1. Do a
clean install of your upgrade Windows 7 at boot without checking the
Automatically activate Windows when I'm online box during the installation process.
NOTE: If you already did this from OPTION ONE above and got a activation error, then skip this step and just proceed to step 2 below instead. There's no need to reinstall again.
2. Ensure that there are no
Windows Updates pending that would require a system reboot to finish installing. (You'll see an orange shield icon next to Shutdown in the Start Menu if this is the case). If there are, then restart the computer to let them finish installing before proceeding to step 3 below.
3. Click on the
Download button below to download the
MediaBootInstall.reg file, and save it to your desktop.
4. Double click on the downloaded
MediaBootInstall.reg file to merge it, then approve the merge.
NOTE: This will change the MediaBootInstall value from 1 to 0 at the registry location below automatically for you.HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Setup\OOBE
5. Open a
elevated command prompt.
6. In the elevated command prompt, type
slmgr -rearm and press
Enter. (See screenshot below)
7. Click on
OK. (See screenshot below)
8. Close the elevated command prompt, and restart the computer.
9. When the computer is finished restarting, then manually
activate Windows 7 with your product key number.