[Blackink]

My wife has a Dell Inspiron 15R 5537 Laptop. It was purchased directly from Dell's Web site February 2014.
It came with a 1TB hard drive with Windows 7 Pro 64 Bit installed on it. It does not have a CD-Rom.
It did not come with a Windows 7 Pro recovery disk, I think it's all built onto the existing 1TB hard drive.

I want/am going to remove the 1TB hard drive and install a Samsung 850 EVO Series 250GB SSD. It should fit as the form factor is 2.5".

NOTE: My wife wants to keep the Windows 7Pro 64Bit OS. She'll decide later if she wants a later version of Windows....that'll be her choice when the time comes.

I can't download an ISO image from Microsoft because after I enter the product key to verify it's authenticity, I get a message saying the OS was installed by another mfg and to contact them for support.

I have a newly built computer, 4 months old, with a CD-Rom, and I purchased a Windows 7 Pro 64Bit DVD to install on it.

So......
1) What would be the easiest way and/or simplest way to create an ISO image of that DVD?
2) Transfer it to a USB flash drive?
3) And then install it onto the new Samsung SSD?

In addition to the 3 questions listed above, I have one more concern:
From the research I've done, the one thing that I'm not sure of is..... once the ISO image is on the flash drive and the flash drive is inserted into the laptop, how would I get the software to start installing? it's not like the DVD where it starts automatically once in the CD-Rom if that's what the BIOS is set to boot to first.

I can use her product key code to register the OS once it's installed on her new SSD/laptop.

I sure could use some help in figuring this out and getting a better idea on what the heck I need to do to once I get this hard drive swapped out to get an OS installed.

Once again....keep it simple if that's at all possible!!!! lolol

Thanks for any help/ideas in regards to my "project"
Steve in Central Vermont

Update.....Update.....
When I decided to take a look at her laptop, low and behold.....there's a CD-Rom!!!!!

I'm gonna see if the mods will remove this message, it doesn't need to be here.
Sorry if i wasted anyone's time.

 

[QDP2012]

Since you found an optical drive, you might have other plans, but one way that would limit the risk of losing installed-program configuration and your own data files, and would save time by avoiding the re-installation of software, would be to:

0) initially leave the existing drive in the computer
1) use an appropriate adapter cable (like a USB-to-SATA adapter cable) to connect the new blank drive to the computer
2) use software (like Acronis True Image) to create an image of the existing drive
3) install that image onto the USB-connected new drive
4) power down the computer
5) physically uninstall the old drive and install the new drive in the computer.
6) Power up the computer on the new drive and confirm that computer status is exactly the same, just on a new drive.
7) physically store the old drive safely as a physical backup, or wipe it and use it as an external drive.

If you have any issues at step 6, you still have the old drive and can use it while you resolve the issues. I've done this many times without any problem. If there is an issue, it likely will involve some kind of software activation, so make sure you test all of your programs to ensure they work correctly on the new drive, before changing the old drive.

Hope this helps,