This copy of Windows is not genuine

[Supreme2k]

I know that it may be semantics, but that is utterly incorrect. There is no such thing as a copy of Windows that is "not genuine". A generic $5 pair of shoes with a swoosh painted on the side with modeling paint is not genuine Nike. A pair of Nikes that you borrowed from a friend without asking is still genuine. An illegitimate license does not make a copy of Windows "not genuine". It still has everything that Microsoft put into it.

They should just change that message to "Unlicensed copy" or something similar.

My gripe is because I set up a few OEM Win 7 boxes for people, and they started getting the "not genuine" message less than a week later. I sorted the mess on two of them with a phone call, but the third one is still giving me problems. I was on the phone with MS for a half hour and even spoke to the person who gave me the license, and they still couldn't validate the installation. I ended up having to use a hack (WAT remover) so that the person who I installed it for didn't feel like they had a pirated copy (while we wait for MS to sort this out).

I guess it takes personal experience to make one believe the licensing horror stories.

[redwudz]

Some hacked versions of W7 and Vista use a 'boot loader' to get around the activation requirement, so those versions have be altered to install the boot loader. It runs before the OS runs and tells the system that this is a activated version. The hackers have gotten very good at bypassing MS activation, though W7 was supposed to be very hack resistant. Some versions will update with no problems and MS can't seem to detect them...yet.

[lordsmurf]

Ever since I ran a repair install on my legal copy of Win Vista, it insists it's "not genuine" and asks me to activate it all the time. And then activation fails. Bastards.

I don't have time for this crap, so I just did one of the hacks on it for now. As I understand it, that's a temp solution too, but should give me 6 more months. By then, I'll have found time to just reinstall the OS. I might revert it back to XP, or try Linux. Not a main box anyway.

After 5 minutes with Apu the MS tech in India, I gave up on talking to MS at all.

[Noahtuck]

The hackers have gotten very good at bypassing MS activation, though W7 was supposed to be very hack resistant. Some versions will update with no problems and MS can't seem to detect them...yet.

LMAO!!!

I don't use W7, but i know people who do and have since before the "official" release date and have yet to have 1 single problem.

As for the BS about the legit copies of windows screwing up and talking to e-machines, M$, and them wanting more $$$ for a second legit copy when the first is legit, screw them crooks!!

I've had that issue before on more than one occasion that i have posted about on here.

[northcat_8]

Always amusing when Microsoft spends so much time and money trying to make sure people buy their software rather than pirate it. Same with the MPAA really. I just think it's funny when a new movie or software comes out with new encryption and less than 2 days later some guy somewhere has cracked it, written a patch or program and has it posted on the internet. LOL.

It's like locking your doors but leaving your windows open - sure it has to be lifted up and they have to climb in rather than walk in...but seriously, that's not really slowing anyone down.

My copy of XP was legal, then somehow wasn't genuine anymore, I reinstalled - code rejected. After a while of trying to be "legal" about it, I ended up just downloading the hack and still use it to this day on my XP machine, and I also stopped downloading the "Genuine" update.