So I am readying my 3.06ghz C2D MSI lappy for sale and I took out my SSD and put a 7200hdd back in. Downloaded an ISO from Digital River.. 64 bit. Used the Microsoft Install Tool and put it on a thumb drive. Installed .. blah blah blah.. During the install I was asked for the key.. I turned the lappy upside down but could not distiguish if 2 digits were 0's or Q's.. so i skipped ahead. After completing the install I thought.. "Why don't I just install Magic Jellybean Keyfinder" to find out whether the digits were 0's or Q's.. I wasn't sure if I could find a magnifying glass in the house.. or even if a magnifying glass would be able to distiguish the digit correctly anyway. So that's what I did... Boom ! THE KEYS ARE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT !! I am very disheartened by this.. The MSI came with Windows 7 from the factory.. The Digital River ISO is likely a Retail image while the comp came with OEM Win 7... this used to not really be an issue. There is no advantage to a Retail ISO other than it being void of the factory Bloatware..which I would have removed from an OEM disc install anyway. What is going on here? I have no interest in getting into an incorrect key situation with Microsoft.. I need my copy of Win7 validated quickly so I can put the MSI for sale quickly.. my new lappy has already arrived. I need some help/guidance here.
I could also add that if you skipped entering the key then keyfinder is probably showing you the default manufacturing key for the image you've used. You can not activate with the default keys but have to enter the coa under your lappy... Since your notebook came pre installed, the bios contains a slic 2.1 marker. You can pre-activate it my installing OEM slp key as Oz suggested & installing the MSI certificate. If that's to hard, just run the loader & it will install both for you.