Activation issue using Upgrade software on new HDD

hicisred said:

Hello,

Recently I upgraded my PC's MOBO and hdd (replaced it with an SSD). On my old hard drive, I had W7 Pro (an upgrade version, purchased from Digital River, from my previous version of Windows XP).

Now my W7 Pro won't activate. I do not have access to my Windows XP disc that I originally purchased five or so years ago. I do, however, have the OEM product key for it (I taped it to the side of my tower). Is there a method I can use to incorporate proof of owning a previous Windows version (such as my XP product key) to allow the W7 Pro activation to work?

Or must I purchase a copy of Home and then use my W7 Pro upgrade?

Thanks for any help you may offer.

You say "Now my W7 Pro won't activate." == Do you mean it won't boot or it boots fine, but you just can't get the activation key installed? If it boots, do you have the key that came with the W7 Pro upgrade when you purchased it?

hicisred said:

bigmck said:

You say "Now my W7 Pro won't activate." == Do you mean it won't boot or it boots fine, but you just can't get the activation key installed? If it boots, do you have the key that came with the W7 Pro upgrade when you purchased it?

Oh sorry, I was using the "now" in reference to my W7 Pro Upgrade activation working earlier on my previous install.

It boots fine. Only problems I've had are inability to install a lot of W7 Updates. My upgrade activation key doesn't work, I get the classic message of: "You cannot use an upgrade key for a full version of W7 Pro." Or something along those lines.

I'm just saying that I do not have my Windows XP CD anymore, so I can't install that on my computer, and then install W7 Pro upgrade. I do, however, have the OEM CD key for Windows XP. Hoping for a way to bypass this problem.

Thanks for the reply and I hope I clarified my post (I typed it up really quickly before work). Thanks again.

Are you using the key that came with the Win 7 upgrade and you also installed the Win 7 upgrade, correct? If you put that in, it should work. It might have a window pop up that tells you to call for activation and gives you a phone number. This is no big deal. It is a recording and it asks a few questions. Are you seeing a phone number to call? == Write down the exact wording of the message that pops up and post it.

Using this tutorial should solve your problem. Give it a read and see what happens.
Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version

This is a perfectly legal way to do this, so there should not be a problem. Post back and let us know. == Option 3 discusses the Error Code that you got.

hicisred said:

Option 3 worked. My first activation attempt after restart failed. Then I re-did it and it worked...

An error-filled pre-activation will worry me, but I hope there aren't any ramifications.

Thanks for the link and the responses. W7 Pro was successfully installed and was genuine and all that fun stuff.

Hoping now my Windows Updates will work.

Good deal. Glad to hear it. If you have any other issues, just post again.