Activate Windows 7 by Phone

Brink said:

I hope it turns out well.

I will wait until the disk comes in the mail then try to re-install Win-7 or put XP back then upgrade, etc., then activate it with the proper key and by phone. The guy e-mailed me confused so at least he is trying to resolve the situation and not robbing me. My error in thinking, while being distracted by stuff, made me do something I never do; that is install software when my mind was not on the Job :)

Hopefully all it will take is to load the disk and follow the prompts, enter the proper product key and go on from there. Otherwise it is just a time consuming task of putting XP back on and go from here. Seems like a simple job can be muddled into a confused mess when one's mind of off day dreaming.

Hum, I must misunderstand Microsoft upgrades. The guy who sold me the product key advises me to re-install Windows 7 using my upgrade disk, then enter his product key when it asks for it during that process, then after the re-install use the phone method to activate it. Sounds right to me, but I thought the product key was integral to the OEM disks. I guess as long as the product key is validated by Microsoft during re-installation it will work okay? Just asking :) because the COA on the sticker looks okay.

Brink said:

Ah, ok. I misunderstood as well. There's a special way you have to do a clean install with an upgrade copy of Windows 7 before it will activate.

Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version

Thanks, that will do better. This should be the end of it and my daughter can be happy and me too...... The next upgrade here will be a new PC sometime down the road so installing will not be a problem. Thanks again

Jeff (aka dustymars)

Wow, after attempts with no results entering the product key it just would not come up valid. So, as an old naive nave I thought it interesting to ask for a refund. Well, not that naive, but to my surprise and the guy used eBay’s resolution process and immediately refunded my money! We find honest people like this guy only rarely these days. He will most certainly go in my good seller list.

So, guess I’ll just wait fro Christmas to get her a Windows 7 upgrade; that works. Can you imagine how long it takes to re-install Windows XP. :)

So, thanks for the advice, something did not work so it was just an education; after 53 years doing computers (hardware and software) I learned something new every day.

Hi there,

I just bought a copy of Windows 7 Professional DVD, from a friend, who is an ex-microsoft employee. It
has a "company store purchase" sticker on it. Not sure if that makes it a retail version or other? I got it
brand new, sealed.

I want to put this (64bit version) onto several hard discs in the same PC. None of these discs will ever
connect to the internet, so it'll be the phone activation route I'll take.

My first question: is this allowed for my version of Windows 7? Different installs on multiple discs in the
same PC?

Second question: after I install on disc 1, I'll go through the phone activation process and receive a
"confirmation id" to activate this disc. When I then go to install on disc 2,3,4,5,... will I be able to just
reuse the same confirmation id, or will I need to do a new phone activation for each disc?

Many thanks for any help!