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Windows Keys [solved]

Mmmm... Cocks...Mmmm... Cocks... Registered User regular
edited August 2014 in Help / Advice Forum
Hi gents,
Doing a fresh install. Put the old key into the fresh OS. Windows says it's an upgrade only key. The pre upgraded key is "long fucking gone" as apparently the upgrade instructions said the original key would no longer be usable.
We tried a key finder but that only reveals the upgrade key again.
Could calling in potentially get me an activation?

Mmmm... Cocks... on

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    bowenbowen How you doin'? Registered User regular
    It's worth a shot.

    It's all about who you get and how likely they are to work with you. Just mention that you are reformatting this PC and don't have the original key/media anymore, but only the upgrade key.

    not a doctor, not a lawyer, examples I use may not be fully researched so don't take out of context plz, don't @ me
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    romanqwertyromanqwerty Registered User regular
    edited August 2014
    I had a similar problem and this worked for my student upgrade version of Win 7.
    Open regedit.exe with Start Menu Search and navigate to:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Setup/OOBE/

    Change MediaBootInstall from "1" to "0".

    Close RegEdit.

    Start Menu on the Command Line utility. Right-click this shortcut and choose "Run as administrator."
    Click Yes to the UAC prompt.

    In the command line window, type: slmgr /rearm press enter

    wait for the "Command completed successfully" dialog.

    Then, close the command line window and reboot.
    After Windows 7 reboots, Right Click Computer select Properties select change product Key.
    If the Key does not work now please contact Microsoft technical support.

    romanqwerty on
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    MichaelLCMichaelLC In what furnace was thy brain? ChicagoRegistered User regular
    I had good luck with Ms support in a similar deal with an OEM key. Called them up, they checked some stuff ,asked some questions, and called me back with a new full key.

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    Mmmm... Cocks...Mmmm... Cocks... Registered User regular
    Damn. That support sounds great.
    But I was reading something on the MS website while looking for the number and it said something about automation. I panicked and just did the registry edit. Was quick and painless.
    Thanks all though.

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    MichaelLCMichaelLC In what furnace was thy brain? ChicagoRegistered User regular
    Even better!

    There is some automatic thing it has you do first, but if it fails it will give you a number to call. Or at least used to.

    alt: Install Linux.

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