SIW2, my son has Windows 10, and I don't like the plethora of spyware contained within it, much more than anything else they've released.
AddRAM, if I read correctly, I think the issue is that my BIOS is dated 2007 and W7 didn't come out until 2009 so will always appear as a pirated copy.
This can't be.
You have a COA/SLP on a retail MSI motherboard.
Your bios date is 2007.
Windows 7 didn't come out until 2009.
All COA/SLP must be after Oct. 2009 or it is counterfeit.
Their is no way a major manufacture could of installed Windows 7 in the year of 2007 before Microsoft released Windows 7 in 2009.
Jack
rosa. I think all we are doing is confusing you.
The only option you really have is to buy that OEM version from Newegg & install it. This is the only way you will be able to get a legal Activation Code.
It appears I'm not the only one confused.
The Windows 7 software was not installed when I got the computer, and it wasn't a major manufacturer in any case! I installed the software a few years later when I partitioned the disc and made it a dual boot. I wasn't ready to give up XP, but I wanted 7. I got the software from the same person who built my computer, and as I said previously, he is now deceased. The software worked fine for a very long time. One day I couldn't boot, file corruption, and I didn't have time to mess with it, so I left it for quite a long time. When I finally found time for it, the original disc was not usable.
Okay, so what I read earlier was that I couldn't use an OEM version because of my BIOS. Apparently that's not true, so I will go buy an OEM disc from Newegg. I either misread what someone told me, or whatever, but now that I know I can get an OEM copy and it will work, I'm set.
Thank you all for your help. I'll let you know the results of my next reinstallation, which has to be soon because that hummer is taking up most of my kitchen table.
You can install OEM on most any computer.
You can not use a OEM/SLP activation code on a computer with Retail Motherboard.
That is a problem.
You can not have a 2007 bios on a OEM/SLP activation code.
OEM/SLP code were used by Major Manufactures and they couldn't use the Windows 7 OEM/SLP activation until 2009. The Major Manufactures would not of made a computer in 2009 with 2007 bios.
Just but a legal Microsoft DVD and matching COA key and get on with your life.
Jack
If I can jump in rather belatedly...
Layback Bear is correct in his analysis of the licensing state/problem.
It would appear that rosa was originally provided with a copy of Windows which should have been restricted within a major manufacturer's walls.
A lot of such licenses got on the market either through theft or counterfeiting and were sold as 'surplus stock' - which is simply not possible in the normal way of business (the big OEMs only pay for licenses as they print them - and they are the only ones who 'sell' OEM_COA_SLP licenses, but ALWAYS preinstalled). There was a large operation that I am aware of that sold 'Dell recovery media with Key' until they were closed down.
I suspect also that many of these Keys had been harvested by the so-called Key-checker sites - any Keys which provided the required status were then fed to the counterfeiters who generated fake COA stickers, or simply sold the Key over the internet to unsuspecting punters
The long and short of the lesson is that provenance matters! A copy of Windows bought from Newegg is almost certainly genuine (barring product-switching by employees/customers), while a copy bought from your local fleamarket (or eBay) is very much more likely to be fake.
One survey of software on eBay suggested that possibly 50% of the market was fake! - and further suggested that a lot of such fakes were pre-infested with malware or at least potentially unwanted programs.
The software market is very much a case of Caveat Emptor - Let the Buyer Beware!
Thank you Noel for your in depth explanation. Much better than mine.
Glad to see you back posting again. We do need you here.
Your expertise is need because of all the members moving up to Windows 7 from XP or back to Windows 7 from W-10.
The crooks selling illegal Windows 7 seem to be escalating on the internet. Legal Windows 7 cost at least full retail and at times more. They are getting hard to come by.
P/S:
I like reading your post.
How are your eyes doing?
Jack
OEM-SLP keys are blocked from online activation, on purpose. They only work if you have the custom factory OEM install media with a certificate file matching the info in the SLIC table. Windows 7 OEM factory installs do not activate online, ever. They activate locally against the BIOS SLIC table. If you use a key finder and try to use the OEM-SLP key with stock install media, it will install but fail to activate. That's why OEM Windows 7 PC's have a COA sticker on them with a different product code. That OEM-COA key will activate online when used with stock install media. You have to phone activate the first time you use it but they are legal.
My guess is the original install used a grub boot loader that faked the OEM BIOS SLIC table. Or something similar. Unfortunately, many people buy systems with this setup and never know they were cheated by the shop that set it up. Buyer be ware.
If the original install was an OEM system builders edition, there should have been a COA sticker to go with it. And a keyfinder wouldn't have pulled an OEM-SLP key.
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