Activating the retail of Windows 7 - how?

[Undeadish]

Hi Sevenforums!

This is my first post here so I'll introduce myself very quick. I'm Nicolai, I live in Denmark and I am a Windows fanatic. Now that was short!

Anyway, I recently managed, through my work, to legally get a copy of the Windows 7 Enterprise 64 bit retail, and I'm just loving it so far! I am however, quite messy, and I have a feeling that the little piece of paper containing my serial number will be gone very soon.

So ehrm, can I activate Windows 7 without waiting for the 30 days to pass? If yes, how?

Also, I know this is a bit off-topic, but where do learn to modify the right-click context menu via Regedit? I tried downloading some files on here and it did frankly not work for me :\


Thanks a lot in advance!!

 

[zigzag3143]

Hi Sevenforums!

This is my first post here so I'll introduce myself very quick. I'm Nicolai, I live in Denmark and I am a Windows fanatic. Now that was short!

Anyway, I recently managed, through my work, to legally get a copy of the Windows 7 Enterprise 64 bit retail, and I'm just loving it so far! I am however, quite messy, and I have a feeling that the little piece of paper containing my serial number will be gone very soon.

So ehrm, can I activate Windows 7 without waiting for the 30 days to pass? If yes, how?

Also, I know this is a bit off-topic, but where do learn to modify the right-click context menu via Regedit? I tried downloading some files on here and it did frankly not work for me :\


Thanks a lot in advance!!

With a legal enterprize (not trial) and a legal key you can activate any time you want to why wait.

Need more info on your regedit question. BTW you cant edit the reg key for enterprize <g>

ken

 

[Barman58]

The 30 days is the maximum time before activation is required not the minimum - just type activate into the start bar search and follow the prompts - Assuming that your Enterprise licence is valid for your use at home there should be no issues.

As for the adding of items to the context menu the only answer to this is to learn programming and as such would be beyond the scope of this forum. Apart form this the structure of the registry is available on many technical sites on the net firt suggestion would be technet

 

[Undeadish]

Hi.

I found a regedit tweak on this side that worked!

Anyway, I tried searching for "activate" and found "Activate Windows"
I clicked and and then chose "Activate now".

Afterwards it went all "Processing product key... key not valid"
I havn't ever entered a product key, I installed windows 7 2 days ago :S

Thanks.

 

[zigzag3143]

Undeadish

Just a heads up. Talking about tweaking activation, cracks, hacks, or any other illegal activities can get you banned.

Ken

 

[sup3rsprt]

Enterprise is not really meant for home users. I think you may need a local server to authenticate it.

 

[myzr7]

how about start/right click computer/properties, bottom left of the window

 

[Undeadish]

I do not see any reason that what I posted has anything to do with activation tweaking, cracking, hacks or other illegal activities.
I was merely stating that my Windows already assumed I had entered a key (which I have not!). If that is wrong, I'll have to go re-read the FAQ and I'm deeply sorry.

 

[Undeadish]

how about start/right click computer/properties, bottom left of the window

Thank you so much! When I went there it said my product key was "00000-00000-00000-00000-00000". This worked! Thanks so much!

I'm going to enjoy being a part of this community now that my Windows is activated

EDIT:
One last thing, I really don't want to start a new topic just for this as I already mentioned this earlier. Is it possible to edit the name of context menu items? Fx "Control Panel" to "Kontrolpanel" seeing it as I am Danish? Thanks.

 

[sup3rsprt]

good 1 myzr7

I actually didn't think you could activate Enterprise edition at home.

 

[myzr7]

Undeadish welcome to SevenForums hope that you enjoy your Windows 7 install. We have lots of tutorials here.Tutorials - Windows 7 Forums
My fav dealing with the context menu is http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/516-context-menu-add-copy-folder-move-folder.html
Hope you have a good stay here on SF

 

[myzr7]

how about start/right click computer/properties, bottom left of the window

Thank you so much! When I went there it said my product key was "00000-00000-00000-00000-00000". This worked! Thanks so much!

I'm going to enjoy being a part of this community now that my Windows is activated

EDIT:
One last thing, I really don't want to start a new topic just for this as I already mentioned this earlier. Is it possible to edit the name of context menu items? Fx "Control Panel" to "Kontrolpanel" seeing it as I am Danish? Thanks.

You may find this in here Customization - Windows 7 Forums

 

[Undeadish]

Undeadish welcome to SevenForums hope that you enjoy your Windows 7 install. We have lots of tutorials here.Tutorials - Windows 7 Forums
My fav dealing with the context menu is http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/516-context-menu-add-copy-folder-move-folder.html
Hope you have a good stay here on SF

Thank you I'll look into that!

 

[Barman58]

The problem with enterprise versions of Microsoft Software is they are normally designed to operate in conjunction with a licensing server which is located at the enterprise - It may be this check that is failing in your case _ check with your IT manager at work as you may have to attach your system to the company network before the system will allow you to proceed

 

[liquidguru]

good 1 myzr7

I actually didn't think you could activate Enterprise edition at home.

You can. If you have a Volume Licensing agreement you can either use a KMS key (where you need to authenticate against your server) or you can get a MAK key which will activate Windows 7 from anywhere

 

[sup3rsprt]

Thanks for the info liquid,

Should he be cautious of changing hardware or doing clean installs? Since he's using this at home, I'm not sure that he'll be able to renew the license if he ever ran out of activations.

 

[liquidguru]

Thanks for the info liquid,

Should he be cautious of changing hardware or doing clean installs? Since he's using this at home, I'm not sure that he'll be able to renew the license if he ever ran out of activations.

You're welcome

If he has used a MAK key there will be a certain amount of activations allowed for the key (say 5000), but the admin will know how many. Every time you re-install windows, even on the same machine with the same hardware, and use the same MAK it will register as another key used. So if there are just a few activations on your MAK you need to watch out.

The MAK and the KMS keys are not included with the Windows 7 ISO you download from your Volume License area. There are different ISO downloads of Enterprise depending on whether you will use it with a KMS key or a MAK key. You have to go to your admin to get the correct key and activate Windows in the normal way described in this thread.

 

[DeaconFrost]

For future reference, the comments about discussing illegal activites came from your mentions of finding a registry tweak. There's no logical reason to be mucking around in the registry if you are trying to activate a legit copy...and that's what led people to think this. As you found out, activating was a very simple process, found right in the properties of the Computer icon on your desktop....same place it was with Vista.