Windows 7-->8 Activation Upgrade Key

[Guest AndrewJ.]

Hi all,

 

First time posting on here, something has stymied me. So, I own an HP Pavilion DM4 3170se, that originally came with Windows 7. When Windows 8 came out, I took advantage of the upgrade pricing and purchased Windows 8, and rolled it out over top of my Windows 7, as an upgrade. Fast forward to present day:

 

 

My Windows 8 installation was having problems (the infamous 'Drive is locked' issue along with several things), and I needed to reformat and reinstall the system. Because of complications with my hard-drive, I had to do a 0-wipe and completely clear the drive. No problem, or so I thought, since I had a Windows 8 installer on a USB drive. Once I'd cleared the drive, the problems with the MBR were gone, and Windows was able to install to the disk normally.

 

 

Only one problem: technically, my Windows 8 key is only an upgrade key. I have no way to upgrade the installation, though. My original Windows 7 was saved on a drive partition. I burned that recovery info to a disk, but that disk isn't booting at all, so I have no way to install Windows 7 and then upgrade. Personally, I'd rather stay with a clean installation anyways to minimize problems.

 

 

I have a valid Windows 7 OEM license key. I have a valid Windows 8 upgrade key. I even have a media center upgrade key. I've purchased and paid for all of these legally, but I have no way to activate my computer. How can I resolve this? Is there a way to present the keys I have and be issued a clean key? I recognize my original purchase was just for an upgrade, and not a clean installation, but a clean installation was the only way around this problem.

 

 

What should I do?

 

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