A friend of mine recently gave me his old computer and before he gave it to me he wiped it and reinstalled Windows. After a few days I started getting the "Windows is not genuine" problem. I checked the label on the tower and it's for Windows 7 Home Edition but it has Windows 7 Ultimate installed (so the key on the label won't work).
My friend told me he'd look into the problem but it's been about a week and I'm considering just buying Windows 7 Ultimate... but I don't want to pay $334.94 for it (the price on Microsoft's website). A quick Google search shows a lot of different prices for Windows 7 Ultimate (some as low as $70). Are those sites legitimate or scams? I don't understand how one site would charge 3x as much as another. Am I missing something?
Note: I am a college student and I know some places reduce the price if you can prove that. I haven't checked the bookstore at my college yet but I'm considering going there soon.
Get Windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit. It is all one needs honestly. I have Windows 7 Ultimate OEM business license. However there is not any useful differences really between the 2 that you will ever need.
I would work with the non activated version for now. Windows 8 is due to release October 24th (I believe) so I would wait for it.
And most of those sites are scams, they give you Windows 7 (which is free), but the product key is one usually used for testing only, and Microsoft will block it after a month or two. Im not saying all these sites are scams, but alot are.
No one needs ultimate if they ask if they need ultimate.
Generally, you only get ultimate/professional if you are using a specific feature that is not included in HP or HB.
I'm not asking if I need Ultimate. I have ultimate and I need a key for it. I could just pirate and install Home Edition (which I have a key for). But I'm lazy and have no reason to believe that the key for Home Edition will work. As this computer is 2nd hand for all I know that key is being used on a different computer already.
The software is free to download legally, its only the product key that costs. So as the member you were replying to inferred, buying ultimate (key) isn't really needed.
The 64-bit version is free? Do you have a link to the free version? I don't see one.
Edit: I think I have grossly misunderstood your point. Are you implying that I just keep using this despite the fact that it keeps spamming me with that annoying "not genuine" message?
Microsoft actually has .iso files on their website for all versions of Windows 7. Download the one for Home Premium 64-bit and burn it to a CD or flashdrive, and then install it. Then just type in the CD key your friend has when it asks.
Someone else can link the page that has all the downloads.
I would use Magical Jelly Bean KeyFinder (the free one, not the $25 Recover Keys). It should recover the Ultimate key so you can make the installation genuine. It worked for my Home Premium install.
A friend of mine recently gave me his old computer and before he gave it to me he wiped it and reinstalled Windows. After a few days I started getting the "Windows is not genuine" problem. I checked the label on the tower and it's for Windows 7 Home Edition but it has Windows 7 Ultimate installed (so the key on the label won't work).
My friend told me he'd look into the problem but it's been about a week and I'm considering just buying Windows 7 Ultimate... but I don't want to pay $334.94 for it (the price on Microsoft's website). A quick Google search shows a lot of different prices for Windows 7 Ultimate (some as low as $70). Are those sites legitimate or scams? I don't understand how one site would charge 3x as much as another. Am I missing something?
Note: I am a college student and I know some places reduce the price if you can prove that. I haven't checked the bookstore at my college yet but I'm considering going there soon.
Generally, you only get ultimate/professional if you are using a specific feature that is not included in HP or HB.
8 will be a flop.
I'm not asking if I need Ultimate. I have ultimate and I need a key for it. I could just pirate and install Home Edition (which I have a key for). But I'm lazy and have no reason to believe that the key for Home Edition will work. As this computer is 2nd hand for all I know that key is being used on a different computer already.
The 64-bit version is free? Do you have a link to the free version? I don't see one.Edit: I think I have grossly misunderstood your point. Are you implying that I just keep using this despite the fact that it keeps spamming me with that annoying "not genuine" message?
Someone else can link the page that has all the downloads.