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Product key in registry does not correspond with product key in BIOS
I have been reading posts on seven-/eight-/tenforums for years with pleasure and gratitude for all the solutions they provided. But my current issue is one of the strangest things I've encountered in all these years. Have been searching through a lot of posts but haven't found any similar issue (or solution for it) yet. So here it goes.
Symptom: the OEM product key in the registry of a Windows 7 Pro installation (laptop) does not correspond with the OEM product key in the laptop's BIOS.
Here's the situation in short. It concerns a laptop from a student friend of mine who asked me to upgrade her current Windows 7 Pro x64 OS to Windows 10. She couldn't tell me if the installation was the original OEM factory partition or if it (perhaps) could be a pirated version. Since I wasn't about to just upgrade to Windows 10 without checking the authenticity of the Windows 7 OS, I performed the regular checks: see if it was activated already by running the "Activate Windows" program (check), check under Control Panel -> System and Maintenance -> System tab if the OS was already activated (check) and run Microsoft's online Validation Tool (check). Everything seems fine, the OS is activated and genuine.
Still, the COA sticker was missing. My friend didn't have any physical recovery media or other stuff with a license sticker on it. So I thought I'd check the product key stored in the BIOS and compare it with the product key in the registry. If they'd correspond, all would be well.
However, things turned out differently. After retrieving the product key from the registry with several programs (Magical Jellybean Key Finder, Belarc Advisor and Windows Product Key Finder Pro), I compared it with the BIOS product key (retrieved with NeoSmart Technologies' Windows OEM Product Key Tool). Result: they did not correspond. I couldn't believe it at first and double checked it with another program that retrieves both the registry product key and the BIOS product key and lists it in one table (One Up's Recover Keys). It confirmed my initial result.
I know that it's possible to run a pirated version that is activated and appears to be genuine and pass the validation tool. And since it's a students' laptop, I can't rule this out. But it could also be possible that another genuine OEM version has been installed on the laptop (and thus activated and genuine). And that's why I want to be absolutely sure I'm doing the right thing with upgrading to Windows 10. Therefore, I'm a bit stuck in my upgrade decision process.
My questions are:
1. Should I just upgrade to Windows 10 on the current Windows 7 OS without knowing if the latter is truly genuine or not? I suppose that the Windows 10 upgrade will complete successfully since the current Windows 7 OS has passed the validation tool, but this is merely a prediction. I haven't tried upgrading a pirated Windows 7/8/8.1 OS, so I'm not sure what happens in such a situation.
2. If the first question is answered positive, will the Windows 10 upgrade use the registry product key of the Windows 7 installation (and register the laptop hardware on the MS servers and tie the new Windows 10 license to the laptop hardware config based on that registry product key)?
3. If second question is answered negative, will the Windows 10 upgrade use the BIOS product key?
4. I know that since the Windows 10 November update, it is not necessary anymore to upgrade from the Windows 7 OS first and then wipe everything for a clean full Windows 10 install. As I've read, one can immediately start with a clean full Windows 10 install and then enter the Windows 7 product key when prompted to enter a key during the install process. With this in mind, would it be sensible to immediately do a clean full Windows 10 install and enter the BIOS product key since this key is originally tied to the laptop hardware (and completely disregard the registry product key of the current Windows 7 OS)?
I realize these are a lot of questions, my apologies for this. But this situation has been boggling my mind for the past five hours. Hopefully you could help me out. Thanks in advance.
Last edited by riddler; 16 Jan 2016 at 19:38.