Forum Discussion
The New Activation Portal Is Partly Broken But It Is a MAJOR Inconvenience For Me & Others.
I Run Windows 7 Ultimate x64 And I need to Activate Windows, I am used to the new aka.ms/aoh replacing the phone line. But I Have Activated Windows XP & Vista Without Any Problems Multiple Times, ...
Hi,
Windows 7 activation still works, but not through the new aka.ms/aoh portal. That portal only supports currently supported Windows versions, which is why XP/Vista behave differently — they still rely on the older activation infrastructure.
For Windows 7, the only activation paths that still work are:
- using the original OEM/COA key on the same hardware
- using the original installation media
- using the legacy activation servers (not the new portal)
If the key is valid and tied to the original machine, Windows 7 should still activate automatically after installation. If it doesn’t, it usually means:
- the key is OEM‑SLP and requires the original manufacturer’s BIOS marker
- or the activation route used by the new portal isn’t available for Windows 7 anymore
Since Windows 7 is out of support, the newer activation tools don’t apply to it.
If you can share the exact activation error code (0xC004xxxx), I can help interpret it.