Recovering the Windows 7 product key from the Ceritificate of Authenticity

[tomval2k]

Hello

I bought my laptop about a year and a half ago and I noticed recently that my Windows 7 product key that is stuck to the bottom of the laptop has faded beyond what I can read.

I have asked Sony directly for help in the possibility of them retrieving this key from their own records but their main 'concern' was that if I was to replace the hard drive on my laptop that the replacement may not be compatible. To this I call shenanigans.

Basically: is their a way to get from Sony the Windows 7 key that would be the one that is stuck to my laptop. I would have thought it a safe assumption that Sony would keep a record of what stickers they put on what laptops for accounting reasons; and as I can provide both the serial number + proof of purchase I don't see what the problem is.

Thanks,

Tom

[Blencogo]

Hi Tom and welcome.

What do you need the Product Key for?

Your Vaio will have a Sony OEM version of Windows 7 installed and the system Product Key, held internally on your system, will be the same for all similar Vaio models running the same version of Windows as Sony will install the OS using a Volume Product Key. This means that if you retrieve your Key from Windows using something like Belarc Advisor, the Key on the system will be different from the Key on the COA sticker. Belark Advisor will list all your hardware and software including product keys etc.

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

The Key on the COA sticker is not a valid Microsoft activation key and is only of any use if you need to get support from Microsoft direct - to show you have a legal copy of Windows.

If you carry out a full Recovery from the Recovery Partition (or from the Recovery Discs if you are reinstalling the system following a hard drive failure) you will never need to use the Product Key as Windows will activate automatically.

In the good old days of XP, the Product Key on the COA sticker WAS a valid activation key and it was possible to install a retail version of XP and activate it using the Sony Product Key. This meant that piracy was rife so since Vista it is not possible to activate a Clean Install by using the Key on the COA - you would need to telephone Microsoft and explain the situation and hope they will help and agree to activate. With Windows 8 there is NO COA sticker or visible Product Key - another step to try to stop mass piracy.

This means you will never need the COA Key for any legitimate purpose and I doubt if Sony are able tell you the Key that was on the sticker.

[tomval2k]

Thanks Blencogo, at the moment I don't need the product key as everything is working fine. But I was aware that it was completely unreadable and having not yet done an installation of Windows 7 I thought it still behaved like it did for XP, and so wanted it in case I needed it.

I'm kinda planning a dual-boot situation, possibly on a new solid state drive, and so thought that it might come in handy then. It would also have meant I could have installed Windows 7 from a proper install disc rather than using the recovery stuff which would include a whole load of rubbish, bloated and down-right unnecessary programs.