Unusual legal version of win 7 Pro will only give me 10 Home

Alloneword · 21 Apr 2019

I have a rather unusual version of windows 7 U x64 that is legal, long story but given it by a friend it.

This is the information i was given when i got the disc

Code:

it's good for 10 activations.
It's slightly different than regular keys, the online
activation server will automatically let it reactivate
10 times but after that unlike a retail key you can't
call them and ask them to activate it again.
But re-installing the system on the same hardware
won't count as a new activation, so you'll get a lot
more than 10.

So used MS download tool to get my 10 ISO and when i did that installed it, it came up as home, no big deal as this seems to happen a fair bit so just punched in my win 7 key into the 10 machine and it went ahead with the update and it's now come up as Enterprise which is odd as it has never come up as that before, and now it's saying it's not activated I am getting an activation error or 0xC004F050, I don't want to spend too much time on this but has anyone heard of anything like this before, or should i just go back on an image when it was "HOME" and upgrade by buying another key and what is the best way to get a legal key for a cheapish price, im in the uk if that matters

All1

Try3 · 21 Apr 2019

It sounds like your Win7 product key was a stolen MSDN key. If MS have now included it in their list of stolen / abused keys then you cannot expect it to work any more.

You might find more info by searching for your product key online.

Denis

Alloneword · 21 Apr 2019

Try3 said:

It sounds like your Win7 product key was a stolen MSDN key. If MS have now included it in their list of stolen / abused keys then you cannot expect it to work any more.

You might find more info by searching for your product key online.

Denis

100% not stolen.
My key gives 0 hits on google.

All1

Try3 · 21 Apr 2019

So why the strange activation instructions? What type of Windows 7 licence was it?

Bat 1 · 21 Apr 2019

MAK Key that's exceeded the number of devices ? Did the Puter you're trying to use it on come with Win 8.* or 10 Home installed ?

Alloneword · 21 Apr 2019

Try3 said:

So why the strange activation instructions? What type of Windows 7 licence was it?

Sounds weird but i don't 100% know for sure, i think it was someone who used to work either for MS or some kind of tester, hence being able to use a single key for 10 activations but you can activate the same machine 20 times and only counts as a single activation, you reg it just like normal online, funny thing is it has now activated as a win 10 Pro machine after failing about half a dozen times, so maybe it was a server issue, i have no idea, but i'm up an running that is the main thing.

Bat 1 sorry don't know what MAK Key is for sure but having googled it, it sounds about right, from memory i have only used ir for about 5 setups so should still be good for a while, the laptop i'm using it on came with 8.1 and i whipped that out and put 7 on with this special key and been running it since then, this is all going on with my test laptop just hope i don't have these issues when i move my main rig over

All1

Try3 · 21 Apr 2019

Sounds weird but i don't 100% know for sure, i think it was someone who used to work either for MS or some kind of tester, hence being able to use a single key for 10 activations but you can activate the same machine 20 times and only counts as a single activation, you reg it just like normal online, funny thing is it has now activated as a win 10 Pro machine after failing about half a dozen times, so maybe it was a server issue, i have no idea, but i'm up an running that is the main thing.

So it was either an MSDN [or possibly a MAK key] and it was only valid for the circumstances for which it was used before you were given the computer. It is not valid for your use of the computer.

If you are using an MSDN or a MAK key to which you are not entitled then you will also get these problems with your "main rig".

Denis

alphanumeric · 21 Apr 2019

MAK ia a Multi Activation Key. Its available to MSDN (now MY Visual Studio) subscribers to activate VL editions of Windows. I can request them via my My Visual Studio Enterprise Subscription to activate Windows 10 Enterprise. In this instance its a substitute for a VL key. My subscription is clearly maked as NFR, not for resale. Technically I'm not allowed even give them away, I'm not allowed to share them in any way, they are for my sole use. I do believe small corporations can also get MAK keys issued to them by Microsoft. In any case, they are not allowed to resell them either. If you have a MAK key obtained from another source, your not entitled to use it.
Also, Enterprise does not qualify for the free upgrade. And I would think a Pro install activated with a MAK key wouldn't either.

Unfortunately there are people selling and of sharing MAK keys. Once Microsoft finds out about it, they can trace them back to a specific MSDN / My Visual Studio account and then blacklist any and all key that account has requested. E-Bay is full of said keys that may or may not work, buyer beware.

Samuria · 21 Apr 2019

If you now have enterprise it wnt activate as its done on a local server not direct from MS

johngalt · 21 Apr 2019

IIRC, the old TechNet subs also used keys that had a limited number of activation attempts, but since my sub also included 10 different keys for every version available for Windows 7 (and I never actually used them all) I am not 100% sure what the number itself was.

FWIW, I also used at least 3 of my previously used Windows 7 keys to upgrade to Windows 10 (this machine and 2 VMs).

In reading that description, it also really does sound like an old TechNet sub key - because I know I surpassed 10 activation attempts (by a lot!), but it was always on the pretty much the same hardware (or, to be more accurate, slightly different HW, meaning same system board and RAM but sometimes a newer HD (only changed 5 times during my life on Win7).

Heck, I have several keys of the versions I never installed, such as Windows 7 N and Windows 7 KN that I could, theoretically, install now if I really wanted to - or be super illegitimate and try to 'sell' - but I wouldn't do that. I still have all the keys that I got from my sub in my KeePass database....

Unusual legal version of win 7 Pro will only give me 10 Home-windows-technet-keys.png

And the keys did not use OEM install discs, just plain old Win 7 install discs.