Retrieve Windows 7 product key

[Berton]

Any license that comes with a computer is likely a OEM license which will only activate on one computer

In addition, a Retail version or Upgrade version can be installed on a REPLACEMENT computer once as long as the original installation no longer exists.

As to the difference in OEM Product Keys, it was explained in a Microsoft seminar some time back that OEMs are allowed to create a Master installation then clone that to new computers as they are ordered. It does make it easier to produce then make quicker shipments but as mentioned, there does have to be a COA [Certificate of Authenticity] sticker with the Product Key on it. The Product ID seen in Properties of My Computer/Computer/This PC is created during setup.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Yes Berton and I am guessing that is what has happened with the seller I have been dealing with and he has done a "backdated" version as I wanted using the clone or whatever he has of that version of 7 because as I mentioned earlier (I think) the version he put on was very old -build 7600 - I had to add SP1.
See pic

 

[gregrocker]

There are some exceptions. Schools and other organizations often install SysPrepped images to multiple PC's at once, then activate them with Volume License Keys which do not have a sticker on the PC. This may be what the OP is asking about. But he should know how these PC's were activated in the first place - If they were bought off the shelf without licenses and then activated with VLK's. If not then they really need a COA sticker to stay within MS license agreements as SIW2 delineates.

As to Windows 8, my understanding is that these no longer have COA stickers but activate via the BIOS, including Win8 Professional which has downgrade rights to Win7 Professional if you want that. I believe one must contact their OEM or if retail MS Customer Service to attain the downgrade key and installation media. Someone who knows for sure can correct this as we have had several cases but I tend to forget Windows 8 internals due to so much to remember for Win7 and now it's successor Win10.

 

[Layback Bear]

Correct Microsoft does not make laws.

What Microsoft and who ever buy their products do is agree to a contract.

This contract that the seller and buyer agree to is a legal contract.
Therefore are covered by the contract laws of what ever country they are located have established.

Microsoft makes legal contracts not laws.
Legal contracts are covered by the laws of a nation.

When you by a Windows operating system or other products from Microsoft you agree to a legal contract with Microsoft.

To my understanding when one pays for Windows operating system, they are paying for the right to use the operating system through a contract.
Microsoft still own the operating system and through a contract has given you the right to use the operating system under the conditions and methods of the contract.

 

[townsbg]

Correct Microsoft does not make laws.

What Microsoft and who ever buy their products do is agree to a contract.

This contract that the seller and buyer agree to is a legal contract.
Therefore are covered by the contract laws of what ever country they are located have established.

Microsoft makes legal contracts not laws.
Legal contracts are covered by the laws of a nation.

When you by a Windows operating system or other products from Microsoft you agree to a legal contract with Microsoft.

To my understanding when one pays for Windows operating system, they are paying for the right to use the operating system through a contract.
Microsoft still own the operating system and through a contract has given you the right to use the operating system under the conditions and methods of the contract.

This is correct. Reading the fine print of the contract/terms of use specifies the licensing rights. To be able to do whatever they want with Windows the user would have to purchase ownership of the code from Microsoft which I'm sure would cost millions if they would ever even consider selling it.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

There are some exceptions. Schools and other organizations often install SysPrepped images to multiple PC's at once, then activate them with Volume License Keys which do not have a sticker on the PC. This may be what the OP is asking about. But he should know how these PC's were activated in the first place - If they were bought off the shelf without licenses and then activated with VLK's. If not then they really need a COA sticker to stay within MS license agreements as SIW2 delineates.

As to Windows 8, my understanding is that these no longer have COA stickers but activate via the BIOS, including Win8 Professional which has downgrade rights to Win7 Professional if you want that. I believe one must contact their OEM or if retail MS Customer Service to attain the downgrade key and installation media. Someone who knows for sure can correct this as we have had several cases but I tend to forget Windows 8 internals due to so much to remember for Win7 and now it's successor Win10.

As to Windows 8, my understanding is that these no longer have COA stickers but activate via the BIOS, including Win8 Professional which has downgrade rights to Win7 Professional if you want that.

This answers what I have been trying for the last fortnight to find out and clarify and why the seller of this machine insists he doesn't have to give me a sticker for the 7 Pro option he loaded onto a new SSD I installed.
If this is indeed the case then he was right and I was not and have wasted my and everyone else's time over the last fortnight.
What bugs me is why didn't the operator at Microsoft know this as I told her that it was an 8 machine and that he was installing 7 for me plus by the same token why did the seller install build 7600 when he must know the correct build is 7601??
It seems as though I have been chasing my tail so to speak. All in all this is not a clear or easily clarified topic / subject because it is SO convoluted - at least to me and can be construed in so many ways by the likes of myself.

 

[AddRAM]

Did he give you the key John ?

I`d be like, where did you get the key from ?

Was it a downgrade from 8 to 7 ?

I have no idea how a downgrade from 8 to 7 works, but you said he installed 7 for you on a new ssd.

Did you have to pay for 7 ?

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Well Mike (hope I got the name right) I am guessing he has a form of licence that allows him to do that on 8 machines as Greg quoted and if you were to look at any of the EBay sellers out here of this machine the deal is the same in every case and again I am guessing they would all be doing the same thing.

In that case perhaps he gets the code by allocating it from Microsoft somehow ie I ask for the 7 he asks M$ for a code and he passes it on to me. I am not going to ask him because he has been quite irritated by my persistence for one thing and would not say just to be bloody minded and on the other hand maybe he likes to keep his secrets to himself.

In all honesty even though I think Microsoft have been quite slack in support for me I have some sympathy for them but they have made up the rules and made them so complex and convoluted that maybe even they do not know what they are. Besides you only have to look at the sheer volume of operating systems all over the globe they have to look after and so many installs to police it must be nigh impossible to check each and everyone of the sources of installing their software.

Suppose it is like making a snowball at the top of a long slope and pushing it downwards - the further down it travels the larger and more complex it gets until it gets out of control.
As we all know there is also the problem with counterfeiting and just how are you going to stop that - a bit like making a failsafe security program - ain't going to happen.

 

[AddRAM]

Once again John, it`s Brian.

Wait a minute, you bought this pc off Ebay ?

But yet you say he installed Windows 7 on a ssd you installed, this is beyond confusing

At this point, as long as you have a good Windows 7 code, that`s all that matters. Write it down and tape it to the inside of the pc.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Brian

Sorry Brian as it has been a long two weeks at this wretched problem

 

[NoelDP]

It's really very simple.

ALL machines with OEM installs of Windows from Win95 to Win7 MUST have a COA sticker on them to be within the license terms.

ALL machines with OEM installs of Windows 8.x originally installed MUST have either the Win 8 or Win 8 Pro sticker - even if they've been downgraded to Windows 7 Pro (and these will NOT have a windows 7 sticker).

 

[Berton]

I bought a Dell Inspiron Notebook [straight from Dell] in March with Win8.1 installed and it has no COA sticker on it anywhere nor on any of the sparse documentation.

 

[doctore]

Now, to the original poster - since this is a school, there must be a server involved, no?
You can install the programs necessary to all computers using GPOs. Talk to whoever administers the school server, they should know how to do it.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

It's really very simple.

ALL machines with OEM installs of Windows from Win95 to Win7 MUST have a COA sticker on them to be within the license terms.

ALL machines with OEM installs of Windows 8.x originally installed MUST have either the Win 8 or Win 8 Pro sticker - even if they've been downgraded to Windows 7 Pro (and these will NOT have a windows 7 sticker).

Thank you so much Noel as I have been chasing this for well over two weeks on various threads that have sprung up for different reasons as I bought an Asus ROG G750JM with 8 on it sent it back for the 7 option as I tried an OEM on mine but it ended up a 7 driver problem - thinking he would be up for the ante if the BIOS had to be changed (see later in post *) and the seller installed 7 Pro on a SSD I put instead of the original and very slow spinner.
I spent a lot of time arguing the toss with him re the sticker and Greg did suggest this might be the case and you have just confirmed it. Pity the operator at Microsoft didn't know this when I contacted them as it would have saved a LOT of grief and frankly bad feelings between me and the seller, as they told me on the phone I had to have a sticker and so the grief with the seller carried on.
The only thing that niggled me was he put on build 7600 and it took me six hours of searching to find out I needed SP1 (which I didn't realize was not there) and consequently all the downloading of it and the flood of updates that followed as you can imagine.

*Mind you what they don't tell you (at least with an Asus) is that you cannot download any drivers for 7 unless you update the BIOS and we all know how scared (well I am ) of doing that. So as long as I have a sticker for 8 mine is a magenta to green (I think) hard to tell in room light as I know the stickers are different for the different version / editions of 8 I am ok. (see pic)

But thanks again for clearing the air I can breath easy now just wished the rules and regs for Windows agreements were not so complex and convoluted

 

[NoelDP]

It should be a Windows 8 Pro sticker to be eligible for the downgrade!

 

[ICIT2LOL]

It should be a Windows 8 Pro sticker to be eligible for the downgrade!

Ok Noel now in hindsight I should have researched this a bit more as I have now (I think) an illegal machine as the 8 sticker is not a dark blue as I think I am right in saying is the colour for the 8 Pro. It is in fact a magenta sort of colour and why on earth Microsoft could not have just had a sticker that says 8 is Pro or not is beyond my (getting) limited comprehension.
Now if I go back to the seller with this information I think I shall be just brushed off with him saying the same old things that the install is legal and get nowhere and frankly I am now so sick of the banter I have had with him over the last three weeks I don't really want to go there it will be a fruitless and futile exercise.

I am not impressed with Microsoft either as they just advised me that it has to have the 7 COA sticker and part the reason I kept up the communication with that seller why didn't they know the rules??

Frankly and in hindsight I should have researched this a but more but like a lot of other buyers seeing the many sites on EBay out here doing the same deal for a nice semi high end machine at a bargain price ($1650) because it is a superseded model thought it was all above board. I actually asked re the sticker from other dealers and they all replied the same as the seller I have been dealing with.

If I had know the rules then I would never have gone near this deal and honestly feel like I have been hung out to dry and don't know which way to turn. In addition to all this nonsense I found to load the 7 drivers for this machine I have to update the BIOS - something that really gives me the jitters to be honest, and again makes my situation a very disappointed and unhappy one.

I do not know what to do next and I would appreciate it if you could say what would you do in my situation please - although you would not have got yourself into such a state in the first place.
I bought this this machine in all honesty and sincerity am very against any form of dishonest dealings plus because I have been with Microsoft products for many years and feel it is only right that one does the right thing and have done so all along.

But if you do not feel you can advise me then please do not think you are being pressured to do so, and I shall have to figure something out myself.
Thanks for the reply
John

 

[NoelDP]

The Win 8 Pro sticker does in fact state Pro - see here....
How to Tell â

(mouse-over the graphics)

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Yep I just saw that as I showed my partner what they look like and well I am done like a dinner as they say and probably have to discard this 7 install put back that ruddy awful 8 and put it down to experience - I just don't know what to do or what I can do about it.

I am just so disappointed

 

[NoelDP]

Win 8.1 is actually reasonably decent - from what little I've seen of it.

 

[ICIT2LOL]

Ok but I have it on two machines already and just find it hard to answer forum 7 queries because you cannot pull up pics of the Control Panel etc to show people stuff. Plus I prefer the GUI even if when the 8 is used with Classic Shell. It just means posting in the forum is that much more difficult and I don't go on the 8 forum much at all just because I am not a fan of the Windows 8 program.

But never mind I shall just have to put up with it on a very slow 1TB spinner as I cannot afford to clone it to a SSD of the same size or I just contact Microsoft and ask what I can do I suppose they might let me carry on with this install given the predicament I am in - one can only hope. I just have to find out who to contact because the phone service one as I said before is not that competent from my other experience.

I am b*****d any way I go it seems, and like I said in hindsight I have myself to blame for not knowing the rules and regs re Windows inside - out before I went ahead and shelled out all that money

I suppose the other alternative would be to sell the machine at a loss and buy something I know is kosher again I don't think I would get a machine of this ones specs for anything like what I paid for this one.

But thanks for your help I do appreciate it.