Windows 7 Activation After System Restore?

[Guest Kellysh]

I purchased a new Toshiba Satellite in '09 that came with a free upgrade to Windows 7 as soon as that OS would be released, a few months after I bought it. I got the upgrade in the mail, installed it, then a nasty virus took over and my only course of action was to do a system restore, taking me back to the originally-installed Vista.

Recently, I found my old installation disc, in a cd case without the instruction booklet, and upgraded my computer once more to Windows 7. My problem is that it's asking me for an Activation Key that I no longer have. I assume the activation key was on the disc sleeve, but that has gone missing (I have moved since then, and little things like that tend to disappear in a move). I have an email from Toshiba from '09 with my order number, but that upgrade program is now defunct, and Toshiba can't seem to help me. Microsoft wants $50 for a simple phone call, so hopefully someone here can tell me what to do.

Is there any way of getting around using the activation key, since I have the disk and the OS was installed on my pc at one point? I really can't afford to shell out the money to buy it all over again, especially considering I spent $700 on the laptop with the upgrade included!

I'll go back to Vista if I have to, but I'd rather not, and I really don't want to spend $50 to call Microsoft only for them to tell me I have to buy Windows 7 again.

 

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