Every time you format your PC and proceed with a reinstallation of Windows, a new product activation is requested by entering the Product Key and validating it. There are two problems at this stage, the first that the activation code may have been lost and forgotten, the second that the limits for requests to validate the code via the internet have been exceeded.
To solve both problems, provided that you have an original copy of Windows or Office, you must make a phone call to the Microsoft Call Center and provide the code by voice with the telephone validation that proves your good faith.
However, if you proceed with a backup of the Windows activation code, every time you reinstall the operating system on the same computer, you can restore the activation status without having to go for online validation and without having to resort to boring calls on the Microsoft call center.
As seen in other guides, installing Windows 7 is really simple and it is also possible to keep old data.
In another article I wrote the procedure to reinstall Windows (XP) without losing personal data and settings.
In this post we see how to backup the serial codes of the purchased programs, Windows XP, Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 and 8.1 and server versions and Office 2010, Office 2007 and 2003 .
As far as Windows is concerned, unfortunately, it is not only a matter of inserting the code which is kept written in the drawer or which can be extracted but also of activating it by letting Microsoft "see" it.
I would also like to clarify that after buying a regular license, Windows does not limit its use on the same computer only that, the same code, there is a maximum number of activations available via the internet, beyond which you are forced to phone.
The best recent tool that allows you to make a backup of the valid Windows license and restore it in case of a reinstallation of the computer is Advanced Tokens Manager (download from Softpedia) which also verifies the validity of this code without having to validate it via the internet or via phone.
Therefore, before proceeding with the formatting of the hard disk and before reinstalling Windows, the activation Token generated with this tool must be saved on a USB stick or on another hard disk .
Advanced Tokens Manager is a small portable program to download, extract and start.
The tool automatically recognizes which Windows version you are using and allows you to backup the activation.
The backup is saved in a folder called Windows Activation Backup which contains the tokens.dat file to be saved for restoring.
The activation following a reinstallation can be done, with this tool, even without connecting the computer to the internet.
Advanced Tokens Manager works to restore the activation of Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows 8 and 8.1, Windows Server 2011, Windows Server 2008 R2 and also for Office 2010, on 32 and 64 bit computers, also for OEM licenses (those of branded computers)
On the Advanced Tokens Manager website, below, there is also the version for Windows XP which, however, I have not tested and I believe works only for backing up the activation and not for automatic recovery.
Alternatively, for Windows XP, you can use a similar program, Windows Reactivator, which works the same way, for backing up the activation code and subsequent restoration with validation.
To save the license keys of the Office programs, the program to be used is OPA Backup which works with Office 2003, 2007, 2010, 2013 and with Office XP .
Therefore, before reinstalling your original copy of Office, you must make a backup of the activation files, saving them on a USB stick, using OPA Backup.
The important thing is that, after installing it by entering the serial code, the subsequent activation must be done before opening one of the Office programs otherwise it will not work.
Word or Excel can be opened while being sure of the validation of the product, only after having restored the activation with OPA Backup.
Finally, the SoftKey Revealer program, as already reported in the past, is useful for recovering license keys and serial numbers of programs, including Windows and Office, in case they have been lost.
