Help -- Windows Vista & M$ claim my legit key is pirated!

T

TommyBlades

New Member
Hi,

I've had this copy of Windows Vista around for a while now. I finally need to install it, but when it asks for the key it claims that the one that's IN THE BOX is wrong.

I called M$ and they said that the key that's IN THE BOX THAT I PURCHASED is a pirated key and was in use on 3700 different machines and was disabled!
The box has never even been opened before now!

How is this possible?
What can I do about it?
 

My Computer

System One

TommyBlades said:
Hi,

I've had this copy of Windows Vista around for a while now. I finally need to install it, but when it asks for the key it claims that the one that's IN THE BOX is wrong.

I called M$ and they said that the key that's IN THE BOX THAT I PURCHASED is a pirated key and was in use on 3700 different machines and was disabled!
The box has never even been opened before now!

How is this possible?
What can I do about it?
Click to expand...

Hello TommyBlades and welcome to the forums :party:

This doesn't sound too good :(

Where did you buy this copy of Windows from?

As for the cause of this problem, I am guessing that somebody has made a program to generate serial keys (keygen). These programs will create keys that follow an algorithm so that they will be accepted by Windows and then this keygen has been distributed on P2P networks. This will have resulted in many people using serial keys (which may include yours) without you knowing about it.

I don't know if this is correct, but it is certainly possible (unfortunately)

Tom
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Build #1
    CPU
    Intel Core i7 3770K @4.4GHz
    Motherboard
    ASUS P8Z77-V PRO
    Memory
    Corsair Vengeance 2x4GB DDR3 1600MHz Low Profile (White)
    Graphics card(s)
    Gigabyte Radeon HD 7850 (2GB GDDR5)
    Sound Card
    Integrated on motherboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    23" LG LCD/LED IPS
    Screen Resolution
    1920*1080
    Hard Drives
    Samsung EVO 128GB SSD Seagate Barracuda 2TB 7200rpm 2x500GB Seagate FreeAgent 5400rpm
    PSU
    Corsair TX650W V2 (80+ Bronze)
    Case
    NZXT Phantom 410
    Cooling
    Corsair H100 Water Cooler, 1x140mm and 1x120mm stock fans
    Mouse
    Microsoft Desktop 2000 Wireless Mouse
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Desktop 2000 Wireless Keyboard
    Internet Speed
    95 Mb/s Download 70 Mb/s Upload
Tom's scenrio is definately a possibility, but what do we do about it? Calling MS, will not help. If the key is not genuine they will not give you much satisifaction.
If purchased from an individual or at EBay, again, you are out of luck.
If purchased from a reputable store, BestBuy, Etc. Bring your documentation in and they will make good for the problem.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS420
    Memory
    6 gig
    Graphics card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD3650 256 MB
    Sound Card
    Intergrated 7.1 Channel Audio
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dell SP2009W 20 inch Flat Panel w Webcam
    Hard Drives
    640 gb
    Cooling
    Fan
    Mouse
    Dell USB 4 button optical
    Keyboard
    Dell USB
    Other Info
    DSL provided by ATT
Hello,

As said above, it all comes down to where you purchased your copy of Windows from. I do not necessarily think it is a keygen, because, as far as I am aware, there are no true keygens for Windows (not wanting to go and verify this, and get caught by my ISP for "researching" this)

Richard
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dell XPS 420
    CPU
    Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 2.50GHz
    Motherboard
    Stock Dell 0TP406
    Memory
    4 gb (DDR2 800) 400MHz
    Graphics card(s)
    ATI Radeon HD 3870 (512 MBytes)
    Sound Card
    Onboard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 x Dell 2007FP and 1 x (old) Sonic flat screen
    Screen Resolution
    1600 x 1200 and 1280 x 1204
    Hard Drives
    1 x 640Gb (SATA 300) Western Digital: WDC WD6400AAKS-75A7B0 1 x 1Tb (SATA 600) Western Digital: Caviar Black, SATA 6GB/S, 64Mb cache, 8ms Western Digital: WDC WD1002FAEX-00Z3A0 ATA Device
    PSU
    Stock PSU - 375W
    Case
    Dell XPS 420
    Cooling
    Stock Fan
    Mouse
    Advent Optical ADE-WG01 (colour change light up)
    Keyboard
    Dell Bluetooth
    Internet Speed
    120 kb/s
    Other Info
    ASUS USB 3.0 5Gbps/SATA 6Gbps - PCI-Express Combo Controller Card (U3S6)
Unfortunately, it is a fact of life that where there are programs (and OSes) that utilise product keys for security/registration/activation, there will be keygens available for them. My advice is to give these a wide berth (don't touch them with a bargepole) and instead buy only genuine software with genuine keys. The main reason is that by using genuine software and keys, you have support from the manufacturer. Use of a keygen will not give you support from the manufacturer, as they don't support non-genuine software. In addition, the use of such programs leaves your system wide open to attack from unscrupulous people as they often install trojans and other malware at the same time as supposedly activating your software. Indeed, some of their websites are reported as being dangerous and are actively blocked by MBAM (Malware Bytes).
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Dwarf Dwf/11/2012 r09/2013
    CPU
    Intel Core-i5-3570K 4-core @ 3.4GHz (Ivy Bridge) (OC 4.2GHz)
    Motherboard
    ASRock Z77 Extreme4-M
    Memory
    4 x 4GB DDR3-1600 Corsair Vengeance CMZ8GX3M2A1600C9B (16GB)
    Graphics card(s)
    MSI GeForce GTX770 Gaming OC 2GB
    Sound Card
    Realtek High Definition on board solution (ALC 898)
    Monitor(s) Displays
    ViewSonic VA1912w Widescreen
    Screen Resolution
    1440x900
    Hard Drives
    OCZ Agility 3 120GB SATA III x2 (RAID 0) Samsung HD501LJ 500GB SATA II x2 Hitachi HDS721010CLA332 1TB SATA II Iomega 1.5TB Ext USB 2.0 WD 2.0TB Ext USB 3.0
    PSU
    XFX Pro Series 850W Semi-Modular
    Case
    Gigabyte IF233
    Cooling
    1 x 120mm Front Inlet 1 x 120mm Rear Exhaust
    Mouse
    Microsoft Comfort Mouse 3000 for Business (USB)
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Comfort Curve Keyboard 3000 (USB)
    Internet Speed
    NetGear DG834Gv3 ADSL Modem/Router (Ethernet) ~4.0 Mb/s (O2)
    Other Info
    Optical Drive: HL-DT-ST BD-RE BH10LS30 SATA Bluray Lexmark S305 Printer/Scanner/Copier (USB) WEI Score: 8.1/8.1/8.5/8.5/8.25 Asus Eee PC 1011PX Netbook (Windows 7 x86 Starter)
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