The hard drive on my pc failed, taking the OS with it. The manufacturer was out of buisness. I have the licence sticker but MS won't support me so I don't consider getting it running again by any means 'thieft'.

If you have the licence sticker, you have a valid licence. Easily solved by preserving pre-activation status or by telephone activation.

Would have that fixed and activated legitimately in no time at all.

Absolutely no reason for you to run a compromised OS....and no reason for you to have to pay to get it sorted.

If you are in the same position, furnish the details and I'll sort it out for you.

Thanks JJ. I looked into it, but the MS website said I had to have a 'real' Windows copy, rather than an OEM version. Probably not worth bothering with as I have been using the replacement for years and the pc is just about ready for the skip.

The hard drive on my pc failed, taking the OS with it. The manufacturer was out of buisness. I have the licence sticker but MS won't support me so I don't consider getting it running again by any means 'thieft'.

If you have the licence sticker, you have a valid licence. Easily solved by preserving pre-activation status or by telephone activation.

Would have that fixed and activated legitimately in no time at all.

Absolutely no reason for you to run a compromised OS....and no reason for you to have to pay to get it sorted.

If you are in the same position, furnish the details and I'll sort it out for you.

Thanks JJ. I looked into it, but the MS website said I had to have a 'real' Windows copy, rather than an OEM version. Probably not worth bothering with as I have been using the replacement for years and the pc is just about ready for the skip.

All that is just nonsense. If you had a legitimate licence OEM or otherwise, it's a simple issue to install and activate the OS.

Genuine Versions of windows can be downloaded from digitalriver microsofts electronic distribution channel. Never had a problem properly activating them.

The hard drive on my pc failed, taking the OS with it. The manufacturer was out of buisness. I have the licence sticker but MS won't support me so I don't consider getting it running again by any means 'thieft'.

If you have the licence sticker, you have a valid licence. Easily solved by preserving pre-activation status or by telephone activation.

Would have that fixed and activated legitimately in no time at all.

Absolutely no reason for you to run a compromised OS....and no reason for you to have to pay to get it sorted.

If you are in the same position, furnish the details and I'll sort it out for you.

Thanks JJ. I looked into it, but the MS website said I had to have a 'real' Windows copy, rather than an OEM version. Probably not worth bothering with as I have been using the replacement for years and the pc is just about ready for the skip.

All that is just nonsense. If you had a legitimate licence OEM or otherwise, it's a simple issue to install and activate the OS.

How? I'm a bit computer savvy but I couldnt find it. A copy from a friend was a lot easier.

The hard drive on my pc failed, taking the OS with it. The manufacturer was out of buisness. I have the licence sticker but MS won't support me so I don't consider getting it running again by any means 'thieft'.

If you have the licence sticker, you have a valid licence. Easily solved by preserving pre-activation status or by telephone activation.

Would have that fixed and activated legitimately in no time at all.

Absolutely no reason for you to run a compromised OS....and no reason for you to have to pay to get it sorted.

If you are in the same position, furnish the details and I'll sort it out for you.

Thanks JJ. I looked into it, but the MS website said I had to have a 'real' Windows copy, rather than an OEM version. Probably not worth bothering with as I have been using the replacement for years and the pc is just about ready for the skip.

All that is just nonsense. If you had a legitimate licence OEM or otherwise, it's a simple issue to install and activate the OS.

How? I'm a bit computer savvy but I couldnt find it. A copy from a friend was a lot easier.

You haven't furnished the details, so how can I answer your question?

OK, for those of you who have a Windows serial sticker and cannot persuade the system to activate:

1. Ensure you have installed the same version of Windows that the sticker is for.
2. When on-line activation fails choose the option for telephone activation.
3. Follow the instructions, the MS people are very helpful, I've had cause to call them several times and always got a result.

even if you turn updates off, microsoft can still detect bunk software.

I run a tainted copy of Win 7 Enterprise and updates are set to auto (not auto install though) and nothing nasty from MS has ever popped up.

OK chaps, since we now seem to be heading in the wrong direction with discussion of illegal activities this thread is closed.