When windows 7 was just out i bought a windows 7 prof key for my new asus eee pc to replace the windows xp that was on it. At that time i was still running vista on my regular pc.
About a month ago my laptop got stolen, with ofcourse windows 7 still on there. Now after contacting microsoft support they told me that i could just use the key again on a new pc without any issues. Sadly now that i've finally installed windows 7 on my regular pc it's giving me an error (code 0xC004C008). Now i'm slightly confused, on their support website they said something about it being a different version, but the only thing that changed was a new computer and from 32 bit to a 64 bit installation. I thought that these keys were not bound to that type of architecture.
Now what i'm wondering is, i've been reading through the support sites of windows for about an hour now and have not been able to find a solution other then buy a new key.
Is there anything i can do activate my new install? Or do i really have to completely buy a new key...
Hello Elightos,
Your best bet is a clean new installation to avoid any problems. Regrettably, you will have to re-install most of your programs.
Backup all of your data to an external hard drive or flash drive.
Install clean installation of Windows 7 and then keep the Windows 7 Product key. You can activate it via Phone Activation system and at the same time, the copy on the so called "old computer" *your old windows system is deactivated.
Phone Activation system
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1. Click the Start button, type "SLUI.EXE 4" (without the quotation marks) in the search box, and press "Enter".
2. Select the neatest location, and click "Next".
3. Please click "Continue" when the User Account Control dialog-box appears.
4. The Windows Activation will generate a toll-free phone number. And the installation ID will be displayed in the following format:
xxxxxx – xxxxxx – xxxxxx – xxxxxx – xxxxxx – xxxxxx – xxxxxx – xxxxxx – xxxxxx
5. Call the number to activate Windows 7.
Let me know how it goes!
John M.
Microsoft Windows Client Team
Windows Client | Deploy, Manage, Desktop, 7, Vista, XP | TechNet