As title said, my previous installation getting slowed down so I decided to refresh it. Things went smoothly, until the "add product key" step - I skipped it, only to find out later my copy is not activated! Now I'm left without inactivated Windows 8 and have no clue how to reactivate it, as I bought my key by using a trick to upgrade a random windows 7 product key to shave off $25 (by upgrade assistant). I tried to search the inbox but the only email I found contained the promotion code to upgrade to windows 8 :\ Please help.
hey, its not helpful. I refreshed it just fine 2 months ago. In fact I refresh my installation so often I dont even think of it being blocked at all. edit: oh and I forgot i just upgraded to windows 8 2 days ago with this very key -.-'
@kronpas: The title of your thread is misleading, your product key is not blocked, you are just unable to find/remember what is your product key. Based on your description, your upgrade wasn't a "trick" but a legitimate Windows 7 to Windows 8 upgrade. Try and find any proof of purchase you have (invoice, credit card bill, whatever) and phone up Microsoft. They will help you out if you can prove your purchase.
Well, its "blocked" as thats what I read on the screen. Anyhow, I guess I'm out of luck since I cant for the life of me remember the original Win 7 key I used to upgrade it. It might even be a random win key I got from this forum's loader lol. Will try the OEM key on my old laptop when I pull it out of the junk house tmr. Thank for the help guys. A lesion learned. $15 for a year's use is worth it still
You said that when you refreshed, you chose to skip the step when asked for a product key. This means that Windows has inserted a generic, default key for you, and is NOT using your own personal product key. The "blocked" message you are getting is because of this: the generic key is blocked and can't be used for activation. Your own personal product key (should you ever recover it) is still fine and not blocked. I would strongly suggest you try and look for any form of confirmation of your purchase (email or whatever), even if it doesn't contain the product key. Phone up Microsoft and talk to them, giving whatever details you can from that email. If you purchased a product key, you are fully entitled to it, and you shouldn't let go of it. The current retail value of a Windows 8 Pro product key is around $150, so just because you only paid $15 for it, doesn't mean your loss is small.
edit: Didnt think its went up to over $100 . And yeah, I skipped product insertion step when reinstall Windows, assuming it used my current legit code. Thank for your $100 worth of help kelorgo. I digged into mail box once again and this time manually opened every single mail containing "Microsoft". Turned out the code was in a mail with subject written in Thai for whatever reason. //solved. Thank again!