Windows 10

I_have_spoken

My windows 7 seems to be counterfeit, and can't be activated.

Not the news you wanted to hear.

If scammers installed a dodgy Windows 7, they probably jiggered about with it to hide the fact and prevent it contacting Microsoft for updates etc.

Those "Windows 7 Refurbishment" keys (COA) can be OK, I've bought from Amazon and Ebay and they activated OK (and subsequently upgraded to Windows 10 too).

If your laptop was Vista era, I'd be thinking about replacing once Windows 10 devices are in the retail shops.

spud17

Up_For_Grabs wrote: »

My personal opinion is, it's terrible.

So it looks like your problems are actually nothing to do with Win 10?

NiftyDigits

LavenderBees wrote: »

Hmmmm....ok....I think this may be the problem!

My windows 7 seems to be counterfeit, and can't be activated. I assume this is why Windows 10 wasn't happy!

I'm back on Windows 7 now, but if it isn't genuine, I'm not happy either. I was on Vista a few years back but paid someone to change it to 7 for me. Seems not to have been the best decision.

What would be the best way to move forward from this - buy a genuine windows 7 and upload it - would I need to uninstall this counterfeit or will it all just "work" with a new genuine version.

Or should I buy 8.1 and same question about what do I do to get rid of the counterfeit version 7.

Once that is sorted, hopefully, I'll be able to go to Windows 10 more cleanly in future.

I can feel my life force draining away with all these unexpected problems :rotfl: ...all I want is a home laptop I can use...but I prefer to be legal, that's for sure!

Thanking you, kindly

LB xx

Before you purchase anything, back up your important data.
What is the brand name and full model number of your machine?

enfield_freddy

stockton wrote: »

If Windows 7 wasn't genuine I wonder how come it did not let you know before? Just saying, because you could buy a product key from ebay (I got three for £45) and that may not solve the problem. (If it is something else, if you see what I mean.


If you click on the start menu and then right click on Computer and go to Properties you should see whether the copy is activated.


I tried to use the ISO to force an install of Windows 10 and it soon asked me for a product key. I input the Windows 7 product key which (Windows 7) recognises as genuine) but it refused to have it. It would not proceed with the upgrade. I understand that the new Windows 10 product key is a totally different entity from the Windows 7 product key.


Nevertheless Windows 10 updater is trying to download the files to my computer. The updater is reporting another (failed) attempt to download the files today, (I was out most of the day and the computer was switched off).


I am only going to upgrade when I get the authorisation and go-ahead from Microsoft. Presumably they would not go through the hassle of giving you the upgrade if they had not previously satisfied themselves that your copy of Windows 7 is genuine.


Your problems could lie elsewhere.

1: you do not use the iso to do an update to win 10


you do the upgrade , that then register's your machine with Microsoft
then
2: you load a clean copy of win 10 , you can skip the serial numbers , that is for a NEW MACHINE , yours is already registered with Microsoft




" Presumably they would not go through the hassle of giving you the upgrade if they had not previously satisfied themselves that your copy of Windows 7 is genuine."


yes they will , but your copy of win 10 will not be registered either , and after a month , your kittens will start dieing , one a week every Saturday at teatime

stockton_2

enfield_freddy wrote: »

1: you do not use the iso to do an update to win 10


you do the upgrade , that then register's your machine with Microsoft
then
2: you load a clean copy of win 10 , you can skip the serial numbers , that is for a NEW MACHINE , yours is already registered with Microsoft

" Presumably they would not go through the hassle of giving you the upgrade if they had not previously satisfied themselves that your copy of Windows 7 is genuine."

yes they will , but your copy of win 10 will not be registered either , and after a month , your kittens will start dieing , one a week every Saturday at teatime

Thanks Freddy. Nice to have posters on here who know their stuff and have a good sense of humour as well.

stockton_2

Well, I thought I had cracked it. Downloaded the Media Creation Tool and started the upgrade procedure. All went well. Windows 10 started to install on my PC. Suddenly (about 30% of the way through the upgrade) I got the following message.


"We could not install Windows 10. We have set your PC back to the way it was before you started installing Windows 10.


0xC1900101 0x30018


The install failed in the FIRST_BOOT phase with an error during SYSPREP operation.


Oh well! Two more PC's to go.

custardy

stockton wrote: »

Well, I thought I had cracked it. Downloaded the Media Creation Tool and started the upgrade procedure. All went well. Windows 10 started to install on my PC. Suddenly (about 30% of the way through the upgrade) I got the following message.


"We could not install Windows 10. We have set your PC back to the way it was before you started installing Windows 10.


0xC1900101 0x30018


The install failed in the FIRST_BOOT phase with an error during SYSPREP operation.


Oh well! Two more PC's to go.

seems an easy one

Fix Windows 10 0xc1900101-0x30018 Error

Follow the below steps then restart the installation, whether from the Windows 10 ISO or the auto update.

Disable all AV and Malware scanning temporarily.
Disable the Windows firewall AND and 3rd party firewall.
If you have any USB devices attached, remove them all BAR the keyboard and mouse.
Restart the install.

stinky_daddy

How much space does the W10 update take up initially?

I only ask, as I only have 3.55GB (of 119GB) of free space available (I have previously defragmented this drive and moved various items to another drive and got them working again) on the drive that my current (W7) sits on (presumably once W10 is downloaded / installed, then I can remove W7 or is this done automatically and this will free up some space as well)?

I do have the option of putting the update onto a different drive on my system and then transferring it across (is that a good idea even)?

TIA

s-d

custardy

stinky_daddy wrote: »

How much space does the W10 update take up initially?

I only ask, as I only have 3.55GB (of 119GB) of free space available (I have previously defragmented this drive and moved various items to another drive and got them working again) on the drive that my current (W7) sits on (presumably once W10 is downloaded / installed, then I can remove W7 or is this done automatically and this will free up some space as well)?

I do have the option of putting the update onto a different drive on my system and then transferring it across (is that a good idea even)?

TIA

s-d

Get at least 10GB free
As it is your drive is over filled. W7 is retained,so windows needs space to move stuff around.

Fightsback

stinky_daddy wrote: »

How much space does the W10 update take up initially?

I only ask, as I only have 3.55GB (of 119GB) of free space available (I have previously defragmented this drive and moved various items to another drive and got them working again) on the drive that my current (W7) sits on (presumably once W10 is downloaded / installed, then I can remove W7 or is this done automatically and this will free up some space as well)?

I do have the option of putting the update onto a different drive on my system and then transferring it across (is that a good idea even)?

TIA

s-d

You need to sort that drive out, more than 80% full starts to seriously degrade performance, consider upgrading to a bigger drive if you use that much space. It must be running horribly already.