Illegible Windows product key

Purchased a Lenovo Thinkpad x200 on eBay. The listing stated it came with a Vista Business key. Unfortunately one group of the five digits are faded on the Windows sticker.

There's no OS so I can't get the key any other way. Don't suppose there's any way to read it? Something that might show the letters up again?

PropJoe10

Deleted User wrote: »

Purchased a Lenovo Thinkpad x200 on eBay. The listing stated it came with a Vista Business key. Unfortunately one group of the five digits are faded on the Windows sticker.

There's no OS so I can't get the key any other way. Don't suppose there's any way to read it? Something that might show the letters up again?

Not that I can think of, although Vista is a pretty bad OS so it might be a blessing in disguise. What are you going to be using the laptop for?

200motels

Vista is not a bad OS, it's not as good as 7 but basally it's 7 with a lot of crap in it, after service pack 2 Vista ran very well, you can disable all the crap that starts up with Vista and it will run fine, of course as long as you have at least 2gb of ram. As for the question of not reading the whole key well a few years back when I had Vista I couldn't read the key when I needed to reinstall it and I rang Microsoft and they put me in touch with one of their call centres and I got a new key from them, all I had to do was take a picture of the sticker send it to them and they sent me an email with a new key. I can't remember the number I rang but have a Google for it.

200motels

I found a number you can ring. Call centre @ 1850 940 940

Thank you. I did ring them on Friday and they told me to contact Lenovo since it's an OEM copy. I have seen people say that you might need to ring a few times before you get someone helpful. Don't know what to do.

200motels

Deleted User wrote: »

Thank you. I did ring them on Friday and they told me to contact Lenovo since it's an OEM copy. I have seen people say that you might need to ring a few times before you get someone helpful. Don't know what to do.

You might have to do that, maybe I was lucky as it was a OEM from a HP.

Moon54

Try loading the free program Speccy and go to the Operating System section and see will it show you your Windows serial number there.
If the first few sections of the serial number match your sticker you can be pretty sure it's accurate.

Jambo

Is the barcode intact? If you have a smartphone you should be able to read it with a barcode scanning app.

I had forgotten about this thread. In a fit of pique I peeled the sticker off and dumped it a few days ago. I did take a photo of it though. I've attached it to this post. I know it's not a good idea but I don't think it's salvageable....

Mesrine65

https://www.magicaljellybean.com/

Yeah but you're not reading my first post. There is no OS so there's nothing to install those programs on in order to read the key.

gctest50

if you can dig it out of the bin, you might be able to narrow it down a bit

use a key verifier to test it

http://d-fault.nl/PidCheck.aspx&from=litvz

Moon54

Apologies, I missed the bit about no OS on hard drive.
Looks like a no-go with the product key, but there are a few options.

You could pick up a cheap Windows 7 or 8 key for $15 key from Reddit - https://www.reddit.com/r/microsoftsoftwareswap/
There's an Irish guy selling there so you could get a quick response.

Or stick the new Windows 10 preview build on it for free, you should get 6+ months on it and Microsoft MAY offer a cheap (not free) upgrade to final version when it releases.

I like the Windows 10 suggestion but since the x200 has an old Core 2 Duo and only 4GB RAM I doubt it would be a pleasant experience. I have Linux Mint on it at the moment so things aren't too bad.

dimsumss

try jelly bean software

Moon54

Moon54 wrote: »

Apologies, I missed the bit about no OS on hard drive.
Looks like a no-go with the product key, but there are a few options.

You could pick up a cheap Windows 7 or 8 key for $15 key from Reddit - https://www.reddit.com/r/microsoftsoftwareswap/
There's an Irish guy selling there so you could get a quick response.

Or stick the new Windows 10 preview build on it for free, you should get 6+ months on it and Microsoft MAY offer a cheap (not free) upgrade to final version when it releases.

Hey man I'd thank this twice if I could. Currently using W10 Preview and it works fine on my x200.

Also thanks for that reddit link.....all the messing around I was doing when I could have purchased another Vista Business key for $8....sigh...live and learn...

Thanks again!

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

Are those MS product keys legit on reddit? How can they be when they're so cheap?

Capt'n Midnight

Peter Echoing Possum wrote: »

Are those MS product keys legit on reddit? How can they be when they're so cheap?

probably not,
but the OP has a valid certificate of authenticity

yoyo

Peter Echoing Possum wrote: »

Are those MS product keys legit on reddit? How can they be when they're so cheap?

MSDN keys resold probably. Nothing stopping Microsoft making them non-genuine in future either as reselling MSDN keys is against their T&Cs. Not heard of this happening, but it is a risk you take. Plus it's not a legitimate license.

Nick

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

Cheers guys

unkel

Deleted User wrote: »

I like the Windows 10 suggestion but since the x200 has an old Core 2 Duo and only 4GB RAM I doubt it would be a pleasant experience.

It will be perfectly fine. I bet your PC will be faster with W10 than when you bought it new, what, about 7 or so years ago?

Nah I actually picked it up on eBay last month for a small fee and you're right it does run faster with W10...happy days.