Thinkpads Forum

I reinstalled Win 7 HP using the official MS image (downloaded from MS store at Digital River). It allowed me to install after I typed in the key found on the COA sticker, but Windows was unable to activate online. This happens sometimes after I reinstall an OS using the OEM key, so I opted for the activation by phone option thinking it'll be fine just like what I've done successfully in the past. The difference is this time when I read the numbers through, MS's system said activation failed because the license is invalid, and I have purchase another license.

Has anybody run into this problem before? I upgraded the 1G PC2-5300 RAM to 2G PC2-6400, and changed the HDD to an SSD, this change can't be significant enough to trigger a invalid license, can they? Any input would be welcome.

hmmwv wrote:I reinstalled Win 7 HP using the official MS image (downloaded from MS store at Digital River). It allowed me to install after I typed in the key found on the COA sticker, but Windows was unable to activate online. This happens sometimes after I reinstall an OS using the OEM key, so I opted for the activation by phone option thinking it'll be fine just like what I've done successfully in the past. The difference is this time when I read the numbers through, MS's system said activation failed because the license is invalid, and I have purchase another license.

Has anybody run into this problem before? I upgraded the 1G PC2-5300 RAM to 2G PC2-6400, and changed the HDD to an SSD, this change can't be significant enough to trigger a invalid license, can they? Any input would be welcome.

Why you are going to activate online ? You haven't saved the master key and the lenovo cert with ABR, as suggested many times ?

The Solutor wrote:Why you are going to activate online ? You haven't saved the master key and the lenovo cert with ABR, as suggested many times ?

Where what how? Elaborate please.

I guess ABR refers to the "Activation Backup & Restore" tool, available here: http://directedge.us/content/abr-activa ... nd-restore.

If you have a complete backup of your previous system, you will probably still be able to use this tool:
it restores the activation data your OEM system had when it shipped pre-activated by Lenovo.

Since Vista SP1 (IIRC) it's possible to install a system without providing a serial and enter this information and do activation after setup completed - something you can do when setting up Windows 7 as well.

When going through the Windows 7 setup, simply uncheck the box for "automatic activation" and don't enter a serial,
after completion of the setup you should be able to restore serial and activation data with a tool (hopefully the one mentioned above - I am however not familiar with this tool, its description suggests that it might do the job though.)

It turns out to be a fluke on my side, I simply didn't answer Microsoft's automated questions correctly. When online activation failed I was able to call them, after reading those groups of numbers, it asks me how many computers have been installed with this copy of windows, well, I answered zero. The correct answer is one, after I did that I was given the verification code to enter. The whole process takes about five minutes, but next time I'll try use ABR as that's probably a safer option.

hmmwv wrote: The whole process takes about five minutes, but next time I'll try use ABR as that's probably a safer option.

It's way more handy, because you don't have to activate every time you reinstall the OS. No matter if 32 or 64 bit.

BTW ABR is useless if you starts with an online activated installation... you have nothing to backup, the key is the one on the sticker and the lenovo cert is missing. But given that the cert is unique for every major OEM and the key lenovo masterkey is the same for every win7 pro, you can ask for the two involved files to any lenovo user (not only the x100 users) with the same version of win 7 preinstalled.

I still have the original HDD untouched, I can put it back in the x100e and boot up to the original factory image. Is it still possible to get ABR working at this point, for future OS reinstalls on this computer? Can you point me to a tutorial that details this process?

hmmwv wrote:I still have the original HDD untouched, I can put it back in the x100e and boot up to the original factory image. Is it still possible to get ABR working at this point, for future OS reinstalls on this computer? Can you point me to a tutorial that details this process?

Sorry, I' missed you reply.

Yes you can put your old HDD back, then click on abr backup, then copy abr restore, and the two saved files in a safe place.

When you reinstall win7, leave the key field blank, then just click on abr restore.