Windows 7 Refurbished Reinstall

Forums › Microsoft Windows › Windows 7 Refurbished Reinstall

Xeon

279 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 165764 19-Feb-2015 21:29

Hi,
I'm wanting to do a reinstall on a friend's computer. It has a Windows 7 Pro for Refurbished sticker but no product key on it. I can get the iso from my Dreamspark Premium subscription but I'd rather not use my key from there if possible.

Is the only option to try track down who refurbished and obtain the key from them? Or am I missing something. Only code on it is a 5-3-3-3 format code.

Cheers

Dairyxox

1493 posts

Uber Geek

# 1242633 19-Feb-2015 21:40

If the computer still boots you can suck the existing key out with a tool if you google "nirsoft" and "produkey"

CYaBro

3170 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

# 1242656 19-Feb-2015 22:01

As part of the requirements to sell Windows refurbished licenses on computers you have to supply a recovery DVD and the print out with the product key on it.
Did you friend not get those?

MikeB4

14252 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Subscriber

# 1242658 19-Feb-2015 22:03

If it is using EUFI the key maybe encoded in the UFI

Mike
Retired IT Manager.
The views stated in my posts are my personal views and not that of any other organisation.

There is no planet B

1101

1912 posts

Uber Geek

# 1243055 20-Feb-2015 14:03

CYaBro: As part of the requirements to sell Windows refurbished licenses on computers you have to supply a recovery DVD and the print out with the product key on it.
Did you friend not get those?

All the refurbs our company has bought had a printout of the key, often not the DVD though.
I'd bet that the printout of the key is well & truly lost buy now .
If you extract the key from Win (easy) Im pretty sure you need a matching Install DVD , the usual install DVD's wont work with that key.

Xeon

279 posts

Ultimate Geek

# 1243379 21-Feb-2015 02:04

Dairyxox: If the computer still boots you can suck the existing key out with a tool if you google "nirsoft" and "produkey"

Will give it a try, have tried it before and remember it not working with XP though.

CYaBro: As part of the requirements to sell Windows refurbished licenses on computers you have to supply a recovery DVD and the print out with the product key on it.
Did you friend not get those?

It was a computer supplied for free to the CIH program and in turn to the family so doubtful at best.

KiwiNZ: If it is using EUFI the key maybe encoded in the UFI

I forgot about this feature, but it was running Vista/7 and no UEFI sadly.

1101: All the refurbs our company has bought had a printout of the key, often not the DVD though.
I'd bet that the printout of the key is well & truly lost buy now .
If you extract the key from Win (easy) Im pretty sure you need a matching Install DVD , the usual install DVD's wont work with that key.

Isn't there just a few config parameters you change in the ISO to accept OEM keys?

Hm, might just have to use a Dreamspark Premium key once I regain access to it.

nathan

5173 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

Microsoft

# 1243447 21-Feb-2015 09:02

KiwiNZ: If it is using EUFI the key maybe encoded in the UFI

UEFI and since this is relatively new, its unlikely to be UEFI hardware on an old refurb machine I reckon

Gozer

168 posts

Master Geek

# 1243454 21-Feb-2015 09:14

Isn't there just a few config parameters you change in the ISO to accept OEM keys?

Hm, might just have to use a Dreamspark Premium key once I regain access to it.

yup Click here