If you are having issues activating after a clean install...

[abaez]

I installed on a completely fresh SSD and my Windows was not activating (legit purchase). Kept saying key could not be used on clean installs. To fix open regedit and change:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Setup/OOBE

Change "MediaBootInstall" from "1" to "0"

Then open an elevated Dos command (Start > Run > CMD (right click Run as Administrator)

slmgr /rearm

When I rebooted Windows was activated.

Now how to disable/uninstall the built-in/native flash player.. hmmm

 

[dagamer34]

I just called them up and did an automated activation with my upgrade key on a clean install (yep, that's possible). Took about 10 minutes total.

Granted, the first activation failure was probably triggered by the fact that I changed my mind and wanted the install on another computer. Oh well.

 

[makken]

I just called them up and did an automated activation with my upgrade key on a clean install (yep, that's possible). Took about 10 minutes total.

Granted, the first activation failure was probably triggered by the fact that I changed my mind and wanted the install on another computer. Oh well.

How hard was the process? I have win8 currently installed and activated on an old laptop to test before I commit my desktop to it.

With win7, it was just an annoying process of going through their automated phone activation, has that changed for win8?

 

[thestrangebrew1]

Did the clean install, got the activation msg and ended up reinstalling. After I booted to my ISO, I was asked for my key and lo and behold, my key cannot be verified. I'll have to contact support on this.

 

[dagamer34]

How hard was the process? I have win8 currently installed and activated on an old laptop to test before I commit my desktop to it.

With win7, it was just an annoying process of going through their automated phone activation, has that changed for win8?

Depends on your definition of annoying. Like I said, I activated in 10 minutes.

 

[makken]

Depends on your definition of annoying. Like I said, I activated in 10 minutes.

well I mean did they try to stonewall you at all for having that key installed on more than 1 machine? Or was it just a matter of going through the process?

 

[lkailburn]

This worked for me when doing a clean install using the 'upgrade' media. In windows, under activation it simply said product ID not available before this. Now shows as activated.
Thanks

 

[zephxiii]

All i had to do was boot the pc with the windows 8 disc, it will see the Windows 7, then delete partition or format then install. No problems with activation. This works with Windows 7 upgrade as well.

 

[lkailburn]

All i had to do was boot the pc with the windows 8 disc, it will see the Windows 7, then delete partition or format then install. No problems with activation. This works with Windows 7 upgrade as well.

If you right click my computer and go to properties, under "Windows Activation" does it say it's activated? because what you did is exactly what i did, and i was using windows 8 without any activation errors on screen, however, when i went to view the activation status it was not activated.

 

[zephxiii]

If you right click my computer and go to properties, under "Windows Activation" does it say it's activated? because what you did is exactly what i did, and i was using windows 8 without any activation errors on screen, however, when i went to view the activation status it was not activated.

I will have to check when I get home. Basically i did what i had to do with a thinkpad laptop and Windows 7 upgrade. The laptop came with the HD already formatted so I attempted a clean install with the upgrade, however it would not activate. (probably didn't help that I did not punch the key in during the install though).

So basically i had to wipe the drive and install vista, then reboot with the 7 upgrade disc, select the partition, delete, then install to get the 7 upgrade to activate.

I used that same procedure with windows 8, but I will have to get home first in order to report back.

 

[zephxiii]

I checked and it is activated.

 

[lkailburn]

I checked and it is activated.

Nice!

 

[abaez]

All i had to do was boot the pc with the windows 8 disc, it will see the Windows 7, then delete partition or format then install. No problems with activation. This works with Windows 7 upgrade as well.

This is for brand new formatted clean SSD or hard disks that do not have any trace of win7 on them. You don't have to do what you did and install win7 first. Just install win8 straight on.

 

[zephxiii]

This is for brand new formatted clean SSD or hard disks that do not have any trace of win7 on them. You don't have to do what you did and install win7 first. Just install win8 straight on.

Well i didn't have to do anything special, Windows 7 was already installed on my HTPC, i was just replacing it with 8. Good info though.

 

[wpcoe]

Darn. Wish I had followed this thread earlier.

I did a clean install of Win8 Pro on my notebook, was pretty much fnished loading all my apps when I realized Win8 wasn't activated. Then got the message about couldn't be used on clean installs, so started over: Installed Win7, immediately rebooted with Win8 Install and did everything again. I was still prompted to do a telephone activation, which only took about five minutes.

At least, I know what to do when I install Win8 on my desktop.

 

[dagamer34]

well I mean did they try to stonewall you at all for having that key installed on more than 1 machine? Or was it just a matter of going through the process?

Nope, no stonewalling. If I didn't already say this, I downloaded RTM media online and just used my upgrade key, I have no idea if the upgrade copy of Windows 8 has a different key check which prevents you from even installing without detecting a previous install.

 

[ajs_fla]

I was having the same problem of trying to do a fresh install of win8 on a new ssd . Couldn't activate and thought I would look at the forum before I went through install of win7 and then win8. I had used the slmgr rearm before on windows 7 and was glad to see it would still work on windows 8.. Thanks for the help