windows 7 System recovery after "Windows not genuine" lock down?

[News Bot]

My PC's symptoms are similar to many posted by others before - with "Windows 7 Build 7601 This copy of Windows is not genuine" now etched onto my otherwise black desktop.  I understand warning messages were appearing on the task bar for a while  but in my

absence working abroad my partner decided to ignore these!  The PC now appears to have gone into a state of paralysis - no internet connection, USB ports disabled , disc drives unable to read and most windows functions disabled (error message: "The specified

service does not exist as an installed service").

After a long CHAT session with Microsoft's Answer Desk Support team, the conclusion was nothing could be done other than a complete OS re-install.  Since the disk drives won't read  from the PC when logged-on, I imagine it would have to be from re-boot,

potentially losing all HD data - I therefore need to back up essential files first (but can't find a route to saving anything externally).

A desperate situation for which I'd appreciate any advice.  I can't even run a diagnostic tool or anything more than a McAfee full scan (which shows nothing).  Is the situation recoverable or can I at least save important files to removable media?

 

View the thread