I've managed to activate Windows 7, but can't validate ... any ideas?

[Robert Powers]

Like many others in recent months I've received a message that my Windows 7 isn't genuine. I know without a doubt that it is so I began to find a way to activate my system. Eventually, I found a two-step method that accomplished activation and the "not genuine" message on my screen went away. Then a short time later I got a sudden flood of Microsoft updates that I assume I had not received because of my inability to activate. Now, to finish the final step, I've been trying to validate my system. But nothing I do works. And once or twice a day I get a pop up message that says that I'm still "not genuine". If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to read them.

 

[TrainableMan]

One way a legitimate version can go "not genuine" is if you clean up (delete) files that are part of the WAT system. If the problem showed up after an aggressive file cleaning then you may have to do a complete reinstall to get the system back to normal.

The other possibility is that your product key exists on multiple machines and so Microsoft shut it down to all. This can happen if W7/product key was bought online. It is especially risky if you bought the key by itself.