Tip to resolve Windows 7 activation issues

For those whom have recently experienced this issue, please follow the official tips released by Lenovo.

http://www-307.ibm.com/pc/support/site.wss/document.do?lndocid=migr-75177&sitestyle=lenovo

 

Hmm... No wonder, I recently encountered the same problem on my OEM Windows 7 build. Following a reboot, the activation prompt went away though without anymore fuss.

 

Thank You for the useful link!
I'll be needing it today when my W510 arrives.
+1 rep!

 

Not much of a help is it if you have to get on the phone and call MS to activate or revalidate your existing key. This is not a fix and the more experienced members of this forum could have advised this too. The question, however, stands: Why is this happening? And/Or, why does this happen? Lenovo should provide a definitive reply to this.

 

I think this is more of a Microsoft issue rather than Lenovo's as it's not limited to Lenovo alone. Most of the issues are with OEM license(s) in which most probably a recent patch/update from MS that checks for any hardware changes, even the slightest ones. I strongly suspect that the culprit is an update from Windows Defender that does more than Spyware checks.

 

@elixiash...but if that were the case then OEM versions should be having a lot of problems and those would be aired at various forums no?

 

Yup! I have personally encountered on other systems and have heard bout it from others too so its not a Lenovo thing.

 

It's not new. I had it with my t61p, I believe with XP when it was new.
Renee

 

I would never support any illegal use of Win7 but I read elsewhere where others with legal copies were having trouble and this was floated:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWJajaJziSg

Again not to support any illegal use of Win7.

 

This is down to Lenovo screwing up the SLIC marker in a bad bios revision. I'd recommend upgrading the bios to the very latest version as they're aware what's happened and sorted it now (on the W510 anyway).

You're better off with and SLP activation than the retail method as it doesn't care about hardware changes. If you change the product key, you move over to retail activation.

 

If we followed the instructions in the weblink, does it mean that the product key on the sticker is no longer valid? We will have to use the new product key from now on in the situation when it is required (re-installation of Win7, update bios, or system board repair/change, etc)

 

i think that is the case.

 

I just spoke with someone familiar with this and the entire process of using a key is completely removed for the computer. I am told it will pass any test done, updates automatically and there is never going to be a 'key' required whatsoever.

Having said this, I would believe if one owns there own system and then got nailed for an unknown reason and told their system wasn't calid when it actually is, this would still be a legal method of making sure you have your PAID FOR operating system.

 

The OP is a good workaround, and thanks for posting, but others here are right. With an OEM install the activation should be taken care of by the SLP process, which means no user should have to enter a key or call MS to activate.

Lenovo has written that document to make it seem like it's Microsoft's fault, and this is extremely disingenuous. This problem is caused 100% by Lenovo screwing up the SLIC in their BIOS, causing users to have to resort to this kind of workaround.

Retail activations are subject to "if your hardware or drivers change" you will need to reactivate. OEM:SLP activations should never be subject to that. Following this method will cause the user to have to reactivate for major hardware changes throughout the lifetime of their Windows install.

It's really unacceptable from a major OEM and has got me rethinking my plans to buy a Lenovo (what does it say about their quality control?)

 

Les, make sure you have defined the word "this".

"It's really unacceptable from a major OEM and has got me rethinking my plans to buy a Lenovo (what does it say about their quality control?)"

With mine, I changed from a Lenovo distribution of XP, Vista and Windows 7 to MSDN and that took care of it.

Renee

 

This may be going over something already discussed, and may or may not be separate from the BIOS issue, but in case not......

I replaced my hard drive imaging the original before setting up windows. When I restored the image to the new drive and setup, Windows was not activated. It turns out that activation information is somehow tied to the system partition on the hard drive (a 1.17GB partition called "SYS_DRV" or something similar).

So I went back to the original drive and took another image of the system partition using the sector by sector method (Acronis True Image). Restoring this to the new drive, also using sector by sector, fixed my activation issue.

Original thread discussion on this issue.

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Obviously that would take care of it since you removed the license and OS you purchased from lenovo and installed a totally different OS and license that you purchased from MS through MSDN. It is the same as buying a retail version and installing that.

Your scenario is far beyond the realms of what any general consumer would be expected or should be expected to deal with.

 

If you do change the key and want to go back to SLP (OEM) activation, it's simple enough. All Lenovos use the same key for each version of each windows release. eg alll Win 7 Pro have the same key. If the correct marker is present in the bios (ie if Lenovo don't break it in a bad bios revision) and the corresponding certificate is installed (using the command slmgr) then windows won't need re-activating when if you change any hardware.

I won't post the exact method up here because it's the method used in some 'loaders' that are used to bypass activation, but if you do some digging around with google you'll find it.

It works fine - the first thing I so to any Lenovo or Dell that I buy is install a completely fresh version of the OS it came with, using the original OEM key and certificate, to get rid of all the crapware they come pre-installed with.

 

I am not claiming ownership to this methods use and I haven't used it. I only learned of it from another who I KNOW had a fully legal system which resulted in problems. He told me this works like a charm....no experience whatsoever but, in reading all the positive comments, I would believe it works well.

I understand that there are ALOT of legal owners who, for one reason or another, now have copies that have or are soon to be dead and nowhere to turn...hate to see it is all.

 

Or you could make your Lenovo factory restore discs first. Put in the new drive, and restore to the new drive. I did it that way, and my system is activated.

 

You can also use the tool that I wrote (ABR, see sig) to back it up before you load the other key. Then if the bios ever gets fixed, you could restore it using the same program.

 

I should have checked your sig! I've used ABR a lot, it's a great tool and ideal for this. I roll my sleeves up these days and use the slmgr commands but ABR is a lot more convenient.