I have win7 ultimate and activated, how can i backup or save the activation status? If my pc is formatted and all of my data will be gone, i dun wanna use a pirate version. Any idea?

OMG Now that would be loved by Microsoft I guess.Imagine those activation status files on torrentsites.Nah, won't be done mate. In case of a meltdown of your rig, you just rebuild it, reactivate it (if needed use the phone activation explaining Microsoft why you want to reactivate) and reinsert your backed up personal data.RegardsRem

Hi, I think you should keep your Product Key. If you want to reinstall Windows 7, you need to activate Windows 7 again with the Product Key you have. Where do I find my Windows product key? In addition, I would like to share the following with you for your reference: Activating Windows: frequently asked questions Hope this helps. Thanks. Nicholas Li - MSFT

OMG Now that would be loved by Microsoft I guess. Imagine those activation status files on torrentsites. Nah, won't be done mate. In case of a meltdown of your rig, you just rebuild it, reactivate it (if needed use the phone activation explaining Microsoft why you want to reactivate) and reinsert your backed up personal data. Regards Rem Microsoft knows perfectly well that these files are tied to the machine, so there's no use of them to anyone other than the initial owner. So this question is perfectly valid, because technically this won't be a circumvention of activation but rather a restore procedure.Yet Another Amateur Coder

Of course it goes with the machine. It goes so much with a machine that if you change the harddrive, your "validation files" wouldn't fit anymore. So there is no need to generate them in the first place. But, these files you're referring to don't (IMO) exist. Validation status is calculated on demand.I maintain that if you have a valid reason to be obliged to reactivate your Windows, you won't have any problem doing it.CheersRem

i am not talking about activating the new machine with old files, i'm talking about reactivating the same machine, the same installation without going through online or phone activation. validation status is calculated on demand, activation - no, and for example in Windows XP (i didn't use Vista so i don't know how is that applicable to it) you could backup your activation status (for example, using TuneUp utilities, i think) and later restore it if you reinstall the same OS, same serial number on same machine. Online activation is limitied to how many? 3 times? 5 times? after that it's so much fuss to activate - and if i change my hardware quite often, going through activation on same hardware is a waste of 1 activation time - and to try and prevent additional activation times when NOT changing hardware and OS (just reinstalling) is perfectly reasonable - at least from common sense point of view (but i figure Microsoft has a different idea of common sense). Yet Another Amateur Coder