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Out of the blue im getting Windows did not pass genuine windows validation

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Sparkly
Resolved

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Posted December 13, 2012 at 1:18PM

Hi a friend of mine has had his Dell desktop for years now and out of the blue he has been getting a box on start up saying that it had failed the windows genuine validation and clicks the box Resolve where he is taken to the website and this is what he is told,

**Enter a genuine Windows product key. The product key used to activate Windows on your PC is a volume license key that has been blocked by Microsoft.**

He has not had any problems before with this and does not know what to do for the best the only option offerd on thier website is to buy windows 7. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

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lotvic

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Posted December 15, 2012 at 6:47PM

xox101, you seem to be confusing the issue of the product keys. Activation and Validation are two different processes. The Activated key that is used for validation is the one that is on the install on the C:\ drive - the one that Magical Jellybean Keyfinder will find. The OP friend seems to have a VLK at the moment, this is not a Dell Product License key.

There are two more Product keys available, the inbuilt and pre-activated OEM SLP key that is on the Dell re-installation DVD and the Product key that is on the sticker on the case.

Whichever one of the three keys is used will need to go through Validation.

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lotvic

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Posted December 15, 2012 at 6:59PM

For confirmation of info in my posts please read social.microsoft.com/Forums /is/genuinewindowsxp/thread

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xox101

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Posted December 15, 2012 at 7:21PM

I think it was more my wording was wrong rather than me being confused but if I have caused confusion then apologies.

I did of course mean that the three reinstalls I have done over the last few weeks passed online activation as opposed to validation. All three have however also passed validation using the WGA tool when installing software. At no time did I have to ring MS and as I said I haven't had to do so for many years and many installs!

My original comments still stand though. Using Magical Jellybean Keyfinder will find the key and it's type (OEM or Retail) that is being used now. Comparing this to the key on the sticker is the simplest way of working out whether or not the key being used now is the correct one.

If the keys match then it is, if not then it isn't and from there the OP will have to decide what to do.

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xox101

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Posted December 15, 2012 at 7:26PM

Additionally I know we have Dell desktops in work that use VLK's. These machines also have the MS sticker complete with license key but the keys are not used as when the PC's are imaged the VLK is used. Not sure about laptops though so perhaps it depends on where the laptop was bought from (new or secondhand) as to whether the laptop install uses a VLK.

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lotvic

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Posted December 15, 2012 at 8:14PM

"Using Magical Jellybean Keyfinder will find the key and it's type (OEM or Retail) that is being used now."

Correct

"Comparing this to the key on the sticker is the simplest way of working out whether or not the key being used now is the correct one"

Wrong

because the dell oem product key on the sticker is not a Master Royalty SLP key.

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lotvic

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Posted December 15, 2012 at 8:34PM

For further info on my last post social.microsoft.com/Forums although thread is for dell vista it is same for xp.

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lotvic

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Posted December 15, 2012 at 8:38PM

My last word on the Product Keys, this explains in detail how it works, please read it.

Question about Windows product keys

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xox101

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Posted December 15, 2012 at 9:01PM

I stand corrected and thank you for the info. We learn something new every day.

But in all my years of reinstalling Windows on many different makes of both desktop and laptop I have never seen a difference in the key that is reported by Keyfinder and the key that is on the sticker. Also each and every time I have reinstalled Windows using the key on the sticker it has never failed to activate. Perhaps I have just been lucky?

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lotvic

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Posted December 15, 2012 at 10:46PM

xox101, I hadn't intended filling Sparkly's thread with all this info, but as there seems to be some puzzlement I will attempt some form of clarification, I am not an expert in all of the various types of licenses, I have learnt about them as and when needed.

"Perhaps I have just been lucky?"

maybe you had ordinary system builders oem not Royalty SLP (SLIC) oem Master product keys. Windows License Types Explained. and also a little bit about Volume Licensing for organisations as there are different types of VLK.

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Sparkly

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Posted December 16, 2012 at 2:45PM

Hi again thanks for all the advice lotvic used the disc he had all installed ok activation went through and was ok, i downloaded the WGA Tool installed and got an ok from that aswell checked in the system properties and he has the Registerd to XXXX and allso the product ID has numbers and the oem now, thanks to all who have contributed. Sparkly

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