Why is this install valid?

paul1149 · 12 Feb 2014

I'm baffled by this. I have a Win7 netbook that didn't have a hard drive. So I put one in and cloned over a working OEM SLP install from a similar model netbook. I then was going to input the new unit's COA.

I'm running into problem reading the coa accurately though, or at least MS tells me so. But the strange thing is that the cloned install validates. I don't want to have a system that's valid today but not tomorrow. Nor do I want to jeopardize the validity of the system I took the clone from.

Why is the cloned system valid? Thanks.

whs · 12 Feb 2014

It is probably valid for 30 days. Then it may drop dead.

paul1149 · 12 Feb 2014

In that case, wouldn't there be a time counter on the System Properties sheet? There wasn't. This scares me because I've had validations drop dead.

Meanwhile I was able to figure out the correct coa and validate it successfully. But this situation puzzles me.

Ranger4 · 12 Feb 2014

A clone in an exact copy of a hard drive, so if the original drive was installed from a retail copy of Win 7 the activation code would probably not react to a hardware change. A clone would have the activation code already activated.
I have copied cloned Win 7 OS from one hard drive to a new hard drive & not had an activation request.

paul1149 · 12 Feb 2014

It's an OEM SLP install from a different machine.

Kaktussoft · 12 Feb 2014

Ranger4 said:

A clone in an exact copy of a hard drive, so if the original drive was installed from a retail copy of Win 7 the activation code would probably not react to a hardware change. A clone would have the activation code already activated.
I have copied cloned Win 7 OS from one hard drive to a new hard drive & not had an activation request.

A hard drive clone is not a problem at all! It's the mainboard swap that causes you to reactivate.

Ranger4 · 12 Feb 2014

Perhaps as whs said it may have crashed in 30 days, but it does seem that all was well at the time, so I can't add anything further that might explain it.

NoelDP · 13 Feb 2014

To properly analyse and solve problems with Activation and Validation, we need to see a full copy of the report produced by the MGADiag tool
(download and save to desktop - http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=52012 )
Once saved, run the tool.
Click on the Continue button, which will produce the report.
To copy the report to your response, click on the Copy button in the tool (ignore any error messages at this point), and then paste (using either r-click/Paste, or Ctrl+V ) into your response.
- **in your own thread**, please

Please also state the Version and Edition of Windows quoted on your COA sticker (if you have one) on the case of THAT machine (or inside the battery compartment), but do NOT quote the Key on the sticker!
How to Tell ? Hardware

paul1149 · 13 Feb 2014

I did run that tool, but didn't save the output. On the Windows tab it didn't give an activation status. On the last tab it did say it was licensed. It said oem and slp. It would be too late to benefit from the tool now that it's validated, right?

jumanji · 13 Feb 2014

All netbooks by the same royalty manufacturer with the same Windows 7 edition will have the same OEM-SLP Key and digitally signed MS certificate, with a corresponding SLIC table in the BIOS.

So if you had cloned from a same model netbook of the same manufacturer with the same Windows 7 edition, your system will autoactivate and should hold. In fact that is what the OEM does in the factory.