VM key question

[Salacious B Crum]

So awhile back I bought a cheap windows 7 key and installed it on a VM, a month or 2 went by and I removed the VM when I went to reinstall it on the same server it flagged the key as counterfeit or something like that so can someone explain or send me in the right direction as to how this works I want to install a windows 10 pro key on my server but not sure if I did something wrong or it was some type of scam with the other key

[Jarsky]

The key doesn't get flagged as counterfeit, the install does. 

But keys can either run out of activations or get black flagged against activation if they've been deemed stolen. 

 

What's the error when you try to run activation? 

Have you tried doing phone activation?  (Start > Run > "slui.exe 4" > Select Country > call number and follow activation steps)

It could be you need to talk to Microsoft to re-activate it on a "new" machine

The key could be blacklisted, at which point you need to buy a new one. 

 

If you want to install Windows 10 Pro though you need a Win 10 Pro key...I dont think you get a free upgrade from 7 anymore if thats what you're trying to do?

[Salacious B Crum]

16 minutes ago, Jarsky said:

The key could be blacklisted, at which point you need to buy a new one. 

 

If you want to install Windows 10 Pro though you need a Win 10 Pro key...I dont think you get a free upgrade from 7 anymore if thats what you're trying to do?

That sounds like I remember it I only paid $10 or something like that so I didn't bother, so I buy the pro key if its legit it should be no different than on a bare metal install I was going to use

 

https://www.g2deal.com/windows-10-professional-32-64-bit.html

 

I've already downloaded the .iso file

[Mikensan]

A change in hardware can cause the key to not activate, even if it is virtual hardware. Or it could've been invalidated a while back and the re-install simply checked and found out it was indeed invalid.

 

$10 keys come from VL agreements and aren't supposed to be resold - when M$ finds out then every machine using that VLK gets invalidated.