Worrying Activation Problem

[mitchell1981]

Hi All,

We have just bought some new laptops (Samsung NP355V5C). These are the first lot we have bought that have come pre-installed with Windows 8. As we have a Microsoft EES agreement I assumed I would be able to deploy Windows 7 on them and volume activate them like I do with everything else.

This has failed. The error says: Volume-licensed systems require upgrading from a qualifying operating system. I wondered how the laptop could possibly know what operating system it came with once the hard disk had been wiped, but apparently it knows from the BIOS (Something called an ACPI_SLIC). See this support page: You receive an error message when you try to activate Windows Vista or Windows 7 on a computer that was obtained from an OEM

So my questions are:

Is it legal to install Windows 7 Enterprise on a laptop that came with Windows 8 OEM? I thought it was under an EES agreement.

Assuming it is legal, is there any way I can get these to volume activate? I'm worried that if more and more laptops come with these chips, it will become impossible to activate Windows 7 on anything.

Hoping I've missed something obvious and there is an easy way around this.

Thanks.

[sparkeh]

Bit of a discussion about this here: Windows 8 laptop can't KMS activate with it's new Windows 7 OS (BIOS Windows Marker)

[mitchell1981]

Thanks, sorry, didn't spot that. Unfortunately no real answer to the problem other than buy more expensive laptops!

[bshingler]

we came across this with some zooms that had been ordered with OS. flash the bois so it has a SLC or you can manually activate it using the activation tools - pain to be honest another good reason to buy decent kit.

[Duke5A]

What flavor of Windows 8 came with them? I remember one of the terms of EES licensing was the clients had to come with a previous license of Windows that was at least Pro.

[3s-gtech]

Hmmm, looking at the 2012 and 2013 Microsoft documentation (which is confusing, as usual) it doesn't appear that is the case for EES. Even Starter appears to qualify, under the Academic and Charity column.

I have these same laptops, and some others with BIOS versions that interfere with activation. I'll be honest - they just get a MAK key.

[Arthur]

BIOS versions that interfere with activation.

The only way the BIOS can cause problems with activation is if you are using the OEM media since this includes an XRM-MS certificate and product key responsible for activating Windows offline.

Windows 7 Enterprise doesn't check the SLIC tables in the BIOS.

[bshingler]

The only way the BIOS can cause problems with activation is if you are using the OEM media since this includes an XRM-MS certificate and product key responsible for activating Windows offline.

Windows 7 Enterprise doesn't check the SLIC tables in the BIOS.

sadly I thought this also until I was hit with 60 machines all saying they would not activate enterprise edition. I was sent a updated bios with slic tables and all activated once reimaged

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/942962

it checks for the windows maker mark for qualifying version

[Arthur]

Thanks! It makes sense now.

Cause 1
You purchased a computer that has a qualifying Windows operating system installed. However, the Windows marker in the ACPI_SLIC table is corrupted.

Cause 2
You purchased a computer that does not have a qualifying Windows operating system installed. In this case, the Windows marker is not present in the ACPI_SLIC table.