Windows activation error, error code 0xC004E003

(boilerplate response)
You need to claim an immediate refund from the vendor - do NOT accept the offer of a new key (all they are trying to do is to get past the 45-day claims window or avoid you sending the evidence of their crimes to the authorities)

Please read the following posts.... .................................

http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/genuinewindows7/thread/a2444f34-0aff-4f29-a8ac-67e28b0c0285

and

http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/genuinewindows7/thread/309bb621-92d5-43d6-98c1-2bb51b35607f

The pirates have got VERY good at this over the past few years, as the price of equipment for manufacturing the packages drops, and as factories open in less well-policed countries.

see also this post....

http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/genuinewindows7/thread/46a58748-5a64-41ff-b7f4-f6d3b47beca9


Also - have a look at this video....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hzqNNiOM0cs

You may be able to get a complimentary copy of the OS from Microsoft - fill in the Counterfeit report here...
http://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/howtotell/default.aspx

NO - this error occurs mostly because someone got conned

Which is odd, since the Validation Code: 0 means it's genuine...

According to this:
Microsoft Genuine Advantage Diagnostic Tool/Validation Code - Microsoft Wiki

TimHouston said:

Everyone seems to ignore the post "I should also probably mention that I don't have the sticker anymore (and never had one in the first place) since I bought this copy online. What I did was to retrieve the serial number with a program called WinKeyFinder 1.75 before formatting. Could it be that the serial number it indicated isn't the correct one?"
I am not familiar with WinKeyFinder in particular, but generally these key finder programs work by extracting the key it finds in the Windows registry. However, that key isn't guaranteed to be the same as the one Windows was activated with - although it usually is. So it very well could be "the serial number it indicated isn't the correct one" rather than malfeasance on the part of the Windows software vendor.

Well, your new copy of Windows should've come with a sticker... as I will show later in my post...

I use FinalWire AIDA64 myself to keep track of my keys to copy them into a Notepad document as backup.

My OEM System Builder copy (Bought from Amazon - Product Page) has the sticker still on it, I didn't put it my case, just in case I get a new case, but it still came with a CoA sticker.

The key that was originally used should be the key that came with the copy of Windows you purchased, just as mine did.