Microsoft implements a ‘one-Windows, one-PC’ licensing requirement: - Purchase a Windows 7 copy in that shiny shrink-wrapped box, you are only allowed to install the Windows in one – and only one – machine. When you purchase a new PC with preinstalled Windows 7, it must stay with your PC. You can’t copy Windows 7 from the bundled, original machine to a new machine. Microsoft employs the BIOS locking method to guarantee that the Windows 7 copy that ships with a computer stays tied to that specific computer, forever and ever.
However, some buts, ands, and ifs are floating around (for instance, what if you have upgraded Windows XP to Windows 7 but your motherboard suddenly dies and need to be replaced the next day?) and you are not allowed to copy Windows 7 and distribute pirated Windows 7 DVDs to your friends or install one copy on many machines in your office. Actually, you can install your Windows 7 DVD on many computers but unless you can get a product activation key for each machine within thirty days, Windows dies.
The actual actions taken by Microsoft to enforce the 30-day limit may change from time to time, mostly depend on the whims of Microsoft, however if you don’t activate your Windows 7 copy within thirty days, your product will be severely curtailed. It means, if you have six computers and you want to have Windows 7 on each of them, you need to buy six copies of Windows 7, either as preinstalled or in shrink-wrapped boxes. If you lend your Windows 7 DVD to some friends and they install it, they must come up with their own unique product keys or else their computers will cease to work. Unfortunately, Windows 7 Family Pack that comes with three keys is recently discontinued by Microsoft.
Microsoft implements a ‘one-Windows, one-PC’ licensing requirement by employing the Windows Activation technique. Each time Windows 7 is opened, it checks to see if it has been properly activated. Here is how the activation process works:
- If you purchased a computer with preinstalled Windows 7, it’s already activated. The activation key should be printed on a “certificate” sticker that is supposed to be placed on the bottom or side of your computer. If you can’t find the certificate, sternly talk to the computer seller.
- If you typed in the activation key (25 characters) during Windows 7 installation and the key hasn’t been used yet, your computer is activated immediately soon after you run Windows 7 for the first time.
- Three days after the first logon, Windows 7 tries to connect to the Microsoft server through the internet, to verify the product key. If the key is faulty, Windows 7 does not start bellyaching about that until 3 days later. If you have a good product key – valid and it hasn’t been used by other user – you see an activation message saying that Microsoft confirm that your Windows 7 copy is genuine.
