Window OEM Licence

[HackedFridgeMagnet]

My sons school laptop has started giving him messages that windows 8 is not activated. Annoying to the point he cant use it effectively.

It is an Acer, still in warranty with an OEM licence.  The error code it gives is 0x8007007b.

So we tried to Activate it using legal techniques googled off the web, such as factory reset, key finding tools such as belarc, and also contacted Microsoft who referred us to Acer after 2 hours of phone calls.
With Acer so far no joy but still looking into it, they want proof of purchase even though they gave us $75 dollars cash back previously.

Any way the options are:
send it to an Acer service Rep. Which could be a pain as they probably want us to pay postage.
find some other way to Activate it. I am not morally fussed by Microsoft licensing. The way I see it is I have too licences unused I should be able to use at least one of them. I am probably legally wrong here, but who can seriously be bothered reading Microsoft EULAs and licences.
find a way to minimize the Activation Messages.
Put a different hard drive in the Acer, this one has an OEM Windows 7 installed (was from a DELL). Is this worth a try or will it have activation trouble too?
Buy another licence Windows 8 student, I think it is $70.

ps. I think I will try not to get OEM licences in future. What a waste of time they are. Is this realistic for laptops?

Anyone got suggestions for the quickest cheapest road home.

[retiredcaps]

I don't have any computers running windows 8 and don't follow all the problems with it, but I suggest running the free version of malwarebytes first and see what it finds.

https://www.malwarebytes.org/mwb-download/

[TheEnd]

True, it might be some malware looking for money.

There's two license keys with every new PC or laptop, a volume license key which would have been for hundreds of Acers all at the same time, and the restore / back up key which is on the sticker on the bottom.

I'm fairly sure you don't get long after it is installed before it has to be "activated", so that should have been done months ago, it's unlikely to spring up out of the blue.

[Macbeth]

If you have exhausted all legal options, which it appears you have, then look up an interesting community known as My Digital Life Forums

In particular, find out how to modify your BIOS SLIC table and then install the Windows * Ultimate edition of your choice. 

I'm a legitimate TechNet subscriber, but even so I have to resort to BIOS mods and stuff now and then just to cope with Windows protection.

[Stonent]

If he's a student, see if the school participates in Microsoft Dreamspark.  With that I got a free Windows 8.1 pro license key and I used the "anytime upgrade" utility on my Toshiba laptop to "upgrade" to 8.1 pro just by entering the activation key.

The other option is open an administrator command prompt and type
slmgr /rearm

That will extend your activation for a few months while you work on getting it resolved.

[IanB]

OEM Windows versions will only activate with the specific OEM license key provided by the hardware manufacturer (Acer in this case). They will not activate with other retail Windows keys that you may own.

There should be a Windows hologram sticker on the case with the correct license key. Windows should activate with that key. If you call the Microsoft activation phone number, they should be able to look up the key immediately and tell you if it is a genuine key, or if that key has already been used to activate another machine.

If you have an OEM copy of Windows then normally as soon as you set up the machine and connect to the internet it will prompt you to register and activate Windows. This would happen as soon as you switch the machine on and go through the setup screens. Can you say how this process was somehow bypassed in your case? It may give some clue to what is happening.

[IanB]

So we tried to Activate it using legal techniques googled off the web, such as factory reset, key finding tools such as belarc...

Wow, I'm confused. This is completely over thinking things. Have you really lost the case sticker with the Windows key? (usually attached to the bottom of the laptop)

[wraper]

You either need to install from manufacturer specific DVD and then it won't need activation at all. However you likely will have a tough luck getting it. Here is half legal way, download from torrent site OEM version image file of the same windows edition plain/pro, whatever you have licence key sticker for, burn the DVD/make bootable flash and install using your key. Then activate online. Although you obtain image in dubious way, your installation will be completely legal. If laptop do not have licence sticker, then you did not have OEM windows licence in the first place (pirated install?).

[miguelvp]

If you have a valid license Microsoft will let you download the iso. No need for a torrent version.

[IanB]

If you have a valid license Microsoft will let you download the iso. No need for a torrent version.

This might be tricky with an OEM version. If you have an OEM license key you need the vendor-specific ISO and not a retail version.

[Macbeth]

If you have a valid license Microsoft will let you download the iso. No need for a torrent version.

This might be tricky with an OEM version. If you have an OEM license key you need the vendor-specific ISO and not a retail version.

Direct links to OEM versions of Windows are provided by Microsoft through Akamai's services, and are legitimately available. Just check the My Digital Life Forum links and you will soon find them. One thing nobody wants when installing an OS is a trolled hacked keylogged version from some kind of bittorrent link. Always get the original from a legitimate source! 

Also, it doesn't appear to matter what vendor provided certificate is used when using SLIC. There are plenty to choose from.

[westfw]

Have you really lost the case sticker with the Windows key?

Windows 8 doesn't have those any more.  :-(  Instead, the key is supposed to be buried in the BIOS settings somewhere.

I had a very similar problem with a Toshiba.  Eventually solved by being very insistent with their customer support until they gave me a new key.   There was some question whether the laptop had had the key munged by Best Buy (the particular model normally ships with W8, but mine arrived with W8.1), although we never did figure out exactly what had gone wrong.  :-(

You can see the log here: http://forums.toshiba.com/t5/System-Recovery-and-Recovery/Recovery-problems-on-E45t/m-p/612033

IMO, Acer should not need proof-of-purchase.  It's a system that was supposed to ship with windows, so it should still have windows.  The licenses are NOT movable anymore :-(

[ConKbot]

Cant do it legally? time to just make it work then.  I hate companies that just throw customers under the bus.

I wanted install mathematica that I had purchased ~2 years ago, and I had updated my main computer since then.   Tried to activate with the key that I purchased, and got an error because that key had been used before, on a machine that had been formatted and parted out.  Their help thing said I'd have to wait for someone to get back to me via email. Long story short, no one ever emailed me, and I found a keygen online within 5 minutes    Guess who's software I'd be not so inclined buy in a professional setting, ever now. 

[justanothercanuck]

I thought Windows 8 did away with the OEM/Retail divide?

[echen1024]

Open a CMD windows as admin

Code: [Select]

slmgr -ipk {product key}
slmgr -ato


[HackedFridgeMagnet]

Thanks for all the input.
My son will get onto it soon. I will give him the list of ideas.
We will try to keep it as legit as possible, just to keep it as easy as possible, but  I want him to do the sorting out, he is 13 and he may as well sort it out if he can.
I have the Acer contact address too I will email them as a next step toward their particular resolution. 

Wow, I'm confused. This is completely over thinking things. Have you really lost the case sticker with the Windows key? (usually attached to the bottom of the laptop)

Windows 8 doesn't have those any more.  :-(  Instead, the key is supposed to be buried in the BIOS settings somewhere.

Yes a windows 8 sticker but no key. I wish those days were back.

slmgr -ipk {product key}
slmgr -ato

Same error 0x8007007b "The filename, directory name or volume lable syntax is incorrect (SWbemObjectEx)"

As to why it wasn't activated, my son said "it used to be, at least it never told me it wasn't".
I seem to remember taking as many shortcuts as possible with it's activation, so maybe it was never activated and Microsoft was just beefing up it's reminders.

slmgr /rearm

Completely sucessfully. Now it's doing windows update....
It says it still needs activation.

[IanB]

I'm not familiar with Windows 8, so apparently things have changed since Windows 7.

On my Windows 7 machine, when I go to Control Panel > System and Security > System (the computer properties screen), it lists the following details at the foot of the screen:

Windows activation-------
    Windows is activated
    Product ID: XXXXX-OEM-XXXXXXX-XXXXX

What does it show there for Windows 8?

Presumably for activation to be failing, either the product key is missing or is invalid somehow?

[justanothercanuck]

I did some googling, I think what you want is the Windows 8 System Builders Edition DVD.  It looks like it probes the key from the BIOS when it installs. (Similar to what OEM used to do on previous versions)

[HackedFridgeMagnet]

I was able to recover product ID and original (MB/Bios?) "CD Key" using https://www.magicaljellybean.com/
It's my understanding that the "product key" found in the registry is not the one that Microsoft uses to activate OEM Windows 8.

That one is buried in the UEFI (motherboard) and is not accessible to key finders.
-Jerry

Quoted from westfw's thread, Magical Jelly Bean is where I got my so called key from. I also tried produkey, but haven't tried get_win8key.

Presumably for activation to be failing, either the product key is missing or is invalid somehow?

The thing is that I have a licence, it is some sort of OEM Acer group licence.
I have a product key which I can retrieve, whether it is from the registry or the UEFI I dont know, but according to the above post this key may be false.
I talked to a guy at Acer he said it may have to come in to get fixed.

This site has some ideas.
http://www.nextofwindows.com/how-to-retrieve-windows-8-oem-product-key-from-bios/

[Zero999]

My sons school laptop has started giving him messages that windows 8 is not activated. Annoying to the point he cant use it effectively.

It is an Acer, still in warranty with an OEM licence.  The error code it gives is 0x8007007b.

So we tried to Activate it using legal techniques googled off the web, such as factory reset, key finding tools such as belarc, and also contacted Microsoft who referred us to Acer after 2 hours of phone calls.
With Acer so far no joy but still looking into it, they want proof of purchase even though they gave us $75 dollars cash back previously.

Any way the options are:
send it to an Acer service Rep. Which could be a pain as they probably want us to pay postage.
find some other way to Activate it. I am not morally fussed by Microsoft licensing. The way I see it is I have too licences unused I should be able to use at least one of them. I am probably legally wrong here, but who can seriously be bothered reading Microsoft EULAs and licences.
find a way to minimize the Activation Messages.
Put a different hard drive in the Acer, this one has an OEM Windows 7 installed (was from a DELL). Is this worth a try or will it have activation trouble too?
Buy another licence Windows 8 student, I think it is $70.

ps. I think I will try not to get OEM licences in future. What a waste of time they are. Is this realistic for laptops?

Anyone got suggestions for the quickest cheapest road home.

I wouldn't bother with any of this.

Is it still under warranty or not far past the warranty?

If so. Back up all of your files. If you can't get into Windows, boot from a live Linux USB/DVD and save them to removable media.

Send it back, asking them to either fix it, give you a new one or refund you. They should also pay the cost of the postage, both ways.  It's their problem. Don't mess around with Microsoft or trying to fix it yourself. The vendor should fix it for you.

[rr100]

ps. I think I will try not to get OEM licences in future. What a waste of time they are. Is this realistic for laptops?

Usually not, very rarely you have the choice to buy the very same laptop with and without windows. Unless you buy a Mac or something similar (OLPC, etc).

[tggzzz]

OEM Windows versions will only activate with the specific OEM license key provided by the hardware manufacturer (Acer in this case). They will not activate with other retail Windows keys that you may own.

There should be a Windows hologram sticker on the case with the correct license key. Windows should activate with that key. If you call the Microsoft activation phone number, they should be able to look up the key immediately and tell you if it is a genuine key, or if that key has already been used to activate another machine.

If you have an OEM copy of Windows then normally as soon as you set up the machine and connect to the internet it will prompt you to register and activate Windows. This would happen as soon as you switch the machine on and go through the setup screens. Can you say how this process was somehow bypassed in your case? It may give some clue to what is happening.

A few years ago the disk on this Samsung netbook died (when out of warranty). I bought an identically sized disk, inserted it, and loaded WinXP from a completely legitimate CD, and used the WinXP product code on the bottom of this laptop. Installation was successful, but...

First boot dumped me in an unfamiliar Microsoft dosbox-like window which said, effectively, "shan't; not going to boot".

Samsung said it is a Microsoft problem; talk to Microsoft (quite reasonably since it was a MS message).
Microsoft said it is a Samsung  problem; talk to Samsung.
Samsung would only sell me a third disk with XP preinstalled, cost disk+WinXP licence.

Microsoft didn't give a flying <expletive deleted> that I had already bought WinXP for this machine.

Consequently this machine now runs Xubuntu only, and I have no intention whatsoever of upgrading my main computer from XP to Win8 ( I might have done to Win7, but MS shot themselves in the foot with that one too!).

Microsoft is now in the same position that IBM was in in the early 80s: back then nobody cared about IBM because micros and workstations were clearly going to eat IBM's market.

[Carrington]

Try to search on google this: RWEverything bios key windows.

[eurofox]

I got a similar problem with my Asus.

I replaced the hard disk and activation was of course gone but since I paid for the original OEM license I simply refused to buy a new license.

I finally was able to recover the Key in the BIOS with a tool and activating this way.

I confirm that the Key was really available in the Bios, I don't no if all suppliers are using this but it is not easy to find.

[tggzzz]

Try to search on google this: RWEverything bios key windows.

I'm not sure what you're replying to, but it looks like that is only relevant if you don't know your Win8 magic key. I did know the magic WinXP key, and MS refused to accept it. (Yup, MS is horribly accurate pun in my case!)