asimovsky

Hi KenB. I paid a visit to where i bought machine from instead of phoning as in the past. Guess what? all very apologetic, and my machine disappeared into their workshop, and returned minutes later with....Windows Activated, and a full product ID showing on it as well. Everything is now ok, I really do appreciate all your advice and help, as I do the other contributors to this thread. Many many thanks.

yes and got the same message. now i'm really fed up. might just go ahead and do a full reinstall. will let you know how i've done.

Hi.Did as you say, got to item 2 press enter and a screen came up saying cannot activate by phone.

Hi kenb. did as you said windows key+s etc. Nothing in corner saying change product key, cannot scroll down. The info on the page gives the following, windows edition, system, computer name domain and workgroup settings, windows activation. So I clicked windows activation and the laptop thought about it then said sorry but windows cannot be activated at this time, please try later. Getting fed up now, if I reinstall windows via the disc I was given, will this make any difference do you think?. Thanks for your help and patience so far.

Hi KenB. yep done that and got product key and product id. Thank you. What next?

hi kenb. yes the screen looks just like that. did as you said re system and it says windows not activated. I can boot up every time no problem, yes there is a product code, and it says on dvd genuine windows 8.1 which includes latest updates. So am I ok to go ahead and use it?. I really appreciate everyone's help, you've been great. thank you.

Hi Plastic Nev. The disc packaging is blue with the words Windows and the logo and Microsoft on it.

Hello KenB. It says on the packaging Product Description / Win 8.1 64Bit Eng Intl 1pk DSP OEI DVD. then it gives carton number barcodes etc. build date 11.13.2014. Hope that helps. As for photos, sorry but as I said in my original post, I'm new to the world of IT so, haven't yet learnt how to put photos on a computer, or how to put into something such as this...sorry.

Hi RandyL. thanks for your help. neither microsoft nor the seller were very helpful. I may re-install windows8 (the seller gave me an unopened copy).then upgrade to 8.1, would that be the best thing to do?

Hello. I'm new to the computer world and have recently bought a Sony Vaio laptop to start me off. I have been getting a message on the desktop saying your windows licence is due to expire. So I contacted the place I bought it from and they had no idea what I was talking about and they insist that windows is already installed and the licence is current. They did talk me through how to find out where my licence is displayed and asked me to the contact microsoft helpline. This I did, and they were as helpful as the place I bought it from!. So, how do I stop this annoying notice from being displayed, and, have I got a full install of windows 8.1. I have done some research about this problem on-line and found several helpful things such as going into the cmd mode and typing in slmgr -rearm, but this means nothing to me even if I knew what it meant, so basically, am I doomed to live with this or can someone please help me?