Resolved Windows 7 Activation Problem

I recently bought a new hard drive (old one crashed), and am trying to put Windows 7 back on my laptop. I've had it on my laptop for a year as a downloaded (legally) upgrade to Vista with no problems. However, now that I am reinstalling Windows 7, it is asking me for a product key. When I downloaded Windows 7 (it was a promotional offer for students) I opted to receive a physical CD copy of Windows 7 for an extra fee, but there is no product key on the case.

I have tried for an hour to call Microsoft, but I can never get anything more than an automated voice to explain my problem. Checking the Microsoft support site, I see that they have conveniently disabled e-mail support for product key problems. I'm not really sure where to go from here. I have a completely legal copy of Windows 7 that I paid extra to ensure a physical install disc should anything happen, but I cannot seem to activate the same software that has been on my computer for over a year now.

 

What you have is the beta version. The full version is not available for download. You will have paid just for postage and a copy of the beta version, you will need to buy a licence. The best thing to do is to buy a copy which will have its own licence key.

 

Just to add a little more information. The beta version expired in August 2009 and the following RC version expired in June 2010.

 

I'm sure it's not the beta version- I had Windows Vista on my computer and then did the "Windows Upgrade" to Windows 7. I did this in December 2009, past the original beta expiration, and was told by Microsoft that it was indeed the full version. You could opt to be mailed a CD with the full version of Windows 7 Home Premium on it in case anything happened, which I did.

I have also reformatted my old hard drive once before (the one that had Vista on it previously) and installed Windows 7 exactly as I am trying to do now with no problems. I am thinking that I may have to put Windows Vista on my hard drive first (since this is a new hard drive that has not had Vista on it previously), and then windows 7 in order for this to work. Microsoft pretty much confirms it here.

 

I have a CD key for Vista, so I think once I have a registered version of Vista on my computer, I can just use my upgrade disc to get to Windows 7. That's what I did when I initially did the upgrade and it worked fine.

 

I understand what you are saying but if you do not have a licence key you have not got a full legal version. You may well have the RC version of Windows 7 Premium but as I mentioned in last post this expired in June this year.

The fact that you have not needed to enter a licence key during previous installations is clear proof that your version is no longer valid. You have to have a licence key to install any current version of windows.

You will not be able to upgrade from Vista to windows 7 unless you have a licence key. There is no legal option.

 

Based on the Windows 7 RC page here, I'm still not convinced that I have the RC version- my computer has never shut down every two hours, or done any of the other symptoms that the RC version is reported to do.

This is the version that I bought -Windows 7- Student. I'm sorry if it seems that I'm challenging you, but Microsoft said it was a full version, and I'd like to believe that their products will do what they are supposed to do. I'm not buying Windows 7 again - I already own it legally and it needs to work, seeing how it has the past year with no limitataions or problems.

Do you know of any number I can call Microsoft and actually talk to someone about this, other than their automated ones? I guess an email would work too.

 

Can you remember the exact date that you purchased win7. It was not officially released until October 2009. If you bought it before that date I'm sorry to say it will not be the full version.

The fact that you did not receive a licence key with it or that you did not need one to install it means that this has to be the RC or beta version. It should have been shutting down, but as it hasn't been then just maybe you do have a key which you have forgotten about.

As PeteC mentioned, if you still have the hard drive with your original install on you can retrieve the key. This free software will find the key if it has one.



http://www.magicaljellybean.com/keyfinder/

 

I don't remember the exact date, but I do remember it was right before Christmas, when I was home from college. So around December 16-23. Unfortunately I reformatted my old hard drive before I took it out, so there is nothing on it. I will check my old email's though and see if maybe it was e-mailed to me with the purchase information.

I'm also going to call Microsoft Monday when they have hours available again.

 

Good news! I checked my student email from last December and found that they had emailed me the product key along with the download link. However, I get an error code that says it can't be used for a clean installation,which just means I have to put Vista on again and then upgrade to 7. I'm assuming that the only way to do this is to reformat again, put on Vista first, and then 7? I would like to figure out the way to do it that will allow me the most amount of free space on the hard drive.

 

Got it. I'll be reformatting soon then!

 

After you told us the date you got the download I thought you must have a key, glad you found it. Here is some even better news, I found a fix which will allow you to do a clean install without the need to install vista. This was from Digital River. These instructions must be followed after you have installed win 7 on a clean drive. When it asks for the key to be entered skip it.

 

Thank you so much! That just saved me a ton of time and trouble!

 

Your welcome