Win 7 CD Key is "Flagged" and MS won't help...

DeadlyAura

Supreme [H]ardness
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So, the other day, my laptop started asking me to activate (which I thought was weird, because it took my CD upon installation without a problem). So, I went through the activation process last night. It went to the "Installation ID" process, which I did via their automated phone system. It told me that my install was no valid, and I could be connected to an agent. The agent goes through the "Installation ID" process again, and again tells me that the installation is not valid, and that my CD Key is "Flagged."

He says that the error is that the key is being used on multiple machines, and I need to contact the company that sold me the OS.

The problem is that, this is the only machine that the key has ever been used on. The installation was FINE, for years, until I got a new 500Gb SSD, and decided to do a fresh install a couple of months ago. Now, I am being told that "The key is being used on multiple machines."

I explained to the Microsoft agent exactly what happened, and he said that I need to contact my software reseller, or report the COA and counterfeit on their website "www.howtotell.com"

I'm fucking pissed right now, and I don't know what to do. I refuse to shell out MORE money for another OS to replace one that is totally legitimate. And I have NO idea who the reseller for this particular disk is....
 
Did you laptop come with a COA sticker? What OS did it come with?
Where did you purchase the copy of Windows 7?
 
Did you laptop come with a COA sticker? What OS did it come with?
Where did you purchase the copy of Windows 7?

The PC did come with a COA, but for a different version (Home Premium I think, possibly Win8). My brother purchased Win 7 Pro (Not sure from where, but I know that he bought it from a legitimate retailer such as NewEgg or Amazon).

Who sold you the laptop and what did they say about it?

I bought it from my brother. See above. I even called him to make sure that he never used this key on another machine.
 
Do you have a legit windows disc you are installing from? I know some of the hacked copies come "pre-activated" and that could cause you problems.

If the laptop has a win8 COA on it, you should just install 8 on it and upgrade from there. You shouldn't have any problems going that route.
 
The problem is there are a lot of online retailers selling keys for like $25 that are either foreign or shouldn't be resold.

Text him and ask for the exact vendor he bought from and let us know. Might be able to narrow this down.
 
The PC did come with a COA, but for a different version (Home Premium I think, possibly Win8). My brother purchased Win 7 Pro (Not sure from where, but I know that he bought it from a legitimate retailer such as NewEgg or Amazon).



I bought it from my brother. See above. I even called him to make sure that he never used this key on another machine.
Yeah double check with your brother. He might have bought it from newegg or Amazon, but did he really buy it from them, or one of the "other" sellers that use newegg or Amazon to sell software? On Amazon, you have to be careful cause usually when see a low price, it is from a third party. It must say "shipped and sold by amazon" or it's coming from Amazon Marketplace which are third party sellers (like ebay). Newegg has a similar setup but IIRC they only default picking third party sellers if they don't have stock themselves.
 
Ok, as an update:

Win 7 Pro DID come with that machine. The key that I used was from the COA sticker that is on the machine. He purchased a FULL VERSION of Windows 8 (Not a 7 upgrade) and was running Windows 8 on that machine for over a year. In that time, the original Windows 7 key was never used on any other machine.
 
At this point I would suggest to do a clean install of Windows 7 with official Dell media rather than typing in the COA product key (not a method I recommend anyways).

If you do not have the official Dell media you can research to find guides online that teach you how to make your own.

You can also install Windows 7 version that matches the OEM, without typing in a product key, then use a "loader" program that will install the Dell key and certificate to activate the system. This method is not creating a pirated/hacked OS. The application just makes it easier to reinstall using clean media without having to create your own by copying the product key and Dell certificate onto the media.

Once this is done then try to do the Windows 10 upgrade again.
 
Ok, as an update:

Win 7 Pro DID come with that machine. The key that I used was from the COA sticker that is on the machine. He purchased a FULL VERSION of Windows 8 (Not a 7 upgrade) and was running Windows 8 on that machine for over a year. In that time, the original Windows 7 key was never used on any other machine.

So where is the Windows 8 license key? Can't you just use that?
 
my HP dv6 laptop win7 pro was flagged on install Microsoft was no help. That was a OEM install from HP by the way. But if you can find windows loader 2.2.2. The windows 10 install will go with no problem. I have read that for 8 you can unflag your key with Ms toolkit 2.5.3. ...use with caution.
 
I had a very similar experience with Win8.1 key that I bought from this forum. I won't say who was selling them, but I bought the key 6 months ago, installed W8.1 and it activated. I was told that it was a retail key, and I ran a License Manager? report on it and it said that it is retail. I wanted to reinstall W8.1 on same hard drive but needed to partition it as GPT. Tried doing this twice, but when trying to activate, it said that the key was blocked. I called MS and they said "the key is blocked...please go to that HowToTell website". Told the person who sold me the key about it, and I decided to just install W10. Luckily, after doing the W10 upgrade it was activated. I also wiped and clean installed right after, and it also activated.
 
my HP dv6 laptop win7 pro was flagged on install Microsoft was no help. That was a OEM install from HP by the way. But if you can find windows loader 2.2.2. The windows 10 install will go with no problem. I have read that for 8 you can unflag your key with Ms toolkit 2.5.3. ...use with caution.

This x1000. For OEM machines that use SLIC 2.x activation this program is a godsend in case your key has been lost or has physically been worn off the COA label.

But as this guy I quoted said, use it carefully. Use it with caution.
 
my HP dv6 laptop win7 pro was flagged on install Microsoft was no help. That was a OEM install from HP by the way. But if you can find windows loader 2.2.2. The windows 10 install will go with no problem. I have read that for 8 you can unflag your key with Ms toolkit 2.5.3. ...use with caution.

Take it from someone who worked @ HP.

The "Microsoft flagged my key" shit was something they would use a lot to get someone off a call @ MS Tech Support.

I used to laugh when people would call and say "They said the key from HP is invalid, that HP flagged it and call them".

A reinstall later, guess what, activates just fine.
 
If people use (or would use) the OEM branded media to install Windows 7, they'd never encounter these kinds of issues and they'd never have to manually type in a Product Key either so such issues wouldn't exist in the first place. OEM branded media has the necessary scripts which have the royalty OEM keys already in place along with the digital certificate necessary to activate the OS without it ever even going online. HP for HP, Dell for Dell, and so on.

It's when people use custom discs created by other people for whatever reasons that such problems crop up because at some point it'll ask for a Product Key and a lot of time because of the customizations done to said discs something gets borked along the way and so it's broken from that point on even if one uses the Product Key on the COA sticker (which really is useless for the most part when dealing with OEM hardware).

Yes it's entirely possible that a 100% legit installation that's activated does get mucked up along the way for any variety of reasons, but if it's an OEM laptop and it has an actual Windows 7 COA sticker on it (Home Premium or Pro) and you have a piece of OEM branded media to match, you can install or re-install that OS from that disc pretty much infinitely and activation will never ever be a consideration.
 
There are several problems with trying to use OEM-branded media for situations like this:

1) The media has been lost and vendors typically don't allow end-users to download OEM images from their websites.
2) The media is almost always a DVD, which is prone to damage or decay.
3) For old or uncommon devices, OEM media may be impossible to order from the vendor.
4) The media is full of bloatware.

I know there is (or used to be) a rather simple way to convert a retail image to an OEM one, but it's a hack and not guaranteed to work.
 
Well, I can teach you how to make an OEM branded disc in all of 2 minutes, seriously, but that would be another thread entirely I suppose. All that's needed is the digital certificate for the brand (the xrm-ms file) and the royalty OEM Product Key (for the brand and edition) which are readily available, actually. What you end up creating is a replica of the $OEM$ folder that's inside the \sources folder on an OEM branded installation DVD making it in effect OEM branded media. There's even a tool that can take a Windows 7 ISO and make it so that it will install on over 100 OEM brands without issues - no cracks or hacks, it's using the actual branded digital certificates as well as the associated royalty OEM Product Keys.

But yes, I realize that a lot of people don't have the media anymore (we are talking about Windows 7 here, of course) so it's a chore for your "average Joe" to build such a piece of media, but this is an enthusiast computer hardware forum, you know. ;)
 
People reselling COAs... no Bueno. Don't buy resold COA's, they regularly get blocked.
 
Tiberian, that info would be nice to have. I know of one way, but it doesn't sound nearly as comprehensive as yours. If you don't feel comfortable with a public post, please PM me. Thanks.
 
Ain't nothing illegal about it since as an OEM product owner you're entitled to reinstall the OS whenever you see fit, and as you noted in the post above, sometimes the media either is lost, damaged, or the OEM can't or won't be able to provide it when needed so all you're doing is re-creating the OEM branded media for your own purposes. It can't be used to install the OS on non-branded hardware - attempting to do so will prompt for a Product Key which of course doesn't work when you enter it (the Product Key on the COA sticker is more for show than anything else, it can be used to install the OS but if you're using OEM branded media it won't ask for the key to begin with).

I'll drop you a PM with more info here in a bit as I pull the info together so be on the lookout for it.
 
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