R
resevil239
Probably the millionth time someone has had this problem and its still a mess so here we go lol
Title sums it up. My understanding was I had a digital activation key. I found the guides for this kind of reactivation and thought I did everything I was supposed to do but ran into issues when reactivating after installing a new mobo (among other parts). The system was telling me the activation was already used on the old hardware and I couldnt find any way to remove that activation. In hindsight I gather that I was supposed to somehow remove the activation while still using the old hardware, before the actual upgrade, but I didnt realize that. Instead I removed the old hardware from the account which apparently just de-links it (I assumed it would free up the license, similar to how Malware bytes Pro works. because that would be the most easy and intuitive approach to this issue...but I guess thats too easy for ms).
So now I'm stuck. I tired calling support in the late spring and they were impossible to get through. I got a support ticket eventually and was supposed to get a call back but got emails saying it was closed when they never followed up. I tried calling tonight and got a guy who made me click through their trouble shooter which naturally doesnt work, then told me I had to have a windows 7 product key, proof of purchase, or I was sol.
Unfortunately I have no idea where said key was. thought I had it written down digitally somewhere but I cant find it now. Pretty sure I didnt have it back in the spring either, but cant remember what conversations I had with support back then so I have no idea if I had it or just called a different number or what because my understanding was that they could see that you used to have the activation linked and thus that you didnt need the key anymore so no idea why I got further back then than now.
So do I have any options beyond ignoring activation indefinitely or blowing money on another key? Is there a different tech support I could call that would be able to actually look at my MS account, or can they not actually see any of that history? I've found keys online for far more reasonable prices than direct so I guess I have decent options if MS ever changes how unactivated installations work, but I'd rather not have to worry about that.
PS sorry for the long post. I'm a little irritated that this process is so unnecessarily cumbersome.
Continue reading...
Title sums it up. My understanding was I had a digital activation key. I found the guides for this kind of reactivation and thought I did everything I was supposed to do but ran into issues when reactivating after installing a new mobo (among other parts). The system was telling me the activation was already used on the old hardware and I couldnt find any way to remove that activation. In hindsight I gather that I was supposed to somehow remove the activation while still using the old hardware, before the actual upgrade, but I didnt realize that. Instead I removed the old hardware from the account which apparently just de-links it (I assumed it would free up the license, similar to how Malware bytes Pro works. because that would be the most easy and intuitive approach to this issue...but I guess thats too easy for ms).
So now I'm stuck. I tired calling support in the late spring and they were impossible to get through. I got a support ticket eventually and was supposed to get a call back but got emails saying it was closed when they never followed up. I tried calling tonight and got a guy who made me click through their trouble shooter which naturally doesnt work, then told me I had to have a windows 7 product key, proof of purchase, or I was sol.
Unfortunately I have no idea where said key was. thought I had it written down digitally somewhere but I cant find it now. Pretty sure I didnt have it back in the spring either, but cant remember what conversations I had with support back then so I have no idea if I had it or just called a different number or what because my understanding was that they could see that you used to have the activation linked and thus that you didnt need the key anymore so no idea why I got further back then than now.
So do I have any options beyond ignoring activation indefinitely or blowing money on another key? Is there a different tech support I could call that would be able to actually look at my MS account, or can they not actually see any of that history? I've found keys online for far more reasonable prices than direct so I guess I have decent options if MS ever changes how unactivated installations work, but I'd rather not have to worry about that.
PS sorry for the long post. I'm a little irritated that this process is so unnecessarily cumbersome.
Continue reading...