Prod key rejection on reinstall after HD failure- home prem family pac

TMac · 03 Oct 2013

I have a Win 7 Family pack Home Premium Upgrade edition. I bought it new and have had exclusive control of it. The 32 bit version is installed on two computers, self built, replacing XP. One of the computers had a HD crash. I first tried a system repair disc and installing a system image. When these did not work I tried to reinstall Win 7 on that HD, but Win 7 would not install on the HD and delivered a message that there was a HD problem. I installed a new SSD but no other equipment changes were made, other that disconnecting the other two HDs for purposes of the reinstall. Windows installed nicely from a flash drive, but is giving a message that the product key is incorrect.
I would appreciate insight on how to proceed. Thanks!

Brink · 03 Oct 2013

Hello TMac, and welcome to Seven Forums.

What's the full error message?

Double check to make sure that you are entering the product key correctly. It's real easy to mistake say a 0 (zero) for an O (letter) etc.....

If it's just failing to activate online, then you might see if it may activate by phone instead.

Hope this helps for now, :)
Shawn

TMac · 03 Oct 2013

Thanks Shawn. No Os or 0s, Bs or 8s, but I will have someone else review. I will post exact error message when I have access to machine to confirm. Any problem that it doesn't detect anything to "upgrade?"

NoelDP · 04 Oct 2013

You cannot clean install using an Upgrade Key (Family packs are Upgrades) - you will need to install using the Default Key, and then upgrade install using the proper Key.

Brink · 04 Oct 2013

Sure you can.

Sorry TMac, I missed the "upgrade" part. You'll need to install it a certain way to be able to activate when clean installing an upgrade.

Clean Install with a Upgrade Windows 7 Version

NoelDP · 04 Oct 2013

(that's what I said :))