Help -- Windows Vista & M$ claim my legit key is pirated!

[TommyBlades]

Hi,

I've had this copy of Windows Vista around for a while now. I finally need to install it, but when it asks for the key it claims that the one that's IN THE BOX is wrong.

I called M$ and they said that the key that's IN THE BOX THAT I PURCHASED is a pirated key and was in use on 3700 different machines and was disabled!
The box has never even been opened before now!

How is this possible?
What can I do about it?

 

[tom982]

Hi,

I've had this copy of Windows Vista around for a while now. I finally need to install it, but when it asks for the key it claims that the one that's IN THE BOX is wrong.

I called M$ and they said that the key that's IN THE BOX THAT I PURCHASED is a pirated key and was in use on 3700 different machines and was disabled!
The box has never even been opened before now!

How is this possible?
What can I do about it?

Hello TommyBlades and welcome to the forums

This doesn't sound too good

Where did you buy this copy of Windows from?

As for the cause of this problem, I am guessing that somebody has made a program to generate serial keys (keygen). These programs will create keys that follow an algorithm so that they will be accepted by Windows and then this keygen has been distributed on P2P networks. This will have resulted in many people using serial keys (which may include yours) without you knowing about it.

I don't know if this is correct, but it is certainly possible (unfortunately)

Tom

 

[richc46]

Tom's scenrio is definately a possibility, but what do we do about it? Calling MS, will not help. If the key is not genuine they will not give you much satisifaction.
If purchased from an individual or at EBay, again, you are out of luck.
If purchased from a reputable store, BestBuy, Etc. Bring your documentation in and they will make good for the problem.

 

[niemiro]

Hello,

As said above, it all comes down to where you purchased your copy of Windows from. I do not necessarily think it is a keygen, because, as far as I am aware, there are no true keygens for Windows (not wanting to go and verify this, and get caught by my ISP for "researching" this)

Richard

 

[Dwarf]

Unfortunately, it is a fact of life that where there are programs (and OSes) that utilise product keys for security/registration/activation, there will be keygens available for them. My advice is to give these a wide berth (don't touch them with a bargepole) and instead buy only genuine software with genuine keys. The main reason is that by using genuine software and keys, you have support from the manufacturer. Use of a keygen will not give you support from the manufacturer, as they don't support non-genuine software. In addition, the use of such programs leaves your system wide open to attack from unscrupulous people as they often install trojans and other malware at the same time as supposedly activating your software. Indeed, some of their websites are reported as being dangerous and are actively blocked by MBAM (Malware Bytes).