I'm dead in the water with my win 7 install

drf408

September 11, 2011 5:11:34 AM

Got my new pc up and running, this is the only pc I have except a terrible laptop (using now). So I went to install win 7 (clean since its a brand new HD). At the activation point of the install, i found out my product key is invalid as its only valid for upgrades. Will MS upgrade the key to allow me to do a full install? I'm stuck right now...

More about : dead water win install

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Mu33rto

September 11, 2011 5:26:11 AM

Normally it will install in trial mode...And you will have couple of days to register it before it disables it.

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johng24601

September 11, 2011 5:49:41 AM

drf408 said:

Got my new pc up and running, this is the only pc I have except a terrible laptop (using now). So I went to install win 7 (clean since its a brand new HD). At the activation point of the install, i found out my product key is invalid as its only valid for upgrades. Will MS upgrade the key to allow me to do a full install? I'm stuck right now...

Hi, I've used this method a few times, there is a way to do a clean install with an upgrade key. Follow these instructions exactly. I cut and pasted them from an old post I found when Win 7 came out. Can't take credit for this.

DO NOT enter your Key, If you already did, just cancel activation. you have thirty days to activate Windows.

Just start Windows normally.

Open regedit.exe with Start Menu Search and navigate to:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Setup/OOBE

Easier - Just do a search for " MediaBootInstall"

Change MediaBootInstall from "1" to "0". (Double-click it and then enter 0 in the dialog that appears.)

Close RegEdit.

Open the Start Menu again and type cmd in Start Menu search to display a shortcut to the Command Line utility. Right-click this shortcut and choose "Run as administrator." - This is Very important make sure to run it as administrator. Handle the UAC prompt.

In the command line window, type: slmgr -rearm

Then tap ENTER and wait for the "Command completed successfully" dialog.

Then, close the command line window and reboot. When Windows 7 reboots, run the Activate Windows utility, type in your product key and activate windows.

Good luck

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