IBM windows keys?

Does IBM give a MAK with thinkpads? How do you reinstall your OS if you put in another HD or yours crashes?

 

I tried to clone my original HDD to an external and it worked except the recovery partition was not accessible. I think Lenovo uses some sort of proprietary drive geometry in the laptops controller. This type of cloning has worked for me with other brands and the OEM partition was accessible for recovery operations.

With the Lenovo, even though both hard drives were of the same capacity, the partitions were not EXACTLY the same size on the target drive as the original drive. I read somewhere that if the C: drive size is changed at all, the recovery software won't work.

I don't know what you mean by a "MAK" -- but there is a product key on the Windows sticker on the bottom of the laptop. And, they're made by Lenovo now, not IBM.

 

MAK = multiple activation key

I believe that the serial you got in the sticker on the bottom of your laptop can be used with right Windows version.

 

OEM laptop manufacturers use a Volume License Key, where the license key is tied to the specific manufacturer's laptop and the SLIC table within the bios.

It would be good if OP actually gives bit more details regarding which IBM thinkpads he/she is talking about.

The XP serial key on the OEM sticker doesn't work with Retail Version XP. While, the Vista/Win 7 OEM license key on the thinkpad can be used with retail or oem OS installation.

IBM did provide or sell recovery media that reinstalls the OS if your hdd crashes.

You can still get the recovery media for T43 from Lenovo support. For older recovery media you would have to source it from say ebay or marketplace of forum.thinkpads.com.

 

I don't care about the media, I just want to know how many times the key will reinstall, and/or whether or not Lenovo will reset it for you?

 

which key?   you aren't allowed or provisioned to use the VLK for any other purpose than what is pre-installed and pre-activated in the original installation and recovery media.   if you have to use it, the key on the COA decal will allow one activation before having to call Microsoft's activation line and explaining to them why you're activating again.

if you need to reinstall multiple times then create a set of recovery media using the utility found in the ThinkVantage folder of Start > All Programs.

 

The windows key. Anybody who changes HDDs would need to do this, and I'm curious if lenovo has licenced the proper keys for this. Sometimes microsoft doesn't like resetting them.

 

right... which windows key are you asking about above... the OEM VLK or the COA key?   as i and others have said, they cannot be used the same way.

installing a new HDD without having to use a key requires that you recover using the recovery media.   this will pre-install the VLK and pre-activate it.   you can use recovery media as many times as necessary with your system.

 

Are you sure for this? Imaging to another HDD is not grounds to rearm. That's if you clone your drive, though. Though the SLIC OEM keys might be diff..


For the person that said the imaging didn't work: What cloning software did you try? Windows 7 changed the partitioning scheme so software for Vista and earlier could very well not work correctly. I know Acronis TrueImage has this problem, or at least it did until I ditched it and when with Paragon which does explicitly support 7/2008R2.