Windoze7 fresh install oline activation - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: StillTrying
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2021, 03:53:55 pm
content: Will Win7 still activateonline?Freshly reinstalled Win7 end of December, online activation was no problem, have the Dell Win7+SP1 CD.Slowness on large files soon came back, turned out to be the HDD.Relaced HDD, only H/Wchange that's ever been done to this old PC AFAIK.Fresh install, online activation gave the 80072EFD error, checked bios date/time is accurate, turned off firewalls, no antivirus S/W.35 Hours later it's now showing something different, any bright, simple, freeideas to try next?

author: Bicurico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 05, 2021, 05:16:55 pm
content: Just call them as instructed.You activated your copy too many times and they want to know the reason.I had no problem (quite some years ago) activating my Windows after calling them.Just be prepared to type many numbers and letters...Regards,Vitor

author: Jan Audio
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 06, 2021, 02:45:41 pm
content: Is windows 7 still supported ?

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 06, 2021, 04:35:13 pm
content: Quote from: Bicurico on May 05, 2021, 05:16:55 pmI don't know how many times would be too many? And how many times the OP actually activated it?I can tell you I have a Win 7 install that dates back to 2009 and that I have kept cloning when I upgraded hardware instead of reinstalling. It has known several generations of motherboards, CPUs, and HDD/SSDs. Absolutely no issue, it always activated properly.Dunno if there is a difference depending on the version, though. My Win 7 is the Ultimate version. Maybe it allows more activations? Or maybe the fact I cloned instead of reinstalling helped here?

author: rdl
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 06, 2021, 06:20:26 pm
content: The OEM versions are machine locked. They can never be moved to different hardware. When you buy a full version it's okay to move from machine to machine as long as only a single existence is in use.If you know you're going to reinstall, you can make backups of the tokens and product key files ahead of time, then copy them to the new install which bypasses the need to reactivate. Not sure how much hardware change is allowed in that case though.I replaced the HDD in a Windows 7 computer last month. It was easier to just use an external drive to make a full backup and restore from that to the new SSD. That left the original drive unaltered in case of any problems. I just used the built in Windows Backup and Restore.

author: AntiProtonBoy
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2021, 01:02:10 am
content: If this was a legit copy you actually purchased, I'd have no moral objections about using a "different key" in your shoes.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2021, 01:18:44 am
content: Quote from: Jan Audio on May 06, 2021, 02:45:41 pmIn the sense of updates and technical support, no. But you can still activate a fresh install.

author: rdl
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2021, 09:08:09 am
content: It's not much hassle at all to run Windows 7 unactivated. I've been running one that way for nearly 10 years. Windows 7 comes with a "30 day Free Trial" which can easily be extended for as long as you want. Just google "slmgr -rearm"I doubt Microsoft really cares about Windows 7 much anymore. The automated phone system activation was probably just the easiest way out for them. Even with Windows 10, I don't think they care much if you actually buy it or not.I guess I'll find out soon. It's about time to replace that 10 year old Windows 7 machine.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 07, 2021, 05:31:40 pm
content: Quote from: rdl on May 06, 2021, 06:20:26 pmI actually bought an OEM version of 7 Ultimate at the time along with computer parts. As I said, I made a lot of changes to my setup and still have the same license, properly activated, no hack whatsoever.As I mentioned, I have ALWAYS cloned it though when I changed drives instead of reinstalling. Dunno if that makes a difference. All I can say is the computer I'm running it on right now has exactly nothing to do with the original one I first installed Win 7 on. And it's still activated.One thing I don't know though, is whether the OEM versions you can buy through retail along with computer parts is the same as the OEM versions that are preinstalled on vendor-built computers...

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2021, 02:14:22 am
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on May 07, 2021, 05:31:40 pmThe latter is the former with more preinstalled crap. AFAIK all the other bits are exactly the same between "retail" and "OEM". The only difference is the licensing data.

author: rdl
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2021, 06:24:02 am
content: Microsoft was often not real clear about the OEM license. It's possible they never really enforced it as it was stated. I think it was generally assumed to be primarily locked to the motherboard. All my experience is with the stand alone purchased version, not preinstalled. The preinstalled version is also called Volume License. I never tried to move a copy to a new motherboard, but I definitely had replaced everything else on a couple of machines with no reactivation needed.

author: coromonadalix
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2021, 11:52:41 am
content: normally they rely on the slic information in the motherboard bios ..... the slic 2.1 and up .... changed every thing around the board and still activated or stayed activated.

author: StillTrying
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 08, 2021, 02:01:00 pm
content: Quote from: rdl on May 06, 2021, 06:20:26 pmI think that might be it. I hadn't looked at the COA on the back since just copying the key in December.QuoteIthinkI've still got the option to put the old HDD in, intall just Win7 and activate it, I wouldn't know which tokens to copy or how to clone it on to the new HDD.QuoteSounds like I could try that, old HDD when/if activated backed up to usb stick or drive, then restore onto the unactivated Win7 HDD.December was the 1st reactivation I'd done, this new HDD attempt is the second.I'd tried some of the slmgr options.I haven't tried to activate it since. The "1 day until automatic activation" doesn't seem to have changed since it came down from 3 days.

author: rdl
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2021, 08:28:50 pm
content: The 30 day trial lasts until the first time the computer isrestartedafter 30 days. it doesn't actually keep count of how many days have elapsed. Even if the first 30 days trial lasts a year, you still have 3 more.Don't enter the CoA during the install and un-check automatically activate just to be sure. I personally disconnect the internet during installation. Seems like you need to disable the SPP Notification Service probably to get rid of the "This copy of Windows is not genuine" message above the systray. Not certain, since I haven't reinstalled since 2019, but that's what my notes say.

author: rdl
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2021, 08:38:54 pm
content: Quote from: StillTrying on May 08, 2021, 02:01:00 pmhttps://www.mydigitallife.net/how-to-backup-and-restore-windows-7-and-server-2008-r2-activation-status-activate-offline-on-reinstall/Would probably be a good idea to save a copy for future reference.

author: StillTrying
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 09, 2021, 10:23:24 pm
content: Quote from: StillTrying on May 08, 2021, 02:01:00 pmNope, I've given up on that option. old HDD is to bad, before removing the old HDD I had left it on slow format overnight, which completed eventually.But after putting it back in, 4 attempts to re-install have failed, 1st 2 just after 'Extracting files' reaches 100% it's says there's files missing, I've checked the CD surface is perfect.Reformatted, partitioned, tried bios HDD auto, legacy, performance. The old HDD fails the DST in the boot menu 'Diagnostics' of course.Install now gets stuck at 'Install now' forever, so I think the old HDD is finished."I personally disconnect the internet during installation."Yes everything is offline until I let it connect.The "1 day until automatic activation" has changed to "Please activate within 27 days"I've given up on a proper activation.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2021, 04:58:20 pm
content: Quote from: rdl on May 08, 2021, 06:24:02 amIt was never clear indeed, and IME, they never enforced it the way most people thought.That's what Microsoft does. Same with Win10. The free upgrade from Win 7 was supposed to be an offer that would last only ONE year. Now everybody knows that it's still free after all these years, yet I haven't seen clearly anywhere on their website or any official statement that it was still free. It is, but they just don't say anything about it.In the end, we also all know that what matters to them is that people use Windows, they don't much care about the licenses anymore.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 10, 2021, 09:32:39 pm
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on May 10, 2021, 04:58:20 pmThe "free for one year only" thing was pure marketing, it is a basic psychological trick to drum up demand, by creating the illusion that those who don't do it now will miss out. Of course it is in the best interest of MS to keep offering the "upgrade" indefinitely because Win10 is essentially 'Freemium' and the more people they get running it, the more money they can potentially make.

author: ebastler
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 14, 2021, 05:38:46 pm
content: Quote from: StillTrying on May 09, 2021, 10:23:24 pmSo have you ever tried the phone activation?Don't worry, you will not encounter the Spanish inquisition -- and not even an annoying call center agent in my experience. Just an automated voice messaging system which lets you enter painfully long strings of numbers, both on your computer keyboard and on the phone keypad if I recall correctly.I had to use this phone activation two or three times over the past few years when I reconfigured old laptop computers. It is mildly annoying (and I guess that's the intention) but works.

author: StillTrying
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 15, 2021, 12:43:19 am
content: "So have you ever tried the phone activation?"No, not tried anything since, 20+30+30 days until the desktop wallpaper turns black.I'll try it when I think I can do 100 keypresses without a mistake.

author: coromonadalix
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 15, 2021, 04:52:25 pm
content: search for remove wat ...

author: StillTrying
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 20, 2021, 04:58:08 pm
content: What happened...Well I'm glad I didn't waste any more time trying to activate that Win7 PC again.It worked fine for 2 1/2 weeks, not even 1 problem, CPU mem and disk usage stayed low even with loads of tabs open.And then waking from sleep out of the blue it blue screened instead of waking, on reboot there was nothing, using repair there was nothing to repair not even a C: partition.I've since tried Win7 and Linux Mint on it, even after turning some of Mint's animations off Mint still seemed slower than Win7.As it's a small and quiet PC and has worked fine for years, I might try re-flashing the bios, and then yet another cheap 160-320GB HDD on it.Meanwhile got another working Win7 PC, £50.

author: coromonadalix
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 22, 2021, 04:46:33 pm
content: check the capacitors in it if they show signs of failure ...

author: eti
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 24, 2021, 11:31:03 pm
content: Quote from: StillTrying on May 05, 2021, 03:53:55 pmNerdy adolescents refer to product names in this fashion. It's not "cool" to do so, it makes one not want to assist.

author: StillTrying
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 25, 2021, 02:59:44 pm
content: Windoze ?

author: themadhippy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 25, 2021, 03:11:02 pm
content: QuoteReleased by micro$oft

author: Karel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: June 25, 2021, 03:53:49 pm
content: Microshaft winblows...