Limit on WIn 7 activation?

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sirillow

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Jan 24, 2014
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Hi everyone!

I had Windows 7 on my PC, but when i upgraded to a new hard drive it came up saying "this copy of Windows is not genuine." I called Microsoft and they basically told me that I upgraded my PC with this specific key one too many times.

So my question is, how do you deal with this problem when you have Windows 7 or 8.1? How do you ever upgrade your PC without activating Windows all over again? Especially if you want the latest and greatest hardware.

Unless I'm missing something I'm pretty sure I'm just going to have to bite the bullet and buy a completely new key. :(
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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Mar 16, 2013
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This depends on several factors.

How did you 'upgrade'? Via an Upgrade license from a previous license?
In which case you need to install the previous version, and then 'upgrade'.

If it was a full install that you bought and installed, and all you did was change the hard drive, I'm pretty sure who you talked to was wrong.
When it said 'not genuine', there should have been a phone number to try to activate via the phone robot.

Activation/reactivation depends on what was changed. The hard drive? Should be no problem.
The motherboard? May be a problem.
 
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sirillow

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Jan 24, 2014
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I purchased a retail full windows 7 copy a while back and over the years (since '12) i've updated my PC with various hardware. I wasn't really thinking then, but I do remember having to re-activate my windows 7 a couple of times usually after each individual change.

But I had no idea there was an actual limit.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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I'm not sure there is an actual limit, when talking into a clued in MS rep.
Might not reactivate automatically, but I have never had a valid key be completely ignored and not reactivated. No matter how many times it was activated (on the same system/motherboard).
 
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sirillow

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That is what I thought! I initially wanted to just activate it,but it didn't work. So i did the phone activation, but the computer said according to the user end agreement I activated win7 too many times.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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The actual message was "too many times"?
Maybe too many simultaneous uses....as in 2 PC's at once. But too many sequential?
 
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sirillow

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Jan 24, 2014
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Well its obviously on the old hard drive I don't want anymore, but they said I am only allowed a certain number (i believe they said 2. Which i think is BS. Since I can't deactivate win7 from my old drive how do I remove it? Do you think that is the issue?
 
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sirillow

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THANK YOU SO MUCH! It worked when I said one. Before I think I kept saying a number more than 1!
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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Bingo.
 
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sirillow

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That proves that the Microsoft people I spoke has absolutely no idea what they were doing. They did not understand the problem.
 
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