How to recover a previously activated product key?

Hello Windows 7 Forum,

I'm not sure if this is the right section to be posting this thread, so mods please move this if there is a more appropriate place for it.

Here is my situation: I recently received a copy of Windows 7 Pro from the Microsoft Academic Alliance through my college and had installed it on a spare HDD in my computer. Recently I have upgraded my mother board, and naturally, I needed to reinstall windows. Since I had activated windows before switching my mobo, Windows will not let me reuse the key I received from the Academic Alliance.

Is there anyway to retrieve my key to reactivate without having to buy a new one, or am I SoL?

Any help would be great, and please let me know if I can further clarify.

Thanks

_Casey_

Normally a mobo change will be too big a hardware change to allow the reuse of the same key without an activation call to MS which is elevated to a person. That person makes the determination.

Have you spoken to the MS activation rep yet?

Most manufacturers replace with the same mobo for this reason, since it can be a key-killer.

I know it can be done because when the Geek Squad replaced a mobo for a friend last summer, they told him they have a way to reactivate the OS reinstall with a new mobo. So I would call around to several of them ("polling the Geek Squad" I call it) to find out how.

GxAce said:

Hello Windows 7 Forum,

I'm not sure if this is the right section to be posting this thread, so mods please move this if there is a more appropriate place for it.

Here is my situation: I recently received a copy of Windows 7 Pro from the Microsoft Academic Alliance through my college and had installed it on a spare HDD in my computer. Recently I have upgraded my mother board, and naturally, I needed to reinstall windows. Since I had activated windows before switching my mobo, Windows will not let me reuse the key I received from the Academic Alliance.

Is there anyway to retrieve my key to reactivate without having to buy a new one, or am I SoL?

Any help would be great, and please let me know if I can further clarify.

Thanks

_Casey_

I'm not familiar with the license terms of the Microsoft Academic Alliance.

However, if it's like a regular retail or student license, the license is transferable to a new machine.

Microsoft has no explicit de-activation. You'll have to activate by phone. You can probably use the automated system, but you may have to explain to a live MS tech. Total time, 5-10 minutes.