Illegal license used to install W7 Ultimate

[Larry the Lobster]

I'm helping a friend who had someone "help her" by installing a pirated copy of Windows 7 Ultimate. It suddenly started popping up the "not genuine" message, and she wants to get legit. Will a Windows 7 upgrade license work? She's not very tech savvy, so I'll end up doing it, but I have some doubts since it does not have a legitimate license. I am thinking that perhaps once she buys a legit copy, I won't really need to re-install and she can just activate off the new license.

Thank you.

[still1]

No the upgrade license wont work since you dont have Vista or Xp(You can install 7 using upgrade license *Cough*) but if you get a full license all you have to do is just change the product key and activate it..

[DPyro]

You'd need a Win7 Ultimate license, else you'll need to reinstall. There are other methods to become 'genuine' that can't be discussed here...

[Detection]

Run sfc /scannow from elevated command prompt to fix the activation files, then google search on how to activate clean install with upgrade key

[zhangm Supervisor]

I'm helping a friend who had someone "help her" by installing a pirated copy of Windows 7 Ultimate. It suddenly started popping up the "not genuine" message, and she wants to get legit. Will a Windows 7 upgrade license work? She's not very tech savvy, so I'll end up doing it, but I have some doubts since it does not have a legitimate license. I am thinking that perhaps once she buys a legit copy, I won't really need to re-install and she can just activate off the new license.

Thank you.

I'd just install the legit version fresh. You can never really tell whether those bootlegged versions are sporting extra modifications like a keylogger or generic trojan...

[Larry the Lobster]

Thanks. She has MS and so her vision is affected. There's been a lot of customization of Windows for her and I don't know what all has been done, so a fresh install may not be good. I agree that bootlegged versions are a little questionable, but she doesn't use it much other than for AOL and a little surfing on the net.

I did not think of the sfc command- good suggestion. I'll try to walk her through running that.

DPyro, she wants to be legitimate. She thought she was, since it was installed by her brother's "best friend with his own computer business." UGH! That wasn't much of a favor. She will grab a legit license- I just wasn't sure if the Windows 7 Ultimate upgrade would work over Windows 7 Ultimate pirated version. It's about 40 to 50 bucks less, and since she lives in a fixed income since she can't work, I don't want her to spend more than she has to.

[Detection]

Thanks. She has MS and so her vision is affected. There's been a lot of customization of Windows for her and I don't know what all has been done, so a fresh install may not be good. I agree that bootlegged versions are a little questionable, but she doesn't use it much other than for AOL and a little surfing on the net.

I did not think of the sfc command- good suggestion. I'll try to walk her through running that.

DPyro, she wants to be legitimate. She thought she was, since it was installed by her brother's "best friend with his own computer business." UGH! That wasn't much of a favor. She will grab a legit license- I just wasn't sure if the Windows 7 Ultimate upgrade would work over Windows 7 Ultimate pirated version. It's about 40 to 50 bucks less, and since she lives in a fixed income since she can't work, I don't want her to spend more than she has to.

If the upgrade disk is Ultimate too it will allow an upgrade over the top, the disks are the same, its the key that is different.

You can perform a clean install or an upgrade with either disk, but you need to change the registry a little to activate a clean install with the upgrade key, but as the upgrade disk will be run from within windows, the key should work out of the box once the upgrade is complete

The registry edit just tells windows that the install was not started by booting from the DVD to confirm it was infact an upgrade

[exotoxic]

it was installed by her brother's "best friend with his own computer business." UGH! That wasn't much of a favor.

Report him to police....

[Detection]

Report him to police....

Doubt the police would do much, probably tell them to contact the relevant piracy guys

[abecedarian paradoxious]

If Windows is reporting it's not "Genuine", follow the prompts to "Get Genuine Now", purchasing a key and such online, or you may be able to use a legit upgrade version to "upgrade" the "pirated" version in question, and then use the "upgrade" version to "upgrade" the "upgrade", but that is technically a violation of the EULA.

[Blaze_Zewi]

If its a bootleg/modifed version of Windows 7 Ultimate than you'll have to get rid of it. Buy windows 7 home prenuim, wiped the hard drive clean and do a fresh install. Don't trust pirated windows os they could be rigged.

[DPyro]

Report him to police....

Police wouldn't give a crap, seeing as a lot of police computers run pirated software themselves. Heck, I even know schools which run pirated software.

[exotoxic]

Doubt the police would do much, probably tell them to contact the relevant piracy guys

If he is making money off pirated stuff then it is CRIMINAL copyright infringement.

[Japlabot]

Buy Windows 7 Home Premium for 32-bit or 64-bit already being used.

Registry hack the edition of the old install

http://www.mydigitallife.info/hack-to-in-place-downgrade-from-windows-7-ultimate-or-professional-to-less-premium-editions/

and then do an "Upgrade" install of Windows 7 Home Premium. This will retain all the settings and put her onto the legal path from now on.

[Larry the Lobster]

Interesting, Simon. I thought I had the ways to sneak around licensing all covered. LOL

She wants to be completely legal. And with the way things are set up, I am loathe to try to recreate her system, and I KNOW it is well beyond her ability to do so. Some good ideas in here to try, though.