6 replies to this topic

[hedley93]

Yes, 6 months after install and activation I got a message saying this copy of windows is not genuine. When I contacted MS and gave them my product key, they told me the software was indeed counterfeit. The place I bought it off is no longer in business, so according to MS my only choice is to buy genuine windows from MS themselves, or buy it elsewhere. A couple of questions before I do the drastic thing and format my hard drive for the new software, if I could. Can I back up my windows live mail on another hard drive/flash drive/dvd and restore it after installing the new OS? I used windows easy transfer to put my outlook express emails into windows 7. You can guess how many emails I have got in the last 6 months, plus the ones I already had in xp, that I need to keep and to save them all seperately would take forever and then some. I have the data I put into windows easy transfer at the time. Can I use that again to install what's in it once I install the new OS? I have all my documents, programme setup files, music, pictures etc all on different drives. I really have nothing on C:drive except windows. To reinstall my programme files I only need to use the files in my D: drive to install them into the C: drive again. I don't need to download them again or reinstall from discs. Having installed windows 7 with xp still on the hard drive, any settings I had were obviously kept, which won't be case this time as I deleted xp when I found windows 7 was working ok!!!. (don't laugh so loud). So hoping it won't be too hard to find updated drivers needed for windows 7. Or is it possible to back up the drivers on my pc as it is and reinstall them from a disc/other hard drive? If so, where do I find the drivers folder? Sorry this is so long winded, but I thought I'd better explain my perdicament as well as I could. Thank you so much for reading this and also in advance for any help offered. hedley

[Ztruker]

I believe you can just change the product key and not do a reinstall: Windows 7 Not Genuine, but I bought a new Key...

[hedley93]

Thanks for the reply. The MS person gave me a website where I could buy windows & a product key for £139. When I went to the site all was offered was windows ultimate at £229, with or without a backup disc. I had already been on with MS twice and was getting nowhere. I was so disgusted and disheartened by what has happened that I have bought a new windows ultimate disc - not on the internet! What I would like to know now is can I use DBAN to completely erase my hard drive and then install windows on the same drive again, or will DBAN render my hard drive completely unusable. I thought of using this as I read formatting does not always erase all data and I don't want to have remnants of a counterfeit copy of windows on my pc. Thanks again for the help. hedley

[Doug]

Yes, you can use DBAN, but the windows format offered during fresh installation should be sufficient.

[Ztruker]

See this tutorial by Brink (Shawn) on sevenforums.com: How to Do a Clean Installation with Windows 7.

No need to use DBAN unless it's something you feel you really want to do.

[hedley93]

Thanks for the reply. Sorry not to have replied before now. I have reinstalled windows ultimate following the tutorial on the link you gave me. Thankyou. Just got to sort out my WLM now. Seemingly it can't be installed, but as this is a different subject I thought I'd better put it on as another post. Thanks again for the help, much appreciated, as always. hedley

[appleoddity]

For future reference you can just do an anytime upgrade and keep all your software in place even when the OS you purchased is not the same version as the OS you were using.