Best "Activation Backup and Restore" prog?

[Rockrz]

OK, so I'm going to do a clean install on my new Lenovo laptop (as soon as my new 500gig hard drive arrives, where I will keep the OE drive as is!), and someone was telling me about "Activation Backup and Restore" software.

This supposedly allows me to do a clean install without having to call Bill to re-activate my copy of Win 7 Pro x64.

So, when I searched for this kind of software, I noticed there were numerous offerings for this, so which one is the best or which one have you had good results with and would recommend???

Any leads on which one to go with would be appreciated...

[patonb]

Acronis is pretty sweet. Has a 30 day free limited trial.

[Rockrz]

I've been using Acronis extensively since about 2004... and it will not work for this situation... all it would do is restore the system back to it's state when I initially got it from Lenovo with all of their junk on there, which is what I don't want.

No, I want to do a clean install of Windows... and use the Activation Backup and Restore program to put the "Windows activation" into the new install, so I don't have to mess with calling Bill for anything, especially while he be out playin golf.

[KSoD]

Sorry to inform you, but this software is illegal as it bypasses the EULA and TOS of Windows.

You want a clean install of Windows and have it be able to activate properly, get the OEM Media of the OS you are installing and use your serial. That is the only legal way it can be done and can be discussed here. The method you are trying will bypass contacting Microsoft Activation Servers, which is illegal.

Bill is not part of Microsoft anymore. So if you want to reference him and make jokes, the least you could do is reference the current staff. Bill left the company years ago. In fact it will be 4 years ago in 3 days. So if you really want your jokes to stick and be funny, you should reference Steve Ballmer, the current CEO and man in charge of Microsoft.

[carnageX]

Honestly it takes about 10 minutes to do the whole phone activation thing if activating online won't work for you. I've done it so many times on different systems that I just ended up saving the number in my phone for both XP and Win7.

[KSoD]

Even easier, get the OEM Media, install a "pure" version of Windows without the bloat then use FOG or CloneZilla to image it after you activate it by phone. Never have the need to call or anything again. Problem solved and completely legal in all aspects.

[carnageX]

Originally Posted by KSoD

Even easier, get the OEM Media, install a "pure" version of Windows without the bloat then use FOG or CloneZilla to image it after you activate it by phone. Never have the need to call or anything again. Problem solved and completely legal in all aspects.

That'd be the best; installing from an image will be way faster than from a disc.

In this case, you'd wanna go with CloneZilla since FOG is more for multi-system imaging a it requires the use of a dedicated image server.

CloneZilla is great tho; used it a lot over the years. Would like to check out FOG, but I don't really have a use for it at the moment; especially since we're already using Ghost at work (I mentioned FOG to our imaging guy and he said he may look into it after our Ghost licenses are up).

[patonb]

Thats what I was saying with Acronis..

[carnageX]

Originally Posted by patonb

Thats what I was saying with Acronis..

He wanted just a way to backup his activation files and restore them so he wouldn't have to call back again.

[Rockrz]

Originally Posted by KSoD

Sorry to inform you, but this software is illegal as it bypasses the EULA and TOS of Windows.

You want a clean install of Windows and have it be able to activate properly, get the OEM Media of the OS you are installing and use your serial. That is the only legal way it can be done and can be discussed here. The method you are trying will bypass contacting Microsoft Activation Servers, which is illegal.

Bill is not part of Microsoft anymore. So if you want to reference him and make jokes, the least you could do is reference the current staff. Bill left the company years ago. In fact it will be 4 years ago in 3 days. So if you really want your jokes to stick and be funny, you should reference Steve Ballmer, the current CEO and man in charge of Microsoft.

Alrighty then... humor not appreciated, so noted....

There is an article HERE that states this is not actually illegal since it's your own activation that came with your computer that you are saving. So, you are not actually stealing anything and we all know if it were illegal, them Microsoft would be attacking NotebookReview.com for posting the article as well as the publisher of this software... which they are not.

I paid for the copy of Windows that came on my laptop so if this software allows me more convenience versus spending time activating, then I have no problem with that as I have not stolen anything from anybody. Sorry you disagree, but that's your right to do so if you desire.

Concerning the OEM media, yeah I talked Lenovo in to sending me the install disks and I will try them first... but since they came from Lenovo they may install all the Lenovo crap right along with Windows. Speaking of legal issues, I don't see how Bill (I heard he was still chairman of the board, so he is still involved even though he's turned over day to day operations to others) would allow any PC manufacturer to put any other software on to the Windows install disk... so I'll find out.

If the Lenovo install disk is a straight install, then I'm good to go and I'd imagine that it'll activate itself online. I will however being using the "Activation Backup and Restore" program as a backup measure in case I have any issues with activation... since I already own this copy of Windows and wouldn't be stealing anything from anyone by doing so.