• 0

Windows Vista Product Key Rubbed Off


Question

So a family members laptop has had malware lurking on it (fake anti-virus bs), and I've attempted removing it previously but it kept coming back every other week. Trying to delete it from the registry and using numerous different types of anti-malware with the same out come of it returning. Well I finally had enough and being an idiot I formatted the laptop, knowing there was a product key on the base from purchase. Well after the format and during the install process of Vista, the damn product key on the bottom is half rubbed off.

So I'm asking if anyone has been in the same situation as myself, obviously the logical thing to do is call Microsoft, but thought I would ask here first for some advice. Believe it or not, it's only 4 letters which have been rubbed off, and I've tried nearly ever letter / number that it looks like.

Do you think Microsoft could help me out? Or will they just charge me for another, which I won't pay for (would rather buy 7) and I'll just end up cracking the damn thing.

17 answers to this question

Recommended Posts

  • 0

So a family members laptop has had malware lurking on it (fake anti-virus bs), and I've attempted removing it previously but it kept coming back every other week. Trying to delete it from the registry and using numerous different types of anti-malware with the same out come of it returning. Well I finally had enough and being an idiot I formatted the laptop, knowing there was a product key on the base from purchase. Well after the format and during the install process of Vista, the damn product key on the bottom is half rubbed off.

So I'm asking if anyone has been in the same situation as myself, obviously the logical thing to do is call Microsoft, but thought I would ask here first for some advice. Believe it or not, it's only 4 letters which have been rubbed off, and I've tried nearly ever letter / number that it looks like.

Do you think Microsoft could help me out? Or will they just charge me for another, which I won't pay for (would rather buy 7) and I'll just end up cracking the damn thing.

Try this: http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/product_cd_key_viewer.html

  • 0

I would call the support line of the manufacturer of the laptop. You have a better chance since they would know the key assigned based on the laptop serial number.

Thanks, I'll have to try and dig out Acer's support number tomorrow morning. I've been reading online that Microsoft wont help because it's going to be an OEM install. Awesome!

Although it's so damn annoying as it's only 4 letters that's missing!

If all fails, Ubuntu it is.

  • 0

I really hate the product key stickers on the bottom of laptops, they always wear off.

Laptops often have a hidden restore partition with the Windows installation files. There may be an option to boot from this and restore your computer (keep hitting F8 as soon as you turn it on and check the list). The restore option may be under "Repair your computer". OEM installations should be pre-activated so I don't think you would need to type in the product key. Since you formatted it you may not be able to get into the boot menu though; check Acer's site for a startup disk or ask about them about how to access it and run system restore when you call. This might also be a good opportunity to upgrade to Windows 7. ;)

  • 0

I would call the support line of the manufacturer of the laptop. You have a better chance since they would know the key assigned based on the laptop serial number.

If my experience with HP has taught me anything, it's that this isn't true. Hopefully for OP, I was just unlucky.

Laptops often have a hidden restore partition with the Windows installation files. There may be an option to boot from this and restore your computer (keep hitting F8 as soon as you turn it on and check the list. The restore option may be under "Repair your computer". OEM installations should be pre-activated so I don't think you would need to type in the product key.

This is definitely your best bet.... except for the fact that he formatted his computer. Even if the recovery partition is still there, the repair option was part of the original install's boot config. It won't be there anymore (The same exact thing happened to me today). Depending on manufacturer, there might be some hoops you can jump through to get into the recovery partition anyway.

  • 0

Laptops often have a hidden restore partition with the Windows installation files. There may be an option to boot from this and restore your computer (keep hitting F8 as soon as you turn it on and check the list. The restore option may be under "Repair your computer". OEM installations should be pre-activated so I don't think you would need to type in the product key.

It did have a hidden restore partition and when I tried to restore from it, it said it was corrupt so I just formatted the hole thing. Funny you should mention about it being pre-activated it had a different product key to the one on the bottom of the laptop which is rubbed.

I have this key but it says it can't be activated and that I have 3 days to try a different key.

  • 0

There are supposedly ways to insert the OEM licence certificates into clean installs, though I've personally never gotten it to work... It's technically illegal, but since you've got a valid license... just keep it in mind in case calling Acer and MS doesn't work out.

  • 0

There are supposedly ways to insert the OEM licence certificates into clean installs, though I've personally never gotten it to work... It's technically illegal, but since you've got a valid license... just keep it in mind in case calling Acer and MS doesn't work out.

Thanks, I'll look into this tomorrow morning.

Thanks for the advice all.

  • 0

Just install your Windows 7 without a key, look up Acer's support info online and they will be able to help you once you have given the the model/serial for the laptop.

You don't appear to be without access to the internet (posting on here) why don't you just look it up now or is this a linux ad?

  • 0

Acer uses a Windows 7 image that doesn't require activation at all (it's "tattooed" in the motherboard).

Call Acer, they will have to issue you a new key for some money or send you the OEM restore cds for money that wont require the key.

  • 0

Acer uses a Windows 7 image that doesn't require activation at all (it's "tattooed" in the motherboard).

Call Acer, they will have to issue you a new key for some money or send you the OEM restore cds for money that wont require the key.

I agree, if I was you, I will order the original restore CDs. They will only charge you a small fee for the shipping.

  • 0

As others have already said, you should probably look at using SLP activation. If you ordered the restore discs from your system manufacturer, this is the method that they would use, but there is no reason why you can't do it yourself.

Here is a quick synopsis of SLP according to Wikipedia:

System Locked Preinstallation, often abbreviated as SLP, is a procedure used by major OEM computer manufacturers in order to preactivate Microsoft Windows before mass distribution. There are three different versions of SLP: 2.1, 2.0, and SLP, which is now commonly referred to as SLP 1.0 to avoid confusion. These versions roughly coincide with Windows NT versions (see table below). Operating systems that use SLP 1.0 check for a particular text string in a computer's BIOS upon booting. If the text string does not match the information stored in the particular installation's OEM BIOS files, the user is prompted to activate his or her copy as normal. SLP 2.0 and SLP 2.1 works in a similar manner. This effectively "locks" the operating system to the qualified motherboard. In addition, if an end user feels the need to perform a "clean install" of Windows, and if the manufacturer supplies the user with an installation disc (not a "System Recovery" disc that is a hard drive image), the user will not be prompted to activate the copy, given that the installation is performed on the same motherboard. Furthermore, because the check only involves the BIOS and not hardware, a user is allowed to change virtually all hardware components within the machine except motherboard, a procedure that would normally trigger re-activation in retail Windows copies.

Since your BIOS already has the SLP 2.0 certificate embedded into it, all you need are the other two pieces of the puzzle: the OEM's software certificate and master product key. Fortunately, these are not specific to your computer and can be easily installed. I wrote a small utility that will automatically do this for you. (So long as Windows Vista is up-to-date first, it will crash otherwise.) Before someone inevitably points this out, this is not piracy! Pirates use a similar method, except they install a loader that emulates the BIOS certificate. You have no need for that because you have a legitimate certificate already in your BIOS. My utility does not install a loader or otherwise attempt to spoof the BIOS certificate. It will only install the other two pieces necessary to activate Windows. This is the exact same method the your OEM used before they shipped your computer.

This topic is now closed to further replies.
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
  • Posts

    • The laptop in the bedroom is an Acer with i7-10510U CPU. Acer's website states they will not be upgrading it so I had little choice other than disable secure boot. I know next to nothing on these matters so hopefully it will be fine.
    • GitHub removes manual model selection from Copilot free and student plans by Karthik Mudaliar GitHub is removing the ability to manually select an AI model from its Copilot Free and Student plans, making its automatic routing system the default and only way to choose a model. This means users on these tiers will no longer be able to deliberately select a particular OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, or Microsoft model for a task. In its announcement, GitHub said Copilot Auto will dynamically choose what it considers the best model for each request. Free and Student accounts will retain access to models from multiple families, although the available selection will continue to depend on the restrictions attached to each plan. GitHub did not identify a fixed pool of models that Auto will always use, and its documentation warns that model availability can change over time. GitHub describes Auto as more than a random fallback system. On supported surfaces, its task-optimization technology evaluates the complexity of a request alongside real-time information about model health and availability. Straightforward prompts can be routed to faster and less expensive models, while more demanding coding tasks may be sent to higher-cost reasoning models. The company says this approach should reduce rate limiting, latency, and failed requests. Auto generally selects one model along natural prompt-caching boundaries rather than repeatedly switching models during a session, as GitHub found that mid-session changes increased costs without producing sufficient improvements in output quality. Users can still check which model generated a response. In Copilot Chat, the information appears when hovering over an answer, while Copilot CLI and the Copilot cloud agent display the selected model alongside their output. Auto is available in Copilot Chat, Copilot CLI, and the cloud agent, with the exact implementation and release status varying between supported development environments. The latest restriction follows several months of adjustments to Copilot’s individual plans. GitHub temporarily halted new Pro, Pro+, and Student subscriptions in April as it sought to manage demand and service reliability. It later introduced token-based billing and began gradually reopening individual-plan registrations on June 17. Alongside the picker change, GitHub is retiring the “Preview” label from Microsoft-developed models. It argues that the label is no longer necessary because Auto handles model routing and models are continuously updated behind the scenes.
    • Look up 'inflation' kid. Ask an AI for the numbers between both games.
    • Google reportedly set to lose two key Gemini and DeepMind researchers to Anthropic by Karthik Mudaliar Google is reportedly preparing to lose two more prominent artificial intelligence researchers, with Gemini contributors Jonas Adler and Alexander Pritzel planning to join rival AI developer Anthropic. According to a report from Bloomberg, both researchers are viewed internally as important contributors to Google’s flagship Gemini model family. Adler worked on Google’s AI coding efforts, while Pritzel was involved in the process used to train AI systems. Neither company has publicly confirmed the moves. The report also does not say when the researchers will formally leave Google or what positions they will hold at Anthropic. Training a large AI model requires decisions covering its architecture, data preparation, distributed computing infrastructure, and post-training methods that shape how the finished system behaves. Researchers with experience operating at the scale of Gemini are consequently difficult to replace quickly. Both Adler and Pritzel have previously contributed to Google DeepMind’s scientific research as well. They are listed among the authors of the company’s work on expanding AlphaFold protein-structure predictions across entire proteomes, alongside AlphaFold researchers including John Jumper. The reported departures arrive shortly after another important change within Google’s Gemini organization. Gemini co-lead Noam Shazeer is leaving Google for OpenAI, after returning to the search company in 2024 through its deal with Character.AI. Shazeer is particularly well known as one of the authors of the Transformer paper, whose architecture became the foundation for most modern large language models. Anthropic, meanwhile, has been recruiting recognizable figures from other leading laboratories. OpenAI co-founder and former Tesla AI director Andrej Karpathy joined Anthropic’s pre-training team in May. His move, followed by the reported recruitment of several Google researchers, suggests Anthropic is strengthening the research teams responsible for the core capabilities of future Claude models rather than concentrating solely on product and enterprise sales. The competition is complicated by the companies’ extensive commercial relationships. Anthropic competes directly with Google’s Gemini models, but it also relies on Google as an infrastructure partner. In April, Anthropic announced an expanded agreement with Google and Broadcom covering multiple gigawatts of next-generation Tensor Processing Unit capacity. TPUs are Google-designed accelerators used to train and run large AI models. via Bloomberg
    • This article makes my head hurt. Lots of confusing words
  • Recent Achievements

    • Dedicated
      Scoobystu earned a badge
      Dedicated
    • First Post
      Tom Schmidt earned a badge
      First Post
    • One Month Later
      D0nn13 earned a badge
      One Month Later
    • Rookie
      +ChiefOfNeo went up a rank
      Rookie
    • One Year In
      Tom Schmidt earned a badge
      One Year In
  • Popular Contributors

    1. 1
      +primortal
      461
    2. 2
      +Edouard
      177
    3. 3
      PsYcHoKiLLa
      124
    4. 4
      Michael Scrip
      79
    5. 5
      Xenon
      76
  • Tell a friend

    Love Neowin? Tell a friend!