Damaged Windows Licence

Hi, ive got a Samsung q210 and i need to reinstall windows.

The problem is, my recovery partition is damaged and i can read the windows license on the bottom of the laptop because it is damaged (pretty much worn away)

What can i do about this?

Thanks!

 

You will most likely need to contact Samsung regarding lost licenses.

Do you have access to your OS at the moment? You might be able to back up your current key and do a clean install.

 

If you are using XP you should be able to recover the key from your Windows installation. I'm not sure if the same procedure will work for Vista or W7, but it might.

Outside of that, you'll have to contact Samsung about it...there are no other legal options.

 

OP you could try ABR or Win7Activator to backup your key, works for Vista and Windows 7.

ABR: http://directedge.us/content/abr-activation-backup-and-restore

Win7Activator: http://rongchaua.net/blog/windows-7-activation-backup-and-restore/

edit: One thing I always do when buying a new laptop is to put a piece of scotch tape over the license key sticker just for the reason you described.

 

I've already deleted the knackered version of windows, so im kinda stuck

 

Then calling Samsung is pretty much all you can do. They may be able to help you by giving them the serial number.

 

When the same thing happened with my old HP (hard drive failed, so I couldn't get the key off of that), they made me pay them $20 for a set of recovery discs

On a side note, everything else on the sticker was still intact and legible, it was only the key that was worn off. My inner paranoid wonders if that's intentional, for the purpose of selling recovery discs?

 

All manufacturers, if they don't ship recovery discs, give you the option of creating your own when you get the machine (and highly recommend it). They sell recovery discs to people who don't heed that advice.