Solved Reinstall with OEM key on same system - Not Genuine ?

[swbca]

I bought a Thinkpad T500 labeled as Refurbished by Lenovo somewhere in USA. It was sold by a large scale ebay dealer listing a large inventory of "Factory Refurbished" Thinkpads. It came with an OEM Windows 7 Pro installation, but it was not a standard Lenovo image that comes with a new system. To get rid of the bloatware and to get a system pre-configured, I restored a disk image of a clean setup from another similar Thinkpad and then Activated after changing to the OEM key that was on the system I bought.

I then checked the installation with the Genuine Validation Tool and it was marked as Not Genuine and I have been getting daily pop-ups that Windows is not Genuine.

The Question Finally:

Does this mean the original system was not Genuine because of Dealer disk duplication without changing keys, or does it mean that you can't do what I did.

There are 3 possible answers
1. A fresh installation using the original OEM key not allowed.
2. Changing to the OEM key on an imported installation before activating is not allowed.
3. The dealer sent a system that was not Genuine.

 

[ignatzatsonic]

If I had to guess, I'd guess the key is bogus, mostly because Ebay is known to be full of that stuff.

Have you tried installing from a legit ISO as downloaded from mydigitallife.info and then burned to a disc? A valid key will activate such an install.

Did you make an image of the installation as you originally received it on the Thinkpad or did you make recovery disks? I ask because it may be that the "disk image of a clean setup from another similar Thinkpad" did not restore properly or does not match your key properly.

 

[seavixen32]

I'd also be inclined to think the key is no good.

What ignatzatsonic suggests may get you out of trouble, but personally, I'd be asking for a refund from eBay.

You could also file a piracy report with Microsoft in an attempt to get these dealers put out of business. Microsoft may have been known to provide you with a genuine product key as a way of rewarding your co-operation in naming and shaming these counterfeit traders.

http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/reporting/faq.aspx

 

[gregrocker]

Try this: Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

Everything you need is in the blue link.

 

[swbca]

Try this: Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

Everything you need is in the blue link.

Thanks, but my question was about the failed Validation of an imported installation using the original OEM key.

 

[swbca]

As a test I did a fresh install with OEM media using the original OEM key and it was marked Genuine by the Genuine Validation Tool.

- So the guy sent a Genuine Windows system.
- A fresh install with the original key works
- but, the imported installation, succesfully activated with the original key was not Genuine . .. why not ??

For future reference, I would like to know why an Imported Installation using the original key did not work. Will it never work, or was my case a glitch of some kind. ?

 

[seavixen32]

Try this: Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7.

Everything you need is in the blue link.

Thanks, but my question was about the failed Validation of an imported installation using the original OEM key.

If you're not prepared to consider this as a viable solution we can only assume you suspect your Windows software is not genuine.

If that is the case I stand by my initial advice, which was to ask for a refund from eBay and report the matter to Microsoft.

 

[gregrocker]

It's hard to say why the image you imported would not activate but the clean reinstall would. It was only a hunch and worth a try, so I suggested it. I'm glad you went ahead and tried it after initially rejecting it as if my answer was impertinent.

You end up with an activated Clean install which is vastly superior compared to an image off of another Thinkpad which is sketchy to begin with and contains the load of factory bloatware which no tech enthusiast would keep.

Once you get the updates installed, any drivers missing can be found on the Support Downloads webpage for your model - along with necessary software once it becomes apparent that it is needed and not just duplicative crapware.

You're welcome.

 

[swbca]

It's hard to say why the image you imported would not activate but the clean reinstall would. It was only a hunch and worth a try, so I suggested it. I'm glad you went ahead and tried it after initially rejecting it as if my answer was impertinent.

You end up with an activated Clean install which is vastly superior compared to an image off of another Thinkpad which is sketchy to begin with and contains the load of factory bloatware which no tech enthusiast would keep.

Once you get the updates installed, any drivers missing can be found on the Support Downloads webpage for your model - along with necessary software once it becomes apparent that it is needed and not just duplicative crapware.

You're welcome.

Sorry, I didn't mean to sound impertinent, but the process for performing a clean install was unrelated to my question.

The imported installation would Activate but not Validate

Also the image I was installing was from a brand new fresh-from-scratch archived installation where the processor speed and LCD resolution were the only differences from the target. No drivers were changing and we intentionally work on a single platform so we can keep a fresh deployment image of our full setup which is complex and specific to our business.

Regarding my question . . it still seems that the activation process and the validation process have variables that I can't decipher. I had never tried using an OEM key before on an imported installation. Normally we use a Microsoft partner key, but since I had the OEM key I preferred to preserve the Partner key.

I still would like to know for future reference if this will never work, or if it was a random problem. We are running out of Win7 key so I would prefer to use OEM keys when we can.

Thanks

 

[gregrocker]

Why are you still saying the process to Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 is unrelated when you tried it, it worked, and you now have the full value of your purchase with an even better installation than the one you tried to jimmy in?

I've always been able to activate an imported image. If it activated are you sure a Non-Genuine error was not a false positive?

 

[swbca]

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[swbca]

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[seavixen32]

You say the imported version did not validate, which suggests it may not be genuine.

Activation matches the product key with the operating system and only needs to be carried out once.

Validation is ongoing by Microsoft's validation servers, which check you are not using non-genuine software and is ongoing while you have the OS installed.

 

[gregrocker]

Was the image SysPrepped to have the activation removed first? I would try that, or at least remove the Activation using SLMgr Commands and Options to slmgr -upk first.

 

[swbca]

Was the image SysPrepped to have the activation removed first? I would try that, or at least remove the Activation using SLMgr Commands and Options to slmgr -upk first.

I'll try Sysprep . . I sort of shortcut sometimes in our own office, but it would be good to find the solution for the next system.

 

[swbca]

You say the imported version did not validate, which suggests it may not be genuine.

Activation matches the product key with the operating system and only needs to be carried out once.

Validation is ongoing by Microsoft's validation servers, which check you are not using non-genuine software and is ongoing while you have the OS installed.

The OEM key did validate on a fresh install I tried from OEM media as a test, but the same key did not validate on the same hardware after succesfully activating it on an imported image originally created with Microsoft Parter Media on a different computer.

I understood that media is common across different distribution channels with Windows 7. But I wasn't sure if that included OEM media.

(Gets confusing to explain)

 

[seavixen32]

An OEM Windows OS is tied to the first computer it's installed on.

If you activated the product key on an image from another computer that counts as the computer it's installed on.

If you then clean install Windows and try to activate it with the same OEM key, it will fail as the key has already been used and cannot be used on another computer.

Have you considered trying this?

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html#post1839164

 

[swbca]

An OEM Windows OS is tied to the first computer it's installed on.

If you activated the product key on an image from another computer that counts as the computer it's installed on.

If you then clean install Windows and try to activate it with the same OEM key, it will fail as the key has already been used and cannot be used on another computer.

Have you considered trying this?

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html#post1839164

Sorry this is so confusing.

I bought a computer with an OEM installation = Computer "A"
I restored an image from Computer "B" to Computer "A"
I activated the OEM key that came on computer "A" on Computer "A" (no hardware change)
but it was not Genuine.

Regarding the clean install, I know this works but it take 4 days to setup our systems from scratch. (We do forensic testing for banks) So we alway using imaging, but we normally don't try using the computer's OEM key on an imported image.

Thanks for your suggestions . . I can always use another Win7 key on the image - I was just trying not to use it if the OEM key would work.

 

[gregrocker]

The OEM key should work as long as the previous Product Key is uninstalled (slmgr -upk) from the image. This may be the problem especially if you were using MAK activation on the image.

In your case it may have had the previous key cued up to Activate which is what fouled out, or did it clearly activate with the OEM key and then later flag as non-Genuine?

If it activates it should be good to go.

 

[swbca]

The OEM key should work as long as the previous Product Key is uninstalled (slmgr -upk) from the image. This may be the problem especially if you were using MAK activation on the image.

In your case it may have had the previous key cued up to Activate which is what fouled out, or did it clearly activate with the OEM key and then later flag as non-Genuine?

If it activates it should be good to go.

I went to the activation page, and then immediately selected the option "Type in new Key" So I pasted in the OEM key . . . A message said it would take a while and it did . . but then said "Successfully Activated:

Later I intentionally installed the Windows Validatation Tool which marked it as Not Genuine. and Windows Update was broken, even thought the service was running. A pop-up saying "Windows is not Genuine" popped up the next day.

Like you said, I thought it when it activated it would be good to go. Next time I'll remove the existing activation.