Several months ago, I gave a computer running Win 7 to a troubled friend. I have reason to believe she pawned it and lost it, but cannot get in touch with her to verify this. If I am correct, and if the pawn shop wiped the drive prior to reselling it (as I would imagine they did), then I could sell that copy of Windows or use it on another machine.
Is there any way to determine whether my product key is currently in use on another machine?
If the w7 was installed on the PC at the factory, ex. Dell, eMachines, etc, the key can't be used on another machine in any condition.
I doubt if a pawn shop would go to the trouble of wiping a drive, they don't really care, unless law requires it in some states.
I can't find a way to check to see if the key is in use. One way would be to install and enter the key after installing to see if it will activate.
The only way it may be possible to find out if a Key is in use is if you ring the Activation Centre, and ask them when the last activation was either attempted, or succeeded. They may or may not tell you. If they do, then it's worth asking if they also have a record of validations (I know they log activations - but I'm not at all sure about validations).
Thanks to all.
Quote