Windows 7 Activation Is Dead

I recently restored my HDD from a Windows 7 backup disk I had about a month ago, and today I got the old "Windows is not genuine, you must activate..." message. Problem is, when I go into My Computer to click on the click to activate it, nothing happens. No errors, no pop ups, nothing. It's like I'm not even clicking on it.

Called MS and they tried everything they could think of as well. They used all the SLUI commands, but nothing happens, as well as unregistering and then reregistering the product key from the command prompt. While that did work, it fails at the -ato step (saying the key can not be used, even though it's verified as good). At this point they passed me off to level-two tech support that won't call me back until tomorrow or the next day.

I'm also not the only one to have this issue. I found a few people facing the exact same thing here. I also ran sfc /scannow to see if it fixed anything (with no issues found) and made sure that WAT in services was set to auto.

Can anyone here shed some light on why the activation portion of Windows 7 is no longer working? I have a feeling MS won't be much help, so I'm turning to the majors!

 

I wish that I had an answer for you techtitan. Kinda coincidental because today I was going to see if anyone else here has had the same or similar issue and not only do you have a similar issue but you posted a link to others who have had this issue. It doesn't seem like it's been solved.
It also occurred to me that MS is suggesting that we upgrade to win 10.
I did find the original disc for this Dell that I purchased for my Dad some years ago and I've thought about reinstalling a second version of the same OS but will I create more problems?

I'm curious about your situation: when you say that you " restored you HDD "FROM" a windows 7 backup disk I had about a month ago" does that mean that you replaced the HDD with the back up OS on it? or did you use a back-up version of your win 7 that you had on a separate HDD and used that HDD to move the back-up over to the computer that you are using? I'm asking because I've never been completely sure if doing something like that works especially if the back-up happened after updates have occurred on the computer that you are trying to ? refresh? reinstall for ? or has there been changes in some way to the computer that you are attempting to " restore "?

All of that mumbo jumbo that others posted after attempting to follow the instructions from MS ( like using their ' tool ' ) makes me wonder if all of that info is really necessary or is it just a lot of information that MIGHT be interesting to those who know computers way better than I will ever know them or want to know them. I always loved this saying: " I asked " what time is it " and the guy told me how to build a clock " It's great information but do I need to know all of that just to know what time it is?

When other people get to use YOUR PC you can never be sure what they do without a second thought " thinking nothing about how their actions effect your PC " Such is the case with my Dad's PC. He allows a few chosen people to use his PC but I can tell that they have made changes but it's not easy to know what those changes were or why they made them and worst of all is that they get defensive if you ask them " what did you do ". I'm sorry, but I do not allow anyone to touch my PC's. I can clearly see that there is more than one version of 7 on this PC which is confusing to me and I think it is confusing to the BOT's that set out to update your computer. [ just my humble opinion ]
On the sealed envelope that cam with this Dell and has the Win 7 disc in it, there is also one of those official stickers with the " authentic code " on it. Shouldn't that be enough to tell MS that you are in possession of the correct code? If yes why not simply have a site that one can go to with a simple message: " to authenticate your OS type your code HERE and submit it from that PC while it is connected to the internet. Wouldn't that make sense and be easy to do? How and or why would it be necessary to know how to build a clock or a PC for that matter?

Sorry if my reply didn't solve your problem. I'll be following it in hopes that you get a solution.

 

This is what pop's up

 

Hey Guys, this may be a good tip ......and it may be crap so don't say I didn't warn you in advance

I had a similar issue with activation and my solution was to disconnect the internet and leave it disconnected.........not just the adapter disabled in Network and Sharing Centre but disconnected so pull out your network cable or turn off your wi fi on your router/modem.
Next I did a run sfc /scanow on reboot.
After a clean report I then allowed Win 7 to start booting then I powered down mid boot so on reboot it would give the prompt that your PC was not turned off correctly and offering to repair. (Yes I know you can just put the Win 7 DVD in the drive and reboot and select the repair option but this didn't work so well for me. Something else gets set when the PC crashes (I couldn't be bothered finding what).)
After the crash message insert the Win 7 DVD in the drive and tell it to repair Windows.
After it finishes doing its thing I then go to task manager and try to activate Windows.
A prompt will come back that it can't connect to the internet so will you do it later or activate by phone. I selected activate by phone.
The prompt then comes up with a contact number to call.
Note you will have to have a valid licence number/barcode and the serial number has to be the one for the Win 7 disk you actually installed/repaired from.

After you type in the activation number it should come up as registered and if not call back tech support where in my case they checked some stuff and asked for a picture of the serial number and barcode. After I sent the picture from another computer they sent back a new number and also a link. IIRC the link they sent to me went to an area of tech support where a script ran and I saw a couple of console commands flash on and off then rebooted. After the reboot everything worked as it should.
On a friend's laptop it worked straight after the phone activation and has been working for about a year.

I am not saying this will work for you but it has worked for me three times in the last 2 years.
BTW I only dreamed up this method when it was 3am and I had been tearing my hair out because I needed to have the warehouse computer going so the storeman could log into the company logistics software when he starts work at 6am............but no pressure

Good luck

 

https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/18715-activate-windows-7-phone.html

 

Thanks for the link plodr

When I posted the reply it was almost 1:30am and I was just wanting to get some sleep.
I usually sit up to about 3am but the past three days has been really hectic and I was too tired to find some links

 

No problem. I've read several threads on various forums where Windows 7 needed to be activated and the only thing working now is phone activation. I figured if I posted the link, I wouldn't "lose" it if I needed it again. So many bookmarks and notes, sometimes I have a hard time finding what I need.

 

Hehehe it seems lately that on some days my brain is like this.......so much crap has been stored in my head that it is sometimes impossible to recall the good info that you need.........of course soon as you don't need that info you can recall it perfectly

I think this is old-timers disease

 

UPDATE

Leaving this here in case someone finds it helpful. MS tech supported was terrible, as I figured. Level 2 called me back the next day and walked me through all the same steps that didn't work the previous day (so obviously didn't read the notes). Was never able to identity the problem as to why the activation links or the commands on my PC was not working when I clicked on them. So that was never even addressed. Then they tried to say that because I restored a OEM copy from a backup, that's why the code wasn't valid. Said I'd have to buy a retail code and do a fresh wipe/install of Windows 7. After arguing with him, asking for a supervisor and simply not taking no for an answer, he came back and gave me a Windows 7 retail code, which we activated via the command prompt. That finally worked. Hope this helps someone.