making oem disk?

[GinjaNinja]

not sure if this is the right section but anyways. I just charged into reinstalling my friend's laptop (home premium oem) and the license key won't work with my msdn disk. so I researched and read that I need to remove ei.cfg and it will work... but it still doesn't work... what am I doing wrong? do I need to modify it instead of deleting it? or is there even more to it than that?

 

[SIW2]

Is that the license key off the sticker on the laptop?

It should be fine as long as you installed the same Edition (e.g. Home Premium).

Some will activate straight off - some you need to call the oem to activate - that would be the laptop maker, e.g. Acer, or whoever.

 

[GinjaNinja]

yeah, the one on the bottom of the laptop. I just reinstalled and typed in the key but it didn't work.

 

[gregrocker]

What is the version you installed?

Look at Computer>Properties to confirm it's the licensed version, then reinsert the Product Key making sure not to transpose any digits - it's easy to do and happens a lot.

 

[GinjaNinja]

I'll check when I get home.
The sticker is for home premium oem. I used my unlocked dvd and selected home premium and I double checked the key when it rejected it.

 

[gregrocker]

If you try again and it fails to activate, try phone activation: How To Activate Windows 7 by Phone Step-by-Step Guide

 

[GinjaNinja]

still didn't work. the guy told me to ring ms tech support tomorrow.
can someone please just verify for me that an MSDN dvd with ei.cfg missing should be able to be activated with an oem key?

 

[theog]

Can you post the specs of the PC you working on.
http://www.sevenforums.com/general-discussion/22550-filling-out-system-specs.html
http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware-devices/6936-dont-know-what-hardware-you-have.html
VistaForums SysInfo Tool - Vista Forums

Have tred the HP from MSDN?

 

[GinjaNinja]

it's a gateway id59c
i3 370m
geforce 310m 512mb
4gb ram
320gb drive
although the hardware specs shouldn't matter should they?

 

[Bill2]

What error message do you get when you try to activate?

 

[theog]

Have you tried the eRecovery Management?

Manual how to use Acer eRecovery Management here:
ftp://ftp.support.acer-euro.com/notebook/empowering_technology/NB%20ET2%20user's%20guide/Acer%20eRecovery%20Management%20English.pdf

Have you tried pressing <Alt+F10> at boot up, to goto the Acer eRecovery Management.
You can Order Acer recovery disks from here:
https://secure.tx.acer.com/RCDB/Main.aspx?brand=acer

 

[gregrocker]

Yes, any retail installer with all versions unlocked should manuaully activate factory OEM if the correct version is installed.

The exception would be if Gateway has blocked this somehow which I have yet to see however hear is possible. If you left the Recovery partition you can try running it, or Gateway may make you order the disks. They are supposed to provide you with a method to clean reinstall if requested.

I would try the Home Premium MSDN download as suggested.