Your Kidding Me Right???? INVALID KEY

[rhugga]

Just went out and bought a spiffy new copy of Windows 7 and guess what??? INVALID KEY

Real impressed... Fry's won't exchange it.. Can't get anyone on the phone at Microshit on a Sunday... Very impressed.

Why is it easier to run pirated microsoft software than legitimate purchased copies.. Man its comical.

I've been an SA for 15 years, have supported countless software applications/operating systems and nothing comes close to the frustration, downtime, mis-information than microsoft products.

Anyone else have an invalid key? YES its typed correctly 30 times over by three different people. We tried all capitol letters. We tried all lower case letter.. We tried manually adding the dashes even though it says it puts them in automatically. We've tried not manually adding the dashes. Me made sure we have no preceeding or trailing spaces.

Unbelievable.

 

[Shadow703793]

Ummm.... Troll much?

 

[The_Prophecy]

So call them back on Monday, and stop bitching about it. It is quite amusing that something like this happened, but why don't you stop complaining and go do something about it?

 

[turboflame]

ITT someone having a tantrum calls other people immature.

 

[The_Prophecy]

I have grown up, thank you. From where I stand, you're the one who hasn't done that just yet.

What do the grown-ups do when they face a problem? They find a way to deal with it to make it work to their satisfaction. What did you do? You came on to this forum and bitched about it like it was the worst thing in the world. You did this despite the fact that there are 30 days to rectify the situation. But beyond that, you don't actually get locked out of your machine after those 30 days. Instead, it simply becomes more of an inconvenience to reboot your computer.

You're shitting in your own backyard here bud. I'm not the one littering the place with troll droppings.

 

[rodney_ws]

My copy of Win7 arrives tomorrow... and should I have trouble with the key I suppose I'll be calling up the Egg or perhaps Microsoft... and in the mean time I'd just use my backup computer with Vista (that works very well might I add)

 

[djcoolmasterx]

Are you installing on a clean hard disk? you might have an upgrade copy.

I don't know why I bothered to try and help because from what I've seen here you are a complete and utter arsehole.

 

[ainarssems]

Could it be that You have upgrade version and trying to install in on the emtpty hdd without previous version of Windows? That would explain invalid key.

 

[0ptic0n]

Have you tried to proceed with the install without the product key code entered and then trying to enter it again once windows is fully loaded? Dont think it would make a difference but couldn't hurt to try right..

 

[jerreece]

I had this problem last night with the Windows 7 Home Upgrade. Turns out, if you don't ALREADY have XP or Vista installed, it will claim your CD-Key is invalid.

All you have to do is install XP or Vista first, then insert the Windows 7 CD from within Windows. You can ask it to "Upgrade" from Vista "in-place" or do a clean install. However, their idea of "Clean Install" means it takes your entire existing Windows install and puts it into a folder called Windows.OLD and saves it on your new install.

It still works, but you have to go through all this in order for it to accept your CD-Key.

I've read a couple work-arounds for this online already. So you might search Google.

EDIT: BY THE WAY!!!!! If you have ANY additional hard drives installed in your system, disconnect all of them except the one you want to install on. Otherwise, I ran into MBR boot up problems, and when I got it to work. Windows partitioned an existing IDE drive and put a "Recovery" program on that disk, and essentially wiped all the 200GB of data on that drive.

I'm running recovery software on that hard drive right this moment....

 

[AsAnAtheist]

The OP acted immaturely, actually with little to no withholding of social filters. This is quite evident in his display of dull and overused sarcasm with a hint of naivete/condescending idea to think fry's would dwell into the problems of Microsoft. Then he further proofs his "unbelievable" idiosyncrasy by retorting that the posters who called him a troll to be immature/trolls themselves. Not only has he done this, but his reflective abilities are quite non existent to the point that it may be the opposite of reflective (believing to be so right, that reflection in one self is unnecessary (could be called a form of arrogance)).

It's not every day I get to use to use long complex and grammatically incorrect sentences. :/

 

[djcoolmasterx]

Or rather then double installing, giving this a go:

http://community.winsupersite.com/blogs/paul/archive/2009/10/23/clean-install-windows-7-with-upgrade-media-the-answer.aspx

 

[croc]

...Seems that the OP (Rhugga) has embareassed (SP, on purpose...) themselves and left the building. Doesn't anyone read anymore? ToS plainly says that all material posted on this site becomes the property OF this site. There is no such concept as 'MY' thread, at least not on this site.

MS clearly documents how to do an 'upgrade' vs. a clean install. MS clearly also states to start out with a good backup. And they also have an EULA for all to read, part of which plainly states remedies for issues.

 

[anamaniac]

[*** ing manual...
Wait, people do that? If they did, then Toms forums might get like 10 posts a day in total...

 

[Zenthar]

I must admit that an "INVALID KEY" message isn't really helpful to diagnose the fact that you need a previous installation for it to work.

 

[Zoron]

Perhaps not... but the box does state you need a previous version of Windows running to use the upgrade...

 

[tonyn84]

in case anyone runs into this problem with a full version key, just don't type anything, you've got 30 days to put it in and activate

 

[anamaniac]

120 days.
You can rearm it 3 times, giving 30 days each time.

 

[xrodney]

I don't see anywhere stated if he bought upgrade or full version.
Also shouldn't be possible to make clean install of upgrade with providing XP/Vista key ?

croc: do you really read eula from M$ ? It take about hour to read all that bs that its there and have no important information at all.

 

[anamaniac]

I read the eula...
I've read less interesting things in my life...

 

[jbrown1]

Okay everyone can stop bickering about this guy because he is not the only one out there with this problem. I agree with him to be honest (though not quite as frustrated) it took me near 6hrs lastnight just to check and recheck the 'compatibility' of my computer (which I findout later from our university tech team is a joke). After getting the computer compatible it took near 6more hours to get ready to install and finally ask for my registration key which is also, as was stated with the other issue, INVALID.

I'm not quite sure what to do yet as any large company takes long enough to respond with their helpdesks and the only thing the techys here could say is.. 'bring it in and we'll mess with it'. So, if anyone has a respectful and thoughtout response that has worked with this issue please let me know.



Also, just to clarify mine is an upgrade disk, upgrading from English Vista to Windows 7 Ultimate. Both 32bit and my computer does have enough free space on the hardrive.

 

[djcoolmasterx]

Nice cleaning work OP.

 

[saint19]

I love Linux.....jajajaja

 

[Zoron]

Which edition of Vista? Did you do an in-place upgrade or clean install? I upgraded my 64-bit Vista Ultimate to 64-bit Windows 7 Pro via a clean install... no issues with the product key. It seemed to take a lot longer than a clean OEM install would have... but it was glitch-free. If you do not have Vista Ultimate, you may have to clean install... but I'm guessing you did that anyway.

 

[johntsouris]

THIS IS A KNOWN ISSUE WITH WIDOWS 7 INSTALL DVD'S!!! Our keys ARE valid.... but there is a registry error on many install DVD's of Windows 7 that makes them not recognize a valid key!! There is a tested fix right from MICROSOFT SUPPORT which I am reprinting below! I just had this problem this morning, and I just fixed it! Please note: The UPGRADE versions of Windows 7 recommend doing a "clean install" on XP machines, meaning every copy of Windows 7, even upgrade versions, CAN be installed onto a clean disc!!

Print these instructions, and do the following:

1. Install Windows 7. When it asks for your product key, UNCHECK the box that says "Activate When Online", and LEAVE THE KEY BLANK. Click "Next".

2. Allow it to boot. Then, click the start "Orb" and in the search box, type REGEDIT. (Do NOT hit enter). At the top of the search box, a program link called REGEDIT will appear. Click on it once.

3. You will enter the registry editor. Click "Edit" at the top, then "Find". Search for the term "mediaboot". It will search for 15 seconds, and it will highlight an entry called "MediaBootInstall". (Alternately, you can manually find this entry by looking in this path: HKEY-LocalMachine->Software->Microsoft->Windows->CurrentVersion->Setup->OOBE.)

4. Double-click on "MediaBootInstall". Change the value of "Value Data" from a "1" to a Zero. Click "OK".

5. Exit the Registry Editor.

6. Click the start "Orb", then type CMD in the search box WITHOUT hitting "Enter". At the top, a program link called "CMD" will pop up.

7. RIGHT CLICK the CMD link and select "Run Program As Administrator". If you just left clicked on it before, close it out and re-start it as an administrator.

8. A DOS window will open. Type the following: CSCRIPT.EXE SLMGR.VBS -REARM Don't miss the spaces. Hit Enter when done.

9. It will do its thing, and then ask for a reboot. Reboot the system.

10. Upon restarting, you will have a working copy of Win 7 that will require activation with your valid key within 30 days.

11. To activate: Click the Start "Orb" and type "Activate" in the search box without hitting the Enter key.

12. At the top of the search box listings, you will see a line that says "Activate Windows". Click the link and follow the instructions using your valid key.... your key will now work!


P.S. This immediately reminds me of the new "I'm a MAC" commercial in which "PC" repeatedly says that the "New version of Windows" won't have any of the problems that the old version has!! Yeah, right. Here's a glaring problem before it is even installed!

Also, I posted this same info to the MS support forums, and their moderator, some jerk-off named Ronnie Vernon deleted it. Anything those a*holes can do to screw their customers over is certainly something they love to do. Can you imagine deleting a fix for a known problem users are having? They refer people to their help pages when they delete my posts.... but the help pages DO NOT have this fix posted!!! MS employees are scum.

Enjoy this fix!!!