Windows 7 Activation Error

Hello everyone.

I recently reinstalled Windows 7 Home Premium on top of an existing version of Windows 7 Home Premium and when I try to activate it gives me an error saying that the key only works for upgrade installs. I have no idea why it says that, considering that I didn't reformat my hard drive before the reinstallation.

I definitely don't want to deal with Microsoft's $59.00 support charge for a mistake their software made. Any ideas? I'd prefer not to go through the hassle of installing an older version of Windows and then reinstalling Windows 7 again...

Thank you very much :)

You seem to have an upgrade key. Were you trying the double install workaround? For that, you need to install win7 one time, then boot to desktop, then launch the windows setup install wizard again or launch from setup.exe.

I suggest you backup critical data, then follow method 3 in this tut.

Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version

Remember clean install with an upgrade key is legal only if you have a previous underlying qualifying OS.

Well, unfortunately, method 3 didn't help me very much as Windows told me that there was a problem with my product key, it just couldn't tell me what the problem was...all it said was that it was incorrect. That did however lead me to their automated phone authorization process which is extremely helpful

Regardless, thanks to your Method 3 post, I found the automated system, and now my OS is activated. So thank you