"Activate Windows" doesn't accept product key

[stebbinsd]

My desktop wasn't booting up, so I started up Windows Startup Repair and did a system restore. I was told this would revert my computer to a prior state without touching my files. Sure enough, it did that.

But here's the thing: Because this new desktop didn't have a hard drive, I had to get my own hard drive and install the OS. Earlier today, I purchased a new product key for Windows and activated it. When I did my Windows Startup Repair, it reverted the system to a period when it wasn't genuine.

Well, i was told in a previous thread that Microsoft should accept the product key again, since it was such a short time ago.

Ok, well ... when I pull up "Activate Windows," it doesn't allow me to enter the product key again!

Here's what I get:

When I click "go online and resolve it," all it takes me to is a blank webpage. There's literally nothing there at all.

What do I do now?

 

[bjornl]

Follow these steps.
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/20530/windows-10-reactivating-after-hardware-change
If they don't work, there is a link to customer support at the bottom.

...

Disregard the above, I didn't notice you posted this in the Win7 forum. I'll see if I can find a similar solution for you.

 

[USAFRet]

As asked earlier....

1. Where did the OS come from?
2. What was on the drive before? Windows? Was it activateed?
3. Where did the system come from? Prebuilt or something you built?

 

[corroded]

make the phone call... takes about 15 minutes... If your key is valid, they will help.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/950929/get-help-activating-microsoft-windows

 

[The Paladin]

what web site did you buy the key from ...

 

[stebbinsd]

As asked earlier....

1. Where did the OS come from?
2. What was on the drive before? Windows? Was it activateed?
3. Where did the system come from? Prebuilt or something you built?

1. It came from an OS install disc I purchase don ebay several years ago. it's served me well for years and I've never had this problem before.

2. Yes, Windows 7. It was activated just a few hours ago.

3. A hybrid of both. I got a custom build off ebay (I get most of my computer parts there). However, I explicitly opted out of such things as RAM, a hard drive, and a CD-ROM drive, since I already had plenty of those. When the machine arrived in the mail, I installed those things myself.

However, Question No. 3 seems like a moot point to me. If that was the problem, shouldn't Windows have not done this the first itme?

 

[USAFRet]

As asked earlier....

1. Where did the OS come from?
2. What was on the drive before? Windows? Was it activateed?
3. Where did the system come from? Prebuilt or something you built?

1. It came from an OS install disc I purchase don ebay several years ago. it's served me well for years and I've never had this problem before.

2. Yes, Windows 7. It was activated just a few hours ago.

3. A hybrid of both. I got a custom build off ebay (I get most of my computer parts there). However, I explicitly opted out of such things as RAM, a hard drive, and a CD-ROM drive, since I already had plenty of those. When the machine arrived in the mail, I installed those things myself.

However, Question No. 3 seems like a moot point to me. If that was the problem, shouldn't Windows have not done this the first itme?

Windows 7, purchased from ebay, installed once, and then installed again in a whole new system?
Yes, this is unlikely to activate.

Your only recourse is to call MS and plead your case.
There is no MagicButton to fix this.

 

[stebbinsd]

Windows 7, purchased from ebay, installed once, and then installed again in a whole new system?
Yes, this is unlikely to activate.

Your only recourse is to call MS and plead your case.
There is no MagicButton to fix this.

Then how come it activated the first time?

 

[USAFRet]

Windows 7, purchased from ebay, installed once, and then installed again in a whole new system?
Yes, this is unlikely to activate.

Your only recourse is to call MS and plead your case.
There is no MagicButton to fix this.

Then how come it activated the first time?

Hard to tell from your fragmented description, but it appears you subsequently installed this on different hardware?

Also...failing activation a second time around is not unusual for a license bought from 'elsewhere'...like ebay.
That ebay guy may well have sold that same license again and again and again.

 

[stebbinsd]

Hard to tell from your fragmented description, but it appears you subsequently installed this on different hardware?

You mean ... I used the OS Install disc on another system? Or the product key? If it's the former, how the hell can this machine tell if the data on the disc has been read by a previous machine?

If you're saying the product key was used on another system, then no ... it wasn't. I just bought the damn thing today!

Also...failing activation a second time around is not unusual for a license bought from 'elsewhere'...like ebay.
That ebay guy may well have sold that same license again and again and again.

Again ... are you talking about the disc or the product key? Because the disc has been used MULTIPLE times over the years and it's never caused me this problem before.

If you're taking about the product key failing a second time, then that doesn't make sense either, because I'm not even being given the CHANCE to put the product key in! A key can't "fail" a second time if I don't even have the key hole!

 

[stebbinsd]

Just to clarify ... the OS install disc has no product keys on it! It only contains the data for a Windows 7 operating system that needs to be activated with a product key, sold separately.

Without a product key, I'm usually allowed 30 days to muck around with Windows before it locks me out. I need a product key to get rid of that deadline and be able to use the OS indefinitely.

I bought a product key today. It worked initially. However, I had to rewind my PC. Now, I can't even enter a product key at all! I can't enter the product key I bought; I can't enter any of those "pirated" product keys I can find online. I can't enter ANY product key! The option to do so just doesn't appear!

At the very least, that's can't be the product key's fault ... since it hasn't gotten the opportunity to not work in the first place!

 

[USAFRet]

OK...this is what I meant by "fragmented description".

Hard to tell exactly what is/was going on.

Is this the sequence of events?
1. You purchased a license key from 'ebay'.
2. You did a clean install
3. For some reason, it does not allow you too enter the license key?

Here we have a conundrum....
It does not allow you to enter, or it fails when you DO enter?

If it does not allow, then you are doing something wrong with the install.
From earlier, you mentioned something about a repair, which let you keep all the stuff.
And then it became unactivated?


Please....give us a step by step, clear description of what you have and what you did and how exactly it fails.
Clear, calm, description...

 

[stebbinsd]

Is this the sequence of events?
1. You purchased a license key from 'ebay'.

No. I purchased the OS install disc (the one that only has the windows OS data on it, but no product key) from Ebay, many years ago.

2. You did a clean install

I installed the OS in the first instance onto an empty hard drive.

Then I bought a product key from a website called scdkey.com. I entered that product key earlier today. Windows accepted the product key and said that activation was successful.

My computer automatically rebooted to install some Windows updates. Since ... ya know ... a years-old OS disc isn't going to have all the updates on it already. Windows downloaded the updates and then rebooted so it could configure them.

Something went wrong and it was perpetually stuck in "reverting changes." My OP even links to a previous thread where I complain about that.

I rebooted the system myself. This time, I elected to enter "System Startup Repair." This "Startup repair" recommended I that I do a system restore (basically rewinding the PC). This worked, and I can now enter Windows, but it also rewinded me to a point before the product key was entered.

I went into "Activate Windows" to re-enter the product key, but there was no option to enter any product key.

I even provided a picture of what I was seeing on my own screen. Look at the OP. There's an image there. You can clearly see that there is no option to enter a product key.

The product key has yet to even be entered on a second go-round. The product key cannot possibly be the problem. The problem is that the key hole has disappeared.

It does not allow you to enter, or it fails when you DO enter?

Doesn't allow me to enter.

I showed you an image in my OP.

Please....give us a step by step, clear description of what you have and what you did and how exactly it fails.
Clear, calm, description...

I don't know how better I can explain this. I've already shown you an image to show you exactly what I'm taking about.

 

[USAFRet]

So...

Forget the Repair, forget all that other stuff.

Go here, and attempt to download the relevant Windows 7 ISO, direct from Microsoft.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows7
It will ask you for the license key.
Assuming that why you purchased from "scdkey.com" is actually a valid license, it will allow you to download the actual ISO, for free, direct from MS.

Assuming download success, create a whole new DVD or USB.
Do a reinstall.



OR...as has been said...call MS and attempt activation over the phone.

(and often times, a bogus license key is not found until it tries to run the updates. Yes, it checks then as well)

 

[stebbinsd]

This is what my "Activate Windows" app looked like this morning: http://pad3.whstatic.com/images/thumb/9/96/Activate-Windows-7-Step-2-Version-4.jpg/aid1037419-v4-728px-Activate-Windows-7-Step-2-Version-4.jpg

This is what it looks like now: https://s16.postimg.org/n94s9quth/Activate_Windows.png





This is what it looked like this morning when my activation went off without a hitch: http://pad3.whstatic.com/images/thumb/9/96/Activate-Windows-7-Step-2-Version-4.jpg/aid1037419-v4-728px-Activate-Windows-7-Step-2-Version-4.jpg

This is what it looks like after I did the system restore: https://s16.postimg.org/n94s9quth/Activate_Windows.png

Before: http://pad3.whstatic.com/images/thumb/9/96/Activate-Windows-7-Step-2-Version-4.jpg/aid1037419-v4-728px-Activate-Windows-7-Step-2-Version-4.jpg

After: https://s16.postimg.org/n94s9quth/Activate_Windows.png

There is no option present for me to enter my old, or any other, product key.

 

[stebbinsd]

So...

Forget the Repair, forget all that other stuff.

Go here, and attempt to download the relevant Windows 7 ISO, direct from Microsoft.
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows7
It will ask you for the license key.
Assuming that why you purchased from "scdkey.com" is actually a valid license, it will allow you to download the actual ISO, for free, direct from MS.

Assuming download success, create a whole new DVD or USB.
Do a reinstall.



OR...as has been said...call MS and attempt activation over the phone.

(and often times, a bogus license key is not found until it tries to run the updates. Yes, it checks then as well)

So ... why doesn't it just give me the chance to enter another product key? That's the most baffling thing for me. If my windows wasn't activated, shouldn't it demand another activation?

 

[USAFRet]

Why doesn't it?
No idea.

Either start from a whole wipe and install, or call MS and plead your case.

 

[GearUp]

In general it is becoming more difficult to install Windows 7. Last month I did so and got the message that security updates are no longer available. It should have stated that product support is no longer available.
A better option is to use restore points but either way multiple attempts may be required to fix a problem. A backup of files and settings followed by a clean install should work without all the hassle. The system restore seldom works after several years and you haven't said anything about UEFI bios or not. Either way the BIOS is most likely the problem.

 

[stebbinsd]

Ok, I managed to fix this problem on my own. Let me tell you guys what I did just in case someone in the future has the same problem:

Remember that this problem surfaced after I tried to install some updates, right? Those updates didn't get installed, nor were they completely reverted, right? So, what I actually got was some scrambled mess of partial Windows updates that Microsoft didn't recognize because it was all jibberish. That's why it said my copy of Windows wasn't genuine when it really was.

Makes sense, right?

So, here's the page I visited that told me how to fix it: http://www.ashiktricks.com/this-copy-of-windows-is-not-genuine-fix/

Basically, run the command prompt as administrator, and enter that command, then restart the computer.

That solved the problem right quick! I was able to enter the product key without issue. The key was accepted, and my activation was successful for the second time.