But the existing key is being flagged as not genuine so revealing the product key won't acheive anything surely?
It doesn't mean the original key is not genuine. Windows can become 'deactivated' for lots of reasons. Cmorris mentioned the time and date on the PC was wrong, which is a classic one.
Has the OP said what version of Windows this is?
Can you bypass the dialog asking for a key to try and reactivate online?
Will this speccy show me the product key of windows (The customer bought the machine 3 years ago from PC World - it was a Dell laptop - and he had no activation issues since a month ago when it came up Windows is not genuine)
Should I use the speccy software o find the product key and hen force the activation window using slui.exe 4 and will this work?
It doesn't mean the original key is not genuine. Windows can become 'deactivated' for lots of reasons. Cmorris mentioned the time and date on the PC was wrong, which is a classic one.
Has the OP said what version of Windows this is?
Can you bypass the dialog asking for a key to try and reactivate online?
Fair enough, to be honest it's often like pulling teeth or getting blood from a stone with these posts
If an OEM version of Windows is asking for activation then there's something wrong! It shouldn't need activation and running the recovery disc should re-activate it without needing to ask for the product key to be entered.
IIRC there was an update or issue that caused the Windows not genuine message to appear on OEM installations but I can't for the life of me remember what it was! It's been 2 1/2 years since I stopped working for PCW tech support so can't even check the knowledgebase!
if it is a dell pc which was brought with windows 7 pre installed and you have a windows 7 reinstall disk from dell then you DO NOT need a windows key. widows will not ask you for one. you may however need a dell driver disk to install the drivers after installing windows.
For someone who claims to be an IT Technician/Tutor in their profile, you seem to need a lot of help a lot of the time, OP. Maybe you're in the wrong job?
Comments
It doesn't mean the original key is not genuine. Windows can become 'deactivated' for lots of reasons. Cmorris mentioned the time and date on the PC was wrong, which is a classic one.
Has the OP said what version of Windows this is?
Can you bypass the dialog asking for a key to try and reactivate online?
Will this speccy show me the product key of windows (The customer bought the machine 3 years ago from PC World - it was a Dell laptop - and he had no activation issues since a month ago when it came up Windows is not genuine)
Should I use the speccy software o find the product key and hen force the activation window using slui.exe 4 and will this work?
Does it look like a 25 digit alphanumeric key. :rolleyes:
Fair enough, to be honest it's often like pulling teeth or getting blood from a stone with these posts
IIRC there was an update or issue that caused the Windows not genuine message to appear on OEM installations but I can't for the life of me remember what it was! It's been 2 1/2 years since I stopped working for PCW tech support so can't even check the knowledgebase!
Google it for whatever OS you have? http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/validate/
If I get the product key from the speccy and try the slui.exe command but if this doesn't work, do a full wipe and load and enter the code.
This should work. If the software suggested on here so one of these is bound to work
Have you backed up all the users data?
reminds me that the DS Computing needs to have a cmorris beer fund to cover us all for fixing his problems
Well it was partly you and me. I found some commands on the net and used those to repair the spcslv