Win 7 Genuine Message after Removing Vista Dual Boot

Based on NoelDP's guess, I followed the steps in this article. How To Fix Boot/BCD 0xc000000f Error Windows 7 | Think Like A Computer

Unfortunately that did not solve anything as I am still at the 'not genuine' desktop.

This sounds like a non-geniune lockout caused by a drive letter change in registry. I happens sometimes during reimaging or repartitioning.

Use FREE Rescue Kit Express | PARAGON Software Group

Boot the Paragon CD - select Normal Mode , then Boot Corrector.

Correct drive letters in the system registry.



Release the incorrect letter first, if necesssary.

If this fails you might be able to insert your Product Key from the System Recovery Options Command Line: SLMgr Commands and Options

If this fails you'll need to boot the Windows 7 installer to Clean Reinstall - Factory OEM Windows 7 after rescuiing your files using the Paragon disk.

Incidentally this will not normally happen if the bootmgr is moved first by Marking Win7 Partition Active to run Startup Repair - Run 3 Separate Times and then Recover Partition Space Used by an Older OS. At most you might have to do a simple Startup Repair after resizing on the boot sector.

Thanks gregrocker.

I'll have to give this a try.

A related question. There are 3 partitions on the hard drive.
1 - Dell OEM Recover
2 - System (?)
3 - Win 7

Which should be marked as active? 2, 3, or both?

Thanks

I must be an idiot.

I downloaded the paragon software and burned it to a CD.

However the computer will not boot from the CD.

Was I supposed to do something else?

Did you use Windows Image Burner? It should be on the context menu when you right click the ISO.

Then reboot the PC and tap the Dell F12 Key to access BOot Menu, choose CD drive to boot.

To test the CD try booting it in another PC.

I expected an iso file.

However the link on the Paragon site had me download a file named rk_free.exe.

Rightclick the .exe to run as Admin and it should burn ISO to disk for you.

I've never heard of it not booting. Do you have good CD's? Are you selecting CD drive from BIOS Boot menu key? Does it prompt to "Press Any key...?"

Try booting it in another PC.

OK - Paragon Rescue CD solved the problem. The issue was that the re-partitioning assigned the Win 7 partition to the E drive. After changing the drive letter to C, the machine booted as normal. Thanks to gregrocker and everyone else that gave suggestions.

Glad to hear it. We once got that issue regularly but I haven't seen it for months so wondered if it was curtailed by a performance Update. We'll have to keep the link handy.