Suddenly my laptop claims my copy of Windows is "not genuine"....HELP!

I woke up today to find that my laptop (a Toshiba L455D) is suddenly telling me that my copy of Windows 7 is not genuine. I bought this cp new, around 4 years ago....nothing has been changed in regards to windows, especially recently. In the lower right hand corner of the screen is this "Windows 7 Build 7601 This copy of Windows is not genuine"

HELP!!

I am afraid to turn of the cp out of fears that it will not come back on. At that point, I will be reduced to trying to fix this thing via my cell (not fun)

Any assistance would be GREATLY appreciated.

I'm no expert, but I'd go to the microsoft website and look for help, maybe try running updates.

a reply to: Jakal26

Heres what came up when I googled your error message:

Search result

originally posted by: Jakal26
I woke up today to find that my laptop (a Toshiba L455D) is suddenly telling me that my copy of Windows 7 is not genuine. I bought this cp new, around 4 years ago....nothing has been changed in regards to windows, especially recently. In the lower right hand corner of the screen is this "Windows 7 Build 7601 This copy of Windows is not genuine"

HELP!!

I am afraid to turn of the cp out of fears that it will not come back on. At that point, I will be reduced to trying to fix this thing via my cell (not fun)

Any assistance would be GREATLY appreciated.

I am a certified IT professional. You will be able to turn the system on and off freely and it won't stop you from using it. But you cannot change the background and that kind of stuff.

On the bottom of the laptop, or under the battery there should be a label that has your Windows product key. There should be an option to activate Windows and you can type in that product key to see if it works. All computer manufacturers are required by law to provide a CoA and resellers are bound by the same laws.

If that doesn't work then your best bet is to reach out to MS since it is their product key that is not working.

Here is some information on activate WIndows:
windows.microsoft.com...=windows-7

a reply to: VoxVirtus

Thank you. Knowing that I can freely turn this thing off and on takes a LOT off my mind.

Before checking this thread for updates, I was reading about where to find the Windows product key.....went into the control panel and was told it "wasn't available"....glad to know it is on the machine.

Am about to check out the link now....again, thank you.

I had that problem once.

System restore is a quick tool that reverses weird goings on.

one of the best tricks is to take a photo of the MS key when you first get the machine just in case as it soon wears out after a while sat on peoples laps, but normally major brands use slic to authenticate so the 25 char key is of no use (pretty much) as there is a hardcoded key in the version of windows+some values in the bios will allow it to auto authenticate, but even so you should be able to ring up MS and use their automated line to reauthenticate

a reply to: loveguy

Oddly enough, my cp is claiming "no restore points have been created on this cp".
I know that isn't true. I have, in the past, restored at previous points....that is strange.

A lot of computer manufacturers online will re-use what is known as a Volume License key for their Windows installations. Most of the time, they are using it improperly. When Microsoft does audits of their registrations, they shut off keys that may have been abused or used improperly. Unfortunately, this is the fault of the sellers and re-sellers, not the consumers, but when you reach out to either the seller or Microsoft, they will tell you to purchase a valid key.

Don't be surprised if this is the case with your laptop, it's been happening for years.

Another thing that can cause a similar problem is if you make any serious changes to hardware. The Windows Activation is based on a generated key that comes from the combination of hardware you use, so when you change any large part on your computer, it can end up causing a re-activation or registration. Microsoft allows for this to happen up to ( I think ) 5 times or 5 hardware changes, and then you have to call them.

You'll be able to use your computer for a period of time, but it will eventually stop letting you log in, usually after 30 days.

~Namaste

a reply to: VoxVirtus

Windows was "activated" when I first bought this cp.
At the link you provided, I was told to go into the cp system properties. It claimed I would find a something that said "activate Windows now"......It isn't there.

?

(I am not cp savvy, but not illiterate here....in the least. Am I overlooking it?)

a reply to: SonOfTheLawOfOne

This is the case, I am afraid. Trying to remain positive and find a fix but am leaning more and more towards what you said....

This makes me angry (I will refrain from subjecting folk to my soapbox microsoft rant)

I have not made any major (nor too many minor) changes to the cp in a while.....

My adobe flash player seemed corrupted.....wasn't functioning right. I uninstalled and reinstalled it this morning (after all these problems started). Very doubtful it had anything at all to do with the issue we are discussing here....but maybe the reason for my problems with the flash player in the first place?)

Assuming the laptop has its restore partition it might be worth backing up everything of importance and then restoring it back to factory fresh state, theres times when it can be fixed easily and other times its easier to just restart from scratch

a reply to: Maxatoria

I am thinking it will come to that (hope not, it is a pain I don't really have time for).

Thanks for the advice.

ETA: When I go to system restore, it asks me to create a restore point. How would I go finding the restore "partition" (as you called it....in that regard, I am illiterate...lol. Clarification possibly? Thanks in advance)

OP, I sent you a u2u, please check it out when you get free time. Thanks.

To try to reactivate using command prompt, type cmd in the search box in your windows menu and right click, select run as administrator. Then type the following command "slmgr.vbs /ato"

This will try reactivating using the stored product key, if this fails run this command in the same command prompt window.

slmgr.vbs -ipk xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx replacing the x's with the product key that you found on the sticker at the bottom of your laptop.

Once you have done that command retry the original command i posted and it should reactivate, if not you can phone microsoft activation support who will assist you on a toll free number.

a reply to: Jakal26

The same thing happened to me and nothing worked except to pay their fee to make the "copy" legitimate and get a new key.

I've seen this issue before and your laptop product key is ok but there has been some corruption of the windows genuine files the most common error is slc.dll getting corrupted.

To try remedy this issue if the manual activation fails is to 1st run the following command from the command prompt I described in my post above & typing chkdsk c: /f where C drive is the drive with your windows files. It may ask to reboot to complete the command, go ahead and do that.
If that doesn't resolve the issue run the following command sfc /scannow, make sure you have your original windows media handy as it may need to restore corrupt copies. Reboot and see if you are activated.

I've got 20 years experience as an Infrastructure Support Analyst at all the major oil companies so you can trust me.

a reply to: mclarenmp4

Done it.....had to use the product key that I found.

Got this...

"On a computer running Microsoft Windows non-core edition, run 'slui.exe0x2a0x80070241' to display the error text.
Error: ox80070241"


A sort of dumb question, but just in case....Should I use the dashes when entering the product key? I see that you used them....e.g xxxx-xxxx
I used them, if that has any relevance....just want to be sure.

missing restore points?

The Easy Fix

If you’re lucky, it may just be that you don’t have System Restore set up correctly. To check on that status, see if Volume Shadow Copy (VSS) and Windows Backup Services are running and set to automatic in Services Console.

To do this, take the following steps.

Click on Start, type Services in Start Search. When the Services page is open, scroll the page to find Volume Shadow Copy and Backup Service.
Right click on them and check if they are started.
If the services are disabled, click to start the services and set them to Automatic.
By default, both services should already be on and set to Automatic for your primary partition, but I’ve seen incidents where they haven’t been. I suspect, but haven’t been able to prove, that the services have been turned off by malware. You should also keep in mind that VSS won’t work on FAT32 formatted partitions.

a reply to: loveguy

The VSS was indeed, off. I started the service and then went to check out system restore. The only restore point seems to be from a few hours ago (after the problem started)......still, there are no other restore points.....