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Windows Activation Error - Dell Inspiron, Win7 Home Prem. SP1 64-bit
Hi all,
Pretty sure I am screwed, but if that is the case, I'll be pretty pissed....this is a bit of a story, so bear with me.
I do some light computer work on the side. I was recently given a client's Win7 desktop that was acting up - wouldn't boot. Tried everything I could to fix it, nothing would work, so I took the key off of it (it had a Win7 SP1 Home Prem install...honestly not sure if it was 32 or 64-bit, but PRETTY sure it was 64-bit as it's a machine with 8gb of RAM) and reformatted. Now I can't get it to activate. The machine is a Dell Inspiron 545 desktop, but there is no Windows sticker with a key anywhere on it (I retrieved the key using a keyfinder program).
The machine was sold used to my client by another local computer tech. He had to format it last time I had this issue because I didn't have a legit Windows key or disk to format it with and he never gave them any reinstall media (no Win7 install disk and no recovery disks from Dell, and the machine has never had a recovery partition since I've first seen it). This time, he left the Windows key on the machine in a .doc file for any future techs....however, as I said, the key isn't allowing itself to be activated.
MGADiag claims it's an OEM_SLP key (MGADiag log attached below)...if that is the case, it's supposedly the key that came with the machine from the factory, and if THAT is the case, how did he pull that one off in terms of installing it...? The machine has no recovery partition, unless he never gave the proper install disks for it that belong to the machine to the new owners and still has them...?
Thoughts? I'm a bit confused as to what is going on...any way I can get this key to activate? Is this key even for this version of Windows...?
EDIT - The MS website is saying it is a genuine Windows install...??? Also, Not sure how to activate by phone...I know it's possible as I've done it before, but the option isn't coming up for me!