I have a retail version of Win7 and I was wondering if I delete the ei.cfg will it allow me to use my oem key I have to activate it? THANKS
If the edition matches (eg: you have a Home premium retail DVD, and a Home Premium OEM key) you do not need to do anything, just enter the key.
This is what the ei.cfg says: Code: [EditionID] HomePremium [Channel] Retail [VL] 0 And this is what the bottom of my laptop sticker key says: Windows 7 Home Premium OA Acer Group If I try to activate it online it won't let me, but if I call the toll free number and do it over the phone it does work. But I'd like to be able to get it to activate over the internet instead of needing to call all the time. THANKS
Well removing it doesn't do anything other then allowing you to pick what version you want to install. I guess I'm going to need either an OEM version or an Acer OEM version so it will activate over the internet instead of needing to call to activate it...
the COA keys only activate over phone period. Any edition of 7 takes any key for its edition be it retail or oem slp or oem coa
People really need to understand there are 2 types of key with the name OEM key:- Royalty OEM SLP(system locked preinstallation) which work with SLIC BIOS tables and matching certificates; and, So called OEM keys which are really just over the net activation limited retail keys. All that matters is if you don't want to buy a key you have to use any method that uses SLIC activation (BIOS mod or loader) or one of the patching methods. This is really very simple and has been stated here thousands of times
Got it... I reinstalled my system with the recover cds and used the SLIC Dump Toolkit and backed up my key and cert and then used the Professional x64 iso off of DigitalRiver that I put on a USB stick to boot, deleting the ei.cfg so I could pick Home Premium and now I'm golden. THANKS
Any of the keys will install regardless of media, activation is another matter. 1. Retail full version can install as upgrade or custom, ugrade can only install as an upgrade (cough, cough). Activate online or by phone, Too many activations will cause you to have to phone activate 2. SLP key will install just like the retail full however it will NOT activate without cert and slic 3. COA (stand for COver your Ass) is the last resort for someone who has lost a HDD or has no restoration media on an OEM computer, you must perform unnatural sex acts over the phone with someone in India in order to get activated. You can even install with no key, install the key later then activate according to the keys requirements.