Windows 7 not genuine. Cannot get MS help.

paulkruger · 18 Jan 2018

Right now I could spit so mad at MS. The error "Build 7601 Windows not genuine" appeared yesterday. The first thing I did was the online form but it said my key was not valid....after over a hear activated??

I called MS. At first I got support who remoted to my desktop and successfully set a new key, but the error still would not go away so they downloaded a new ISO file and left me with a phone number and case number and told me to call back. ( At first they said would only take ten minutes to fix problem until they couldn't ) and I had to leave for apt.

I've been back two hours now and still cannot get to a single person. Well once but they tried to transfer me and disconnected me TWICE after waiting just to get that far. They said they'd call me back if we got disconnected....and the check is in the mail...

I've now had to start all over again and have been listening to elevator music for over half hour and not even gotten to any one to give my case number to.

Does anyone know what to do to fix this myself using the new ISO they downloaded to my pc? I cannot rely on MS to be there when you need them?

Does anyone have a better number to call MS or do they just not want to talk to their customers.

( Damn only one necessary program keeps me away from Linux ! )

torchwood · 18 Jan 2018

Hi Paul,

run this tool copy paste the output
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=52012

lets seewhats going on

Roy

paulkruger · 18 Jan 2018

UPDATE. Decided to take a nap before I exploded trying to deal with MS. Decided to try one more thing...clicked the activation link that never worked before and VOILA it activated and said it was registered. Now why did MS feed me a line of BS saying they had to download a new iso file and repair my computer by remote access but did not bother to ask me to try the automatic activation again after they changed the product key?

Last time I will trust them and spend hours trying to find a live person.

Since just by fool luck and desperation I fixed this with no help from MS I'm not going to mess with this any more.

Sad when response from a "non-official" forum is better than from MS themselves.

Sad state of customer support.

torchwood · 18 Jan 2018

Good news then.

if it changes, run that tool post the results

Roy

mrjimphelps · 19 Jan 2018

paulkruger said:

only one necessary program keeps me away from Linux !

You could install Linux Mint, then install VMWare Workstation Player, then set up a virtual machine with Windows 7 as the guest system.

By doing this, you will be able to have Linux Mint as your normal OS, and Windows 7 will be just a click away.

Then after you finish whatever you needed to do in Windows 7, you can make Windows 7 go away simply by closing the VM.

I particularly like the fact that Windows is now the step-child rather than the host OS.