I got a new DELL Latitude E6440 laptop, and after finding what I thought was the licence key I habitually reinstalled it using a vanilla Windows 7 disc in order to get rid of bloatware.
The installation worked fine, but it turns out the license key I recovered is just some sort of dummy. Instead the key is integrated into the BIOS, and the official way of using it is to use a DELL install disk for installing Windows.
Is there any way to activate Windows with the license that I own without reinstalling?
Alternately, how do I acquire a Danish Windows 7 Professional 64 bit install disk that can do the DELL licence thing?
Solution:
It turns out that the key I found is just a key for the pre-image. There is a sticker with a different key (located under the battery, which came pre-installed, why would I pick it out?) (thank you CharlieRB). The story about the BIOS key came from some clueless phone support guy in the shop.
Best Answer
I'm not aware of any BIOS-integrated licenses with Windows 7. You probably have an OEM key, that is something different.
If your device came with Windows 7, it has a license label with the key. The only exception to this general rule is that it is a Windows 8 Pro licensed computer factory-downgraded to Windows 7 Professional. In that case, you will have to contact Dell support to get a valid Windows 7 Professional key or reinstall the factory image.