Clean Installation With An Upgrade Disk

[seekermeister]

My memory is lagging, so when I just installed W7 on a new hard drive on my secondary rig, I didn't enter the license key and unchecked the box for it to automatically activate. When I attempted to enter the key and activate it later, it said that I couldn't do a clean install with an upgrade disk.

I scanned through the tutorial, and it said that I should have entered the key during the installation, with the activation box unchecked. The question is can I salvage the installation, or do I have to start over?

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Now do an "upgrade" install over the first and enter the key for this one.

 

[Bill2]

Just a sec. Try entering the product key at the command line.

Open an elevated cmd, then type: slmgr -ipk <product key>

Hit Enter.

After key successfully installed message pops up (it may take a minute), type: slmgr -ato

Hit Enter.

Let us know.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Just a sec. Try entering the product key at the command line.

Open an elevated cmd, then type: slmgr -ipk <product key>

Hit Enter.

After key successfully installed message pops up (it may take a minute), type: slmgr -ato

Hit Enter.

Let us know.

I'd be interested to know if that works too.

 

[seekermeister]

After the first enter, it responded that simgr is not a recognized command.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Just a sec. Try entering the product key at the command line.

Open an elevated cmd, then type: slmgr -ipk <product key>

Hit Enter.

After key successfully installed message pops up (it may take a minute), type: slmgr -ato

Hit Enter.

Let us know.

I'd be interested to know if that works too.

Here's the command(s) I used before.

click to enlarge

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[Bill2]

After the first enter, it responded that simgr is not a recognized command.

Its slmgr (with an l), not simgr.

 

[seekermeister]

Ahh! I need to get my glasses checked. I found an old Paul Thurrott article that I have used in the past, and I still had trouble, because I'm not sure how to run CMD with elevated privileges?

 

[Bill2]

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/783-elevated-command-prompt.html

 

[seekermeister]

Thanks, I think that did the trick...at least it said that it was successful. I will have to wait to enter the key, until I get the WIFI connection, so that it can go online.

 

[Bill2]

You can install the key offline, though you need internet connectivity to activate.

 

[gregrocker]

Bill does using slmgr -ipk (insert product key) preclude the need to do the workaround when clean installing Upgrade version to wiped HD?

Can you explain it?

Is the -ato to activate online command necessary to follow, or can it wait until you get online to do so at Computer>Properties?

 

[Bill2]

The 3 workarounds for installing upgrade licenses on blank drives that I know of are - the one i mentioned above, the registry edit and the double install. As with the rest of this business, some things work for some people some of the time. The slmgr -ipk is of course not just a workaround for this, its a complete mechanism by itself. OP is not around but that would be my advice to him- if this doesnt work, follow the registry edit method, if that too fails follow the double install.

-ATO is not an adjunct to the key input command, sorry if i gave that impression, its only meant for online activation. -ATO is particularly useful when you have say a system without a gui or multiple systems that need to activate via a batch file. Remember slmgr can be used in corporate setups too.

 

[gregrocker]

I have a friend who wanted to put his desktop in strorage, use his HP retail key on another machine. I used slmgr -upk and his desktop went non-genuine. His new machine activated ok with the same key. What's the non-gen about? Is there a better way to uninstall Prod Key?

 

[Bill2]

Theres no need to uninstall the product key (i wrote that on another thread too) because slmgr -upk is a local action that is not heard by the MS servers that store activation data. So one can just uninstall windows and move on.

As for that non-genuine, running the -upk command left the system without any product key whatsoever, thats why. Its important to remember that the trial period is NOT keyless- win7 dvds install embedded trial keys that are time bombed, they are what permit windows to be used in the grace period.

 

[Bare Foot Kid]

Good info Bill, thanks!

 

[meamjw]

Just yesterday I got got clean install of an upgrade activated. I had tried every way I knew with no success. Finally got a tech on the phone and he had me enter 'msdt', as I recall, in the run box. I don't recall the details of what he had me do after that, but he told me it was clearing the old numbers. Then he had me enter my product code again and it worked. I suggest calling Ms support. There is no charge for this type problem. I believe the number was 800-936-5700.

 

[gregrocker]

Theres no need to uninstall the product key (i wrote that on another thread too) because slmgr -upk is a local action that is not heard by the MS servers that store activation data. So one can just uninstall windows and move on.

As for that non-genuine, running the -upk command left the system without any product key whatsoever, thats why. Its important to remember that the trial period is NOT keyless- win7 dvds install embedded trial keys that are time bombed, they are what permit windows to be used in the grace period.

Slmgr -rearm reset the non-gen to 30-day trial period. But if the computer then goes into storage when it is started up after 30 days how can it be reactivated if needed?

Owner wants to keep the computer in storage, use Prod key on another machine, but have the option to return Product key to original install on old machine.

 

[Bill2]

Theres no issue here. Since its a retail key, its freely transferrable. So this is how things are likely to go:

1) When the key is used on the 2nd computer, it should reactivate online if it was installed on the 1st machine a while ago. If it doesnt obviously MS needs to be called and convinced that the key is only being used on a single machine.

2) Same process to return the key to the 1st machine.

As long as one of the 2 machines is in storage, theres no ethical dilemma here to me. Naturally, switching hardware frequently may not go down too well with the activation servers, hence the need to call MS.

But why is your friend insistent on using the key on the second machine? If he's just testing he can go upto 120 days on a new install without entering a key. Or am i missing something here?

 

[gregrocker]

He wants to upgrade from an old eMachine to a new Gateway. I did the install, transferred files over his network - all via Team Viewer - and he is happy with the install so far to where he moved eMachine into his closet.

I was concerned about what would happen if it had the same Product Key and he gave the eMachine away to someone as he tends to do with his stuff. But he didn't want me to wipe the OS off in case he wants to go back at any point in future.

A similar situation happened once where a stored machine was sold at a garage sale with old retail Product key intact and new owner complained that it deactivated as soon as he connected to the web, so mindful of this I wanted to remove the Product Key to avoid such a situation. I would normally replace the native OS on such a machine which in the case of the eMachine is XP.