Where to confidently order a legit copy of Win 7 Pro?

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The Original Ralph

The Original Ralph

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went to install or actually installed an OEM copy of win 7 pro i had ordered/rcvd from amazon (sold by and shipped by amazon). After the installation i noticed, before any other programs had been installed, it showed it was using 101 GB on my C drive - but comparing the size of the files on the C drive with the files on another computer with win 7 pro - and file sizes were nearly identical.

Went to punch in the product key and discovered there wasn't one anywhere on the disc or cardboard sleeves. Got thru to microsoft support (India) and even though it was an OEM product, the CSR was kind enough to help me - gave me some directions to pull up the product code key from inside the software - his computer came back reporting this was a generic package product code, not valid for individual use. So then he had me pull up the "Activation ID" which was a helluva long number, 9 groups six digits each, and it showed in his system as "invalid" ID.

Amazon is sending me a replacement, but said there was no way to ensure it would have a product key - i'd have to get it and inspect it myself.

suspect they bought or were sold a ton of counterfeit copies. Which leads to my question - who is an authorized microsoft vendor and offers win 7 pro on dvd

what amused me (kind of), there was a label on the blue cardboard sleeve, that appears similiar to the COA label, but actually said "This is not a COA" - kind of ballsy

here's a shot

MICROSOFT%202_zpsgb1rdy2o.jpg
 
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rgd1101

rgd1101

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do you still have the amazon link?
 
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The Original Ralph

The Original Ralph

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go back to that link and go down about 5 review posts to "Robert B"'s review

"Cons: This is not an OEM. It is not a COA. This is for a new PC that has Windows already pre-loaded on it and comes in a white envelope. I feel I was totally ripped off of $139 and it's non returnable. Either that or they sent me the wrong item, and again it's non returnable."
 
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The Original Ralph

The Original Ralph

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The Original Ralph

The Original Ralph

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What ever it is, it's not a product key - here's a shot of the COA sticker from a copy of windows home i have here. The two labels are similiar size, but note on the authentic COA, the 3rd group of the product key is typed under the image of the skeleton key. I tried to peel that little sticker up but it wouldn't come off. If the key were under it, it'd have to be so small you'd need a 12x power loop

IMG_2069_zpsqyqf8nkn.jpg
 
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The Original Ralph

The Original Ralph

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YEP - 2nd reason i posted this was so others would be aware

but what still gets me, it has all the appearance of a legit copy - but like i said earlier, the microsoft CSR was kind enough to have me pull up the product key coded into the disk and it was a generic package code, not eligible for individual use, and the activation ID was totally invalid???
 
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The Original Ralph

The Original Ralph

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no hologram, but sure did look legit - i didn't take a pix of it, but the outer carboard sleeve was the same as the white sleeve on my W7 home premium disk

and same as the W7 home premium sleeve, there are instuctions to the installer (assuming it's being installed by a vendor) to carefully peel the COA sticker off the blue sleeve and affix to the rear or underside of the computer it's being installed on. EXCEPT THIS ONE IS MARKED "THIS IS NOT A COA" i'd LMAO except this was not funny
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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"but sure did look legit"

haha....I used to have an Epson printer that also did DVD's.
A DVD printed in it would look exactly like a store bought movie DVD.


I believe that Amazon rotates the actual source of these things, even if Prime or "Fulfilled by Amazon". And this one is apparently a bad egg.
 
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The Original Ralph

The Original Ralph

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literally as was responding to this thread, delivery came from amazon - the replacement disk - and it's exactly the same. Got to hand it to amazon in terms of customer svc - i only called into them last nite (sunday nite) - but there was something unusually easy about getting them to handle this issue, as my purchase showed the return window had closed. I suspect they've had a lot of problems with this.

here's what came - i opened the white outer sleeve but won't bother opening the blue sleeve

2nd%20win%207%201_zpsf8pkpyim.jpg


2nd%20win%207_zpspf92la3q.jpg
 
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The Original Ralph

The Original Ralph

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these might still be legit from microsoft, but meant for large corporate customers and have some sort of special license code their IT people would plug in, and somewhere in the food chain, a distributor not realizing what these were, sold them to various vendors

I don't know, all i know is my computer is reminding me i have 28 days remaining to activate

what's crazy, went to microsoft store - punch in win 7 and you get win 10 in the results
looked at staples, sears, officemax and bestbuy - no one has any in stock but sears will sell via 3rd party vendor, that i don't care to go that way, and bestbuy will sell the retail version for what i paid amazon for the OEM version, actually $2 cheaper http://www.bestbuy.com/site/windows-7-professional-with-service-pack-1-64-bit-windows/3654008.p?id=1219092580328&skuId=3654008
 
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The Original Ralph

The Original Ralph

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I finally found a retail copy of win 7 pro w/sp1 at BestBuy for $2 less than i paid for the OEM copy fm amazon.

Got talking to a customer who i remembered is retired microsoft engineer, and told him about this experience - when he heard 101 GBs on install, he said it was exactly what i speculated in the above post, that it was a corporate copy meant for large companies - he said their IT staff would install this on one Master HDD and from there install it across their network to all their computers but he didn't understand why it installed the full distribution package, ie 101 GBs, to a single computer

so they are legit, just not usable by single end users
 
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The Original Ralph

The Original Ralph

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well to update this thread one more time - the BestBuy copy just arrived, and it's not a retail copy but the same "Not a COA" OEM copy

I posted about this in amazon reviews and one poster, apparently a professional computer builder/vendor responded indicating that he had installed seven copies of these "Not a COA" copies and that you had to scrape the silver coating off (very carefully) to review the product key, so microsoft has gotten into the lottery card scratch game.

Why they would put that label on, i have no idea, why it pulled up a different product key when the microsoft support tech had guided me thru the commands, i also have no idea. And why there weren't instructions to do this i also don't understand, but figured i'd update this for others getting copies like this as apparently this is what microsoft is shipping. Oh, and apparently it has Windows 10 buried in it along with Windows Anytime Update built in as well.

So USAFRet was correct - and it is a five group key, just laid out differently

img%20for%20posting_zpsfvuupzrq.jpg
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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I've never had a Windows install take 101GB initially.
7, 8, 8.1, 10, Server...

I'd be interested to see a WinDirStat screencap of this 101GB.
 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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WinDirStat. An application that will give a graphical representation of what is on that drive.

Download, install, run it for the C drive.
Post the screencap back here.
 
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The Original Ralph

The Original Ralph

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i assume you meant the two .sys files up at the top, occupying 111.9 GB - tried to, had to go online to find a utility to open and to be frank, all the sites offering something to open them were "no name" sites - i got burnt by CNET twice with malware & adware installed in their downloads so i'm hesitant to go that route
 
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