SOLVED Windows Is Not Genuine warning after new motherboard

[Luc Ozade]

Can some kind person please tell me the normal procedure for dealing with the "Windows is not genuine" warning when the screen also turns black. It's driving me nuts.

I fitted a new motherboard yesterday, upgrading the old one and doubling the memory at the same time as upgrading the CPU. I also fitted a new GPU. To cut a very long story short, the new GPU appears to be faulty so I refiited the old GPU, and it all now works (after hours of fiddling!).

I have researched as far as I could on the net but most of the replies, especially from Microsoft, seem to be ridiculously convoluted. This IS a genuine (although bundled) copy of Windows 7 and which I have been studiously updating ever since I first bought this computer in 2010.

Is there not a method to simply enter the Windows registration number somewhere, to get it accepted?

Thanks.

 

[TrainableMan]

What you called a "bundled license", some call a "system builder license", but to Microsoft they are simply "OEM licenses". An OEM license is only good on the computer it is installed on; it can never be moved and when the PC dies the license dies with it. Another caveat of the licensing is that "a new motherboard" constitutes "a new PC".

So here is your simple answer: You have a new PC because of the new motherboard so your old license is void. Legally you need a new license.

Microsoft will sometimes make exceptions if you replaced the motherboard with the exact same make/model motherboard ... but you have to call them and see if they will activate it.

NOTE: The only license where the new motherboard is not an issue is if you own the W7 FULL version or if you own an UPGRADE license and the upgrade was from a non-OEM version of XP or Vista.

 

[Luc Ozade]

Thanks very much Trainable - that does make sense, thinking about it. But it just seems we never stop having to shell out.

I've ordered a W7 license key which should do the trick as I don't need the OS itself as I already have that.

Thanks for your very lucid explanation

 

[TrainableMan]

Most places selling "just the key" are scams, especially on eBay. It may work for 2 or 3 months but then the Not Genuine message will show up when Microsoft realizes the same key is on 100s of different machines and shuts it down. Often it shuts down after it is too late for you to get your money back; and if it is in time then the seller will say "oh sorry, let me send you another one" and they give you a new one that works 2-3 months and then BAM!!! that one's no good either.

I find it very discouraging that a key can be valid when you first try it but go invalid later but unfortunately that is how Microsoft has it controlled.