Windows 7: Product Key Number - Uninstall and Deactivate in Windows

Hello Dayle, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Sorry, but the product key number that came with your laptop is an OEM key number that can only be activated on your specific laptop and never on any other computer.

Brink, thanks for the reply.



Could I then, deactivate the current product key I have now. & Reinstall 7 with the previous product key I had with intention to deactivate that... Would this blow my current pk too?

It depends on if your current product key is an OEM key or not.

An OEM key can only be activated on the first computer it was activated on and no other computer ever.

If it's a retail (full or upgrade), then you could activate your current key on any other computer so long as it's not activated on any other computer at the same time. If you have trouble with activating online as usual, then you could just do a phone activation.

Neither of the product keys are OEM, they are full licenses. I initially had a Windows 7 Home Ed 32bit. The OEM that came with it when purchased could not be used when upgrading to Windows 7 Pro 64bit, hence the reason we purchased full licenses (two). I installed one of the licenses on my work laptop and activated it.... I was later asked to install a particular license on my laptop the original license I had to be installed on an additional laptop I have. When I swapped out the licenses the one I had could not be activated again, simply because I had not uninstalled and deactivate it correctly.

Does this make sense, or does it sound like a ramble. Apologies. Either way, I just need to know how to deactivate it, to then reactivate it on another laptop.

There's no need to remove a key and deactivate Windows like in the tutorial on the first page if you are just wanted to change the key numbers.

If they are for the same edition, then you could just use the tutorial below to change the key number to whichever one you want.

Product Key Number - Change

If the key doesn't activate online as usual, then you should be able to do a phone activation instead.

Thanks for this! I just reformatted my laptop and put in a retail code, but I hardly use my laptop. My girlfriend wants to use Windows 7 instead so I just deactivated it from mine so I can put it on her computer.

You're welcome poochop, and welcome to Seven Forums.

Actually, you do not need to deactivate Windows if you uninstall or format it from your PC to be able to use it on her PC.

This is mostly for if you wanted to say give someone your old PC with a 30 day trial of Windows 7 until they purchase and install their own copy instead.

Ah yes, but now I still have Windows on my laptop, it's just not activated. I maybe only need my laptop once a month so this works out for me. I understand if this may sound illegal or wrong though, but it isn't meant to be :P. I have a spare Windows 8 key if I really wanted to install that on my laptop anyways. But I just really don't ever use my laptop, it's very weak, and I'm assuming Windows 8 would burn more resources than Windows 7.

i am thinking of upgrading from windows 7 home premium (genuine) to Ultimate so if i Deactivate it will work on someone else's pc if i sold it

Hello Amaterasu,

The word deactivate can be a bit misleading. All this does is remove the product key from the PC so that the Windows installed on the PC is no longer be activated with that product key.


If you get an upgrade copy of Windows 7 Ultimate instead of a full copy, then you will not legally be able to use the Windows 7 Home Premium since you are replacing it with the upgrade to Ultimate as per the EULA.

If the Windows 7 Home Premium is an OEM copy instead of retail, then you wouldn't be able to use it's product key to activate on any other PC since it's permanently tied to the motherboard of the PC it was first activated on.

If the Windows 7 Home Premium is a full retail copy, then yes you will be able to install and activate it on any other computer you like so long as it's not installed and activated on any other computer. If it doesn't activate online as usual, then you could activate by phone instead.

Hope this helps,
Shawn