Originally posted by: PurdueRy
Originally posted by: tbooth
Originally posted by: PurdueRy
No, read what me and Crab posted. As of right now, there is no need to preinstall windows then reinstall it again. Just install...go into control panel...and register. That's it.
I tried earlier entering the product key after the installation finished by right-clicking "computer" and going to properties on an empty HD and it didn't work. Is there something different than this in control panel?
Nope I simply clicked "activate windows" by searching in the search box for "register". Worked first try. Out of curiosity when you installed, did you click "upgrade" or advanced install? I chose the latter. Just in case we did that differently.
I did a custom install both times. I didn't click activate windows because I hadn't entered a product key at that point (well, I did but it wouldn't proceed with the install untill I left it blank). I clicked "change product key" and it told me that I couldn't use an upgrade key.
If you have any previous version of Windows installed when you get to the part of the custom install where you select a partition it will consider that an upgrade (apparently) and your upgrade key will work fine even if you delete that partition. I was unable to get my key to work during the first install on a clean drive (I ran DBAN quick erase on the drive first). I installed Windows 7 3 times and the only times it worked were when I had a previous install on the drive. On a brand new drive it didn't work for me at all.