I have a Dell Inspiron 1545 model and the hard drive just died last week. I installed a new one, but now I need to reinstall the OS (Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit). The problem is that I bought my laptop with the OS already installed and it did not come with a physical disc for installing Windows 7. I do have a product key on the bottom of the battery port. However, I have already tried downloading Windows 7 from the Microsoft store (using a different computer), and using my product key brings up an error that directs me to contacting Dell. Something about the OS having been installed in the factory. Which brings me here. I am not super computer savvy and have been looking for a solution for a week now. This is the second time something has killed my computer in the last six months and I'm just tired of it. I would buy a new copy of Windows 7 if I could find it for a good price but it's hard to even find a copy with a product key. And I have the product key on my laptop, so I feel like I've already paid for the OS. I've also seen recovery discs for sale that say they will reinstall the OS, but they do not come with a new product key and I don't want to buy something that will have the same error that I encountered while trying to download it from the Microsoft store. What can be done here? I just need to get my pc running again. Thank you guys.