pre-validating license keys?

The MSDN-AA administrator at school has earned a reputation for issuing bad/duplicate MSDN-AA keys. She is causing all kinds of pain for people who *think* they have good keys but don't find out the truth until they have completely reformatted their machines, installed win7, and as the next to last step in the install, try to key in the bad license key. The end result is a machine that is trying to run 'keyless' for the week or so it takes this idiot to get a proper key back to the student.

Back in the dark ages (Windows XP), someone somewhere had an application that would chew on a key and validate it as being 'good'.

Is there such a thing for Win7 keys? I'm NOT looking to capture keys (so forget about recommending pirate-ware like MJB or ProduKey) nor to hand someone something to which they are not entitled. Just trying to find a way to validate this persons work before students pass the point of no return on system installs.

 

Unfortunately, no. The activation needs to connect to Microsoft, so it's really a single-step process. You test the key and activate it all at the same time.

 

Are we talking about key validation or activating Windows because you can activate Windows at a later time after inserting the key.

 

yes it can be done. though you would need to correct contacts to do this. its not something anyone can do on their own.

 

Shucks, well, poop.

Mods, you may as well lock this thread up before it turns into a warez-fest.

 

You can always change key using "slmgr" command in command prompt without reinstalling.

 

Request granted.