Windows 7: activation weirdness.

ok so i set up a copy of win 7 on my friends comp at my house. i got it activated and updated and everything went smooth, no probs. then about 2 or so days ago my friend told me that a message popped up that said he had 10 days left to activate windows. now the only reason i can think of that could've "unactivated" his copy is that it got activated it at my house, then moved it over to his. anyone know how that could've happened?

I have no clue what you are talking about in the second half of that post to be perfectly honest. My guess is, it didn't actually activate. If you only have that copy on his computer and it won't activate the normal way, you need to activate it by phone. This tells you how to do it: Activate Windows 7 by Phone

anyone else with a guess as why that would've happened?

Where did you buy your Windows 7 from?

msdnaa, got it for free

If you're trying to use the same activation key for both, it'll always do that and eventually both installs (the key) will be black-listed and lost forever.

what do you mean for both? there is only one computer and one install in this story.

I meant if you're using an activation key that you have one install currently activated with to activate second installation on another PC, the single key will be black listed and it will be lost.



1 key = one activation on a single PC

The PC of a friend, visited his house got activated there, then days after moving the PC back to his friends house it got deactivated.

M$ watching IP address and saw the change caused it?

I have had my Windows go not registered, I have cable and my IP address will change and so I suspect this is exactly what happened to your buddy.

Try this thread: Activate Windows 7 Online

I have to use this: http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/

If I download the .exe and run it, it fails.

M$ is so bloody greedy this whole activation thing is proof, they are spending millions on tech support for just this and outsourcing tech support to all over the place and it's downright painful with the language gap, it's been a mixed bag when I needed it.

OP & Faladu, please believe me that's not true. IP change does not invalidate the activation.

Normal home users mostly have a so called dynamic external IP. It changes every now and then, for instance every time the router is reseted, in which case a new one is given out from the pool of IP's the ISP has for that area. In most countries and ISP's, you have to pay extra to get a never changing static external IP.

And what about business people travelling with their laptop's? You really think that arriving in a new hotel or airport and connecting laptop to a new WiFi would invalidate Windows activation?

Microsoft might or might not keep track of your IP, I tend to believe them when they say they don't do it. In OP's case, you have to search the problem elsewhere. The simplest thing to do is to try a phone activation, as Petey suggested in post #2.

Kari