Activating Windows 7 generates error code 0xc004F061

Posted by Jon on Super User See other posts from Super User or by Jon
Published on 2011-02-21T14:18:10Z Indexed on 2011/02/21 15:27 UTC
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I got a new SSD and wanted to start over with Windows 7 on that disk. I did a clean install (my mistake) on the SSD and just went passed the activation part (left the key blank). Now that I have my system all setup, configured, files pulled back from backup, and ready to go, I'd like to activate Windows 7. However, I now get this error:

The following failure occurred while trying to use the product key:

Code:

0xC004F061

Description:

The Software Licensing Service determined that this specified product key can only be used for upgrading, not for clean installations.

Do I really need to wipe my system again, install Windows Vista, and then do the Windows 7 upgrade in order to use my upgrade key? Is there some kind of work around?

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