Brute force against M$ activation server to get the 'secret'....? I am sure it'll stop responding when hammering with the same IP address. @OP Why do you want to archive the COA serial? It makes no sense....it had been OEM:SLP activated either way, the COA serial had been issued additionally in case of a mb replacement with a BIOS without SLIC. As long as you can legally activate against the SLIC (OEM:SLP) it makes no sense to want to have the COA serial archived.
I like to keep a database of all my keys. And I already contacted MS support to see if I could get a new COA.
I wish you luck there M$ really tightened up on oem:coa activation after they learned their lesson with XP you may need proof of purchase
That sounds reasonable. "secret": This is a secret value verified when using online activation or phone activation. You can calculate (brute force) valid keys which don't activate online..OK at least you would have to try those online alone. You mean 'only' 8 are missing? One could BF any combination (valid characters) until PID checker throws out an valid COA. This'd need automation and a relative fast response in your case (optimisation of response). ~150 keys take here at work PC 40 seconds depending on PC performance...means 8153726,976 hours ~930 Years
for the record I helped sandy-bridge to recover his key successfully no fancy hardware just an old LGA775. (well, i admit that i had a lucky guess ) any technical proof behind this? note he had only a few characters unsure of, you are suggesting there exist more than 1 combinations in the first 8 keys that is valid in pidgen but only 1 among which is valid in online check.