How do I activate printer if I don't have CD that came with it? I had to do a system recovery and now printer won't work

If you unplug, remove battery, plug in, reboot to the system restore.

you need windows 7 cd key to make it active. although it is active just not all the functions will work, like windows update and so. you probably installed a so called "cracked version" its nothing that bad i would say but its just not "Genuine" because you don't have a cd key.

Read the manual for the process. Most times it does not work unless the manufacturer installed a recovery partition on your hard drive. Consider one of the alternatives below:

System Restore will allow you to select a Restore Point (date and time) to set your system back to when it was working ok. It does not delete any of your data, documents, music, pictures, videos or programs (unless the program was installed after the Restore Date you selected).

System Recovery (sometimes referred to as Factory Restore) will set your system back to when you first purchased it. It Deletes Everything. Most times the System Recovery does not work unless there is a recovery partition on your hard drive created by the manufacturer. If you are trying to recover from a set of cd's most times it does not work.

Instead of doing a System Recovery it's much easier to just Reinstall Windows. Look on your computer for the Certificate of Authentication (COA) Sticker. It will tell you what operating system is on your computer and it will give you the Product Key Code (a series of 5 letters and numbers) that you will need to activate windows. If you don't have an operating system disk, borrow one from a neighbor, friend, relative or co-worker. Just make sure it is the same as your COA Sticker's operating system or it will never activate. Also make sure you get the COA Product Key Code for the disk you borrow because sometimes the system will ask for the one that is on your system and sometimes it will ask for the one from the installation disk.

You'll be better served by just reinstalling windows. Most times the recovery does not work.

System Restore will allow you to select a Restore Point(date and time) to set your system back to when it was working ok. Itdoes not delete any of your data, documents, music, pictures, videos orprograms (unless the program was installed after the Restore Date youselected).

System Recovery (sometimes referred to as Factory Restore) will set your systemback to when you first purchased it. It Deletes Everything. Mosttimes the System Recovery does not work unless there is a recovery partition onyour hard drive created by the manufacturer. If you are trying to recoverfrom a set of cd's most times it does not work.

Instead of doing a System Recovery it's much easier to just ReinstallWindows. Look on your computer for the Certificate of Authentication(COA) Sticker. It will tell you what operating system is on your computerand it will give you the Product Key Code (a series of 5 letters and numbers)that you will need to activate windows. If you don't have an operatingsystem disk, borrow one from a neighbor, friend, relative or co-worker. Justmake sure it is the same as your COA Sticker's operating system or it willnever activate. Also make sure you get the COA Product Key Code for thedisk you borrow because sometimes the system will ask for the one that is onyour system and sometimes it will ask for the one from the installation disk.

Most times the Recovery from cd's don't work. You'll be better served by doing a Reinstall of Windows.

System Recovery (sometimes referred to as Factory Restore) will set your system back to when you first purchased it. It Deletes Everything. Most times the System Recovery does not work unless there is a recovery partition on your hard drive created by the manufacturer. If you are trying to recover from a set of cd's most times it does not work.

Instead of doing a System Recovery it's much easier to just Reinstall Windows. Look on your computer for the Certificate of Authentication (COA) Sticker. It will tell you what operating system is on your computer and it will give you the Product Key Code (a series of 5 letters and numbers) that you will need to activate windows. If you don't have an operating system disk, borrow one from a neighbor, friend, relative or co-worker. Just make sure it is the same as your COA Sticker's operating system or it will never activate. Also make sure you get the COA Product Key Code for the disk you borrow because sometimes the system will ask for the one that is on your system and sometimes it will ask for the one from the installation disk.

I think you are talking about doing a System Restore or System Recovery.

System Restore will allow you to select a Restore Point(date and time) to set your system back to when it was working ok. Itdoes not delete any of your data, documents, music, pictures, videos orprograms (unless the program was installed after the Restore Date youselected).

System Recovery (sometimes referred to as Factory Restore) will set your systemback to when you first purchased it. It Deletes Everything. Mosttimes the System Recovery does not work unless there is a recovery partition onyour hard drive created by the manufacturer. If you are trying to recoverfrom a set of cd's most times it does not work.

Instead of doing a System Recovery it's much easier to just ReinstallWindows. Look on your computer for the Certificate of Authentication(COA) Sticker. It will tell you what operating system is on your computerand it will give you the Product Key Code (a series of 5 letters and numbers)that you will need to activate windows. If you don't have an operatingsystem disk, borrow one from a neighbor, friend, relative or co-worker. Justmake sure it is the same as your COA Sticker's operating system or it willnever activate. Also make sure you get the COA Product Key Code for thedisk you borrow because sometimes the system will ask for the one that is onyour system and sometimes it will ask for the one from the installation disk.

Are you talking about a System Restore or System Recovery?

System Restore will allow you to select a Restore Point (date and time) to set your system back to when it was working ok. It does not delete any of your data, documents, music, pictures, videos or programs (unless the program was installed after the Restore Date you selected).

System Recovery (sometimes referred to as Factory Restore) will set your system back to when you first purchased it. It Deletes Everything. Most times the System Recovery does not work unless there is a recovery partition on your hard drive created by the manufacturer. If you are trying to recover from a set of cd's most times it does not work.

Instead of doing a System Recovery it's much easier to just Reinstall Windows. Look on your computer for the Certificate of Authentication (COA) Sticker. It will tell you what operating system is on your computer and it will give you the Product Key Code (a series of 5 letters and numbers) that you will need to activate windows. If you don't have an operating system disk, borrow one from a neighbor, friend, relative or co-worker. Just make sure it is the same as your COA Sticker's operating system or it will never activate. Also make sure you get the COA Product Key Code for the disk you borrow because sometimes the system will ask for the one that is on your system and sometimes it will ask for the one from the installation disk.

Are you talking about a System Restore or System Recovery?

System Restore will allow you to select a Restore Point (date and time) to set your system back to when it was working ok. It does not delete any of your data, documents, music, pictures, videos or programs (unless the program was installed after the Restore Date you selected).

System Recovery (sometimes referred to as Factory Restore) will set your system back to when you first purchased it. It Deletes Everything. Most times the System Recovery does not work unless there is a recovery partition on your hard drive created by the manufacturer. If you are trying to recover from a set of cd's most times it does not work.

Instead of doing a System Recovery it's much easier to just Reinstall Windows. Look on your computer for the Certificate of Authentication (COA) Sticker. It will tell you what operating system is on your computer and it will give you the Product Key Code (a series of 5 letters and numbers) that you will need to activate windows. If you don't have an operating system disk, borrow one from a neighbor, friend, relative or co-worker. Just make sure it is the same as your COA Sticker's operating system or it will never activate. Also make sure you get the COA Product Key Code for the disk you borrow because sometimes the system will ask for the one that is on your system and sometimes it will ask for the one from the installation disk.

WOW, once again the recovery fails when you need it most. I don't understand why the manufacturers don't just give you a CD with the operating system and one with the Recovery when you purchase a system like they did years ago.

Did this error occur on a recovery image that you made (Cd's) or was it from using the Recovery Partition on the hard disk drive that the manufacturer set up? Either way, I think your best option is to just reinstall windows.

No, you can't. (Well, it might be possible, but very unlikely, that it would work.) Recovery discs are made for specific machines. There are a couple of reasons why the discs for one system can't be used for another brand or model.

In addition to installing the operating system (Windows), recovery discs also include drivers for the machine's included hardware (video, sound, media card slots, etc.). The drivers on the recovery disc for an eMachines system won't have what a Gateway system needs, unless they were built using exactly the same motherboard and other parts, which would be quite unusual. If wrong hardware drivers are installed, Windows may not start and give you the famous "blue screen of death". Or Windows will start, then begin finding new hardware and asking you for drivers you won't have (although you could find them at the Gateway website). The discs also include the applications the manufacturer preloaded on the system. Some of these may not work and cause problems because of the hardware differences (a sound control program with the wrong sound hardware, for instance).

The other reason is that a restore disc also includes information that gets placed into Windows so the system comes up already activated and ready to go. Activation is based on information about the hardware configuration of the system, and yours won't be correct. Windows will see the this and you'll need to activate manually. If the Windows version on the eMachines recovery disc isn't exactly the same as the one on the Gateway, the product key on the computer won't work when you try activation.

Rather than try using the wrong recovery disc, see if you can borrow or download the installation disc for the Windows version specified on the product key sticker on the Gateway. Then you can do a clean new Windows installation and activate it using the product key. You can find the drivers your computer needs at Gateway's website as I mentioned before. It's more work than just running the recovery disc, but it will work. This does mean the system won't have any of the preloaded applications originally on the computer when you're finished. But this is not a bad thing.

Much of the preloaded stuff on a new computer is often called "bloatware", which you really don't need. It just slows the computer down, uses up Windows resources, and may be gathering information and sending it to sites behind your back. You can find good free programs to do anything originally installed and install only what you really need and want. Here are a few suggestions to get you started:

CD/DVD burning: CDBurnerXP
Antivirus: AVG, Avast!
Audio processing: Audacity
Image processing: GIMP
Office suite: OpenOffice

Good luck getting the system back up and running. Thanks for using Fixya!