Windows 7 Legitimizing Windows 7 Ultimate

[Rand]

I have a Viao Laptop with a Windows 7 Ultimate illegitimate copy, thanks to a "generous Tech Support Guy", (sheesh). Ok, so I went to Microsoft and bought a Windows 7 Ultimate key (lesser versions indicated that I would have to do a full install) and am trying to follow the instructions to enter the key. The weird thing is that on the System page there is no where to put the activation key! No product number or anything...

Whatcha think?

Thanks

 

[Mitchell_A]

Hello and welcome to Windows7Forums.com

In any event, unless all the activation mechanisms have been removed (in which case, reinstalling Windows 7 would be the easiest solution), you should be able to activate Windows using the following method.

Open CMD as an administrator and type "slmgr.vbs -ipk <product key here>" (without quotes and <>).
Once you've done that, the new product key is ready to be activated which can be done by typing "slmgr.vbs -ato"

If this doesn't work, if you have the disc you can boot from the disc and select "Repair PC", followed by clicking CMD (or something like that), which will open the CMD console where you can then type the following commands, one after another.

bootsect.exe /nt60 all
bootrec /fixmbr
bootrec /fixbootbootrec /rebuildbcd

That should rewrite the entire BCD, removing any bootloader cracks previously applied.

I hope this has helped

​

 

[Rand]

Thanks for the advice. Ended up tracking down the Tech and getting a Windows 7 disk to do a new install using my legitimate key. worked like a charm, now just have to actualize all the software....