Microsoft says my 10-year-old Windows 7 CD Key is not valid  

Ran for years with it. Upgraded to Windows 10 with it. Have reactivated with it after reinstalls.

Upgraded MB and CPU. Now refuses to activate. Spoke to customer support. They check the key - it is not a valid key.

Is there maybe different parts of MS that do validation, so that it works sometimes and sometimes not.

Is it possible to take a photo of the DVD and labels and send them to MS so they can see for themselves. Or maybe send them the actual Windows 7 DVD and they can see for themselves that it is real. They are not saying the product key is already in use, they are saying it is FAKE.

Samuria said:

If you updated 7 to 10 free the licence is used so you cant use it again

It is used on my PC. All I did was replace the MB and CPU. And Microsoft say the key is FAKE.

Going to courier the original box to them. As I bought it. Complete with holgram DVD, so they can see the disk is real, and the key on the inside. The ket which their computer says is FAKE.

- - - Updated - - -

Berton said:

Have seen it happen when using a Home key to activate a Pro version and my worst was using a Win7 Ultimate key to activate Win10 Pro and it went to an Enterprise server which didn't work.

Except I spoke to a human support person. She typed in the key. Their computer says it is FAKE. I have been using it for 10 years, with upgrades and reinstalls. And it is on the sticker on the inside of the box.

Is your Windows 7 key retail or OEM?

If you bought a retail version of Windows 7 10 years ago you can upgrade the MB and CPU and use the same Windows key.

If you bought an OEM key or the key came with a computer then you are out of luck and need to buy a new Windows key.

Retail. Was running Windows ME. I bought a Windows 7 DVD. Installed it. Activated it. A few times I had to reinstall Windows 7. I activated it.

Did the free upgrade to Windows 10. Activated it. Reinstalled a few times. Activated it.

New MB and CPU. Microsoft says the product key is FAKE.

The key is FAKE, not unusable. The woman at Microsoft typed it into the computer and the computer said "this is not product key." It didn't say already used, or expired. It said "This is not a product key." Big difference. It is saying I just chose a lot of numbers and letters and tried my luck.

Ghot said:

If you have a problem with MS tech support, tell them you want to talk to an "Advocate".

Will try that.

So someone who can actually DO something.