Reinstall with OEM key on same system - Not Genuine ?

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You say the imported version did not validate, which suggests it may not be genuine.

Activation matches the product key with the operating system and only needs to be carried out once.

Validation is ongoing by Microsoft's validation servers, which check you are not using non-genuine software and is ongoing while you have the OS installed.

Was the image SysPrepped to have the activation removed first? I would try that, or at least remove the Activation using SLMgr Commands and Options to slmgr -upk first.

gregrocker said:

Was the image SysPrepped to have the activation removed first? I would try that, or at least remove the Activation using SLMgr Commands and Options to slmgr -upk first.

I'll try Sysprep . . I sort of shortcut sometimes in our own office, but it would be good to find the solution for the next system.

seavixen32 said:

You say the imported version did not validate, which suggests it may not be genuine.

Activation matches the product key with the operating system and only needs to be carried out once.

Validation is ongoing by Microsoft's validation servers, which check you are not using non-genuine software and is ongoing while you have the OS installed.

The OEM key did validate on a fresh install I tried from OEM media as a test, but the same key did not validate on the same hardware after succesfully activating it on an imported image originally created with Microsoft Parter Media on a different computer.

I understood that media is common across different distribution channels with Windows 7. But I wasn't sure if that included OEM media.

(Gets confusing to explain)

An OEM Windows OS is tied to the first computer it's installed on.

If you activated the product key on an image from another computer that counts as the computer it's installed on.

If you then clean install Windows and try to activate it with the same OEM key, it will fail as the key has already been used and cannot be used on another computer.

Have you considered trying this?

Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7

seavixen32 said:

An OEM Windows OS is tied to the first computer it's installed on.

If you activated the product key on an image from another computer that counts as the computer it's installed on.

If you then clean install Windows and try to activate it with the same OEM key, it will fail as the key has already been used and cannot be used on another computer.

Have you considered trying this?

Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7

Sorry this is so confusing.

I bought a computer with an OEM installation = Computer "A"
I restored an image from Computer "B" to Computer "A"
I activated the OEM key that came on computer "A" on Computer "A" (no hardware change)
but it was not Genuine.

Regarding the clean install, I know this works but it take 4 days to setup our systems from scratch. (We do forensic testing for banks) So we alway using imaging, but we normally don't try using the computer's OEM key on an imported image.

Thanks for your suggestions . . I can always use another Win7 key on the image - I was just trying not to use it if the OEM key would work.

The OEM key should work as long as the previous Product Key is uninstalled (slmgr -upk) from the image. This may be the problem especially if you were using MAK activation on the image.

In your case it may have had the previous key cued up to Activate which is what fouled out, or did it clearly activate with the OEM key and then later flag as non-Genuine?

If it activates it should be good to go.

gregrocker said:

The OEM key should work as long as the previous Product Key is uninstalled (slmgr -upk) from the image. This may be the problem especially if you were using MAK activation on the image.

In your case it may have had the previous key cued up to Activate which is what fouled out, or did it clearly activate with the OEM key and then later flag as non-Genuine?

If it activates it should be good to go.

I went to the activation page, and then immediately selected the option "Type in new Key" So I pasted in the OEM key . . . A message said it would take a while and it did . . but then said "Successfully Activated:

Later I intentionally installed the Windows Validatation Tool which marked it as Not Genuine. and Windows Update was broken, even thought the service was running. A pop-up saying "Windows is not Genuine" popped up the next day.

Like you said, I thought it when it activated it would be good to go. Next time I'll remove the existing activation.