Can't activate Windows (used 3 different isos)

I'm trying to reformat my friend's Windows 7 laptop. He lost the cd, so I figured I would just download an OEM Windows 7 Home Premium and use the key on the laptop. It absolutely refuses to take the key though, I've used 3 different isos now, including the disk I got with my laptop from Dell. I had this problem with Windows XP home isos not working with a Windows XP home key, but it turned out there were OEM keys, volume keys and a few other types I forget. I figure this is the case with Windows 7, but OEM doesn't seem to be working.

Can anyone help me figure out what kind of key I have so I can get the right iso? The laptop is an HP dv4 series.

**
I think I might have it. He bought it from Best Buy, so it's not an OEM key (says the guy who had to try 3 isos to figure that out) it's a retail key! Here's a great reference for anyone else tripped up by this problem, I'm downloading a retail iso now which should hopefully be solving this problem.

Did you leave the recovery partition intact (if it has one)? If so, download a utility called Super Grub and burn it to a CD. Boot from the CD and you should get options for booting that include the recovery partition.

Worked for me in the past. It was on an older HP laptop with Vista.

If you have an iso software (e.g. PowerISO), copy the iso to your hard drive. Unpack the iso. Delete the ei.cfg file from the sources directory (if your anxious open it first with notepad and you'll see what I am saying makes sense). Repack the iso and burn it onto a DVD.

What you have just created is a Universal Windows 7 install DVD (either 32 bit or 64 bit based upon the DVD you started with) that is Retail/OEM blind and Windows 7 Version blind. It doesn't know what it is so it will ask on installing from it and it will accept either OEM or Retail Keys.

He's tried 3 diff ISO's, not keys. He's trying to activate the same key with MS but failing due to something about install - possibly using Upgrade version on wiped HD is it.

He said WIn7 came from Best Buy, is trying to activate it legally with MS, so I wil take his word for it unless something proves otherwise.

He could have cracked it off the torrents, instead he just went for a clean ISO like many have to do. He may have just gotten the wrong version. Reads legit but XP oldthink to me.

Please do not accuse people seeking help here of being thieves on such thin evidence.

I had a dying Windows 7 Ultimate hard drive, so I installed a second drive, installed Windows 7 Ultimate onto it, and transferred the files to the new drive. After installing the new drive, the system went right to that drive when I started the computer.


I finally got around to pulling the old drive and plugging the new drive into where the old drive used to be, which caused the system not to boot. To fix that, I used the repair function on the iso disc to repair the MBR. I knew what to do having been through all of this before with another computer. Everything worked fine again. What I neglected to do was activate Windows at that time.


A week ago (probably after the trial period expired) my desktop background went black with a "Windows is not Genuine, build 7600" message in the bottom right corner of the screen. To try to fix it I went to the System panel, clicked "Change product key" to bring up the key entry field, and entered the original product key. This came back with a "Windows Not Genuine" message.

Above the Change Product Key line was another line to Activate Windows. I clicked on that and saw a "Windows Not Genuine" message with a link to follow to resolve the problem. This took me to a link to Install the Windows Validation Tool, which claimed to repair validation problems. After I did that and let it validate, the warnings went away. The black background on the desktop remained, but that was resolved by installing a new wallpaper.

The line above "Change Product Key" now shows "Windows is Activated."

Good luck,

Bob