the $30 student pricing should take a little bit of the sting away...

It's easy mis-writing a 97 digit product key by hand...

Yes. I knoooooow it's not really 97 digits, but it's still easy to mess it up. I always try to have someone read them out loud to me to double check.

I'm sure they didn't send him the wrong key, as that is most likely the one the service rep. gave him. So yeah, print out your info or us the buddy system.

I had a problem with them also with the great steal. They had Vista there but did not provide the correct files. Emailed them and called them. They just said that I was wrong and bla bla bla. They were missing boot.wim which is extremely important. Microsoft finally helped me and got me the correct files.

I'm a bit torn here... on one hand, Digital River shouldn't be that difficult to get ahold of, especially on launch day.

On the other hand, something like a product key I never trust myself to write down correctly (seems I have selective dyslexia at times); I always save the emails (which the poster's friend should have done), print them out (again, I would have gone his school and done that quickly) and when I burn the product to a CD I print the key out and tape it to the disk.

Yeah, maybe I'm overly paranoid, but I know the trouble a miswritten product key could cause and it seems OP could have been a bit more diligent in making sure the info he had was correct.

They don't follow through on a lot of their correspondence, either. I mistakenly ordered the 32-bit version and realized I wanted the 64-bit version after I had already pre-ordered. I contacted them, and they responded by saying they had canceled my order and I could go ahead and order the x64 version. Sure enough, when yesterday came around, I had a serial key for my 64bit version in my inbox. Below that? A serial key for my 32bit order. Checking findmyorder.com showed 2 orders, one of them being the canceled order. I contacted them again yesterday, pointing out the mistake and haven't heard back from them since. On a whim, I went to findmyorder.com and the 32bit order is mysteriously gone. Neither have, interestingly enough, been charged to my card yet.

And another thing... when I purchased this through the same program (my son is a college student and I bought it through him) I didn't have the CD key until yesterday morning. Did he honestly delete the only email with the CD key that quickly?

@zegolf: I mistakenly ordered Home Premium instead of Professional. Not alot of difference between the two but I still wanted Professional. I emailed them asking if there was a way to get a Professional key and never heard a response back.

@wchamilton: Also, if the email was stored on a server somewhere, shouldn't he have been able to access it from another web interface?

@zegolf: I also ordered 32bit instead of 64bit. I emailed them and they told me "no refunds". Calling now.

I've seen dealings with digital river before. they used to handle sales for several graphics companies.. and there were constant complaints about them. lack of bandwidth, problems with payments, refund issues...

@madog:

Yes, I wonder if he subsequently checked what he wrote out against his email when I could use his computer again?

If he wrote it out wrong the some of the blame has to lie with him. Although I hate companies that go out of their way to hide their phone numbers.

@zegolf: The story said "His email program was set to delete the messages off of the server", which tells me he wrote down the key and, for whatever reason, deleted the email.

I'm not saying Digital River isn't held blameless for their crappy customer service (what do you expect? It's Microsoft) but it seems this all could have been prevented very easily.

Bonehead Windows 7 checklist:
Writes down product key - check.
Deletes email with key off server - check.
Can't be bothered to find a printer - check.

Yikes. Dude needs to plan a liiiiiiiiittle bit better next time.

Don't try to get in touch with the MS Store. That's an hour wait listening to depressing/mood-altering music with the occasional interruption for a commercial selling MS services & products. I had a pre-order since June through MS to have the physical disks shipped and there was a problem with the Visa card I used to make the order (it didn't get charged to the card until the release date of 10/22). I sat on hold for over an hour waiting to talk to billing personell @ the MS Store to correct the billing info for the Visa. According to the email I got this morning, my order was fixed and is now being shipped. I just hope I don't have to call in again about a problem because that's an hour or more that I don't want to spend contenplating suicide (and that music is just ripe for that!).

@wchamilton: it sounds like he had IMAP/POP set up with the mail server that the email was sent to. After it pulled the mail, it deleted it from the server, which saves space and is somewhat more secure. Obviously however the ideal solution would have been to print the email...

@wchamilton: It pays to read, I guess? Consider my previous stupid question redacted!

I'm with you, though, in not placing 100% of the blame on DR. Maybe the "Installed a million OSes" Cynic in me knows better, but I make sure to have all of my serial numbers written down before install, and double check the numbers. I, too, would be interested to know if he wrote it down or not.

Digital River is pretty difficult to get ahold of, however, and I think that's the main point of the story here. If Microsoft is trying to make life easier for folks (and again, who am I to complain about a $30 piece of software that I had no problem getting) they could step up their response times on launch day!

I found this workaround while researching this problem. This is referencing an issue about extracting the Win7 x64 version on an XP x32 system, but it might help others.

This is found from the website: [social.technet.microsoft.com]

User Undeadwolfy writes:

I used the student discount way and basically i downloaded the files and i was left with 3 files. Setup1.box, Setup2.box and another file right?

The other file unpacks and you get left with 1 folder called extendedSetup. and thats when you get your error message stated in previous posts. Heres what i did.

1. I moved the "extendedSetup file to the root of C:/. So copy and paste the whole folder in My Computer/C:
2. Then you need to download this file here [www.sevenforums.com] .
3. Once downloaded, extract the folder and the place the file in to C:/Windows/System32/ but dont run it.
4. Open the command prompt by clicking Start > Run and type in "cmd" without the quotes.
5. Then you need to copy and paste this line of text into the command prompt

oscdimg -bC:\expandedSetup\boot\etfsboot.com -h -u2 -m -lWIN_EN_DVD C:\expandedSetup\ C:\7.iso

It will start to convert the files into an .ISO

6. Once it done you will need an image burning software like Roxio or Nero Burning ROM. If you dont have one you can download imgburn free of charge from here [download.softpedia.com] and you will need a blank DVD. It has to be a DVD.
7. Restart your computer and choose your primary boot device as your optical disk writer by going into the bios if you need to.

I hope this has cleared any problems which anybody has. Credit to big2una and DotNaBox.

I hope this helps!

@CubeRat:

Oi! My mind id not working today. This story is about an activation code, not problems with installation.
Sorry bout that!

@wchamilton:

This was my first use of Digital River (usually I just get the physical media on campus), but everything went smoothly.

I didn't realize Windows 7 was coming out until 2 days ago when I signed up, selected my product and submitted my payment info. Shortly after midnight I received my license key and download link. Forty minutes later I had the installer running (I happened to be up for unrelated reasons).

Given the rock-bottom pricing and spartan webpage, I wasn't expecting great customer service. If you don't know *exactly* what you want and want the ability to return a product, you probably should spend the extra ~$130 at a campus bookstore.

@pot_roast: I hear you! I mean he even had his e-mail *with* the product key to be deleted?? I mean I'm still paranoid of transposing numbers especially with my messy writing! Was that a 5 or an S or a O or a 0?? duh!

@KhaiJB: My employer used to sell one of our managed products through Digital River, a partnership that was severed after they screwed over numerous customers. I don't understand how that company is still in business.

**Insert comment regarding post here

@Caprica Six: To be fair, "delete off server" is the standard setting for just about every email client using the POP protocol for mail. Like the Outlook (or whatever) client he had on his computer before he nuked his entire drive without a backup.

I'm going to go 60/40 on blaming the consumer: no backup and a handwritten key versus broken company website with unreachable support.

@frari489: If that was the case then most of the blame lies with him. The company can offer low prices because it has a very, VERY low customer service budget - hence his crappy experience.

I downloaded Windows 7 but when I went to launch the install, I was presented with an "application" menu. The download has an ISO extension and I can't figure out how to open/launch it. Microsoft's only advise is to burn it to a disk, but at 13000 mb, no disk can handle the file.

Use PDFcreator to create a printout of the receipt email. Acts like a printer, but spits out in handy dandy PDF format.

You can then use the PDF, or send it to someone else who can print it out for you.

@tom2ytx: I hope you're not serious. 13GB? If you got the installers from the Student Discount, they shouldn't have been much bigger than a DVD. You might not have downloaded the right files.

I purchased this yesterday and completely forgot to write down the product key. When it came to that part in the installation I just clicked next leaving it blank and it finished the install perfectly fine. Does anyone have any suggestions on how I can go back and add the product key code now?

@tom2ytx:
13,000 MB??? Are you sure?

The one I downloaded was 3 GB, which should fit on a DVD...

@tom2ytx: The ISO isn't 13,000 MB. If it shows as 13,000MB on your disk then it is corrupt. Re-download it and burn it to a CD. You can also use a program (WinRAR or UltraISO) to extract it to a folder if you are doing an upgrade.

An ISO file is a CD image file, think of it as taking a "picture" or "image" of all the contents of the CD and storing it in such a way that it can either be burned or extracted again.

@steveliv: And seriously, how much hand holding did the OP expect for his $30?!? I'd understand if the company failed to provide him with everything he needed but when the problem is based upon HIS failure to print out the key and/or transcribed the key wrong then that is a PEBKAC problem - Problem exists between keyboard and chair. They should have charged him for the technical support and probably more than he paid for the software but he complains that it took too much of his time to get free technical advice to fix the problem he created?!?

Downloading your only copy of an operating system sounds like a disaster in the makings.

Some companies get it: [www.bloggingstocks.com]

You'd think Microsoft, as large as they are, would get it, too.

I'm the OP. Yes my roommate was wrong for relying on his transcription of the product key, but the point of this story was how hard Digital River seemed to make it to obtain this key.

@CompyPaq: It is reasonable to believe that they provided him a very easy way to obtain his product key - save and print out the email. He only paid $30 for the software. How much additional assistance did he expect? He created his own problems... to then blame Digital River for the problems HE created, is unreasonable.

I canceled my order prior to the release date. Somehow I managed to not only receive an email with a download link + key but I've never had my credit card charged. I didn't receive an email concerning my cancellation until after I received the email with the download link and the activation key. To make sure that my order was canceled I eventually sent an email detailing all the steps I've taken, plus the steps I was willing to take if the charge was made to my card, directly to the sales department at DigitalRiver. Within a matter of hours I received confirmation that my order was being canceled and, in direct opposition to their refund policy, any charges that might show up would immediately be refunded and/or canceled.

I think the worst part about this whole ordeal, mine having to deal with fretting over whether or not I was going to get charged and the guy from the story trying to get his activation key, is that DigitalRiver's main website uses the tag-line "Outsourcing is the Solution." Apparently also providing almost zero in the way of actual customer service is the solution too.

Because of the total lack of any formal customer service, I can safely state that I will never order anything through DigitalRiver ever again. The idea that a company can rely solely on an email form with limited drop down menu options to direct the emails as their only means of allowing their customers to contact them is beyond absurd.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but you can bypass the enter product key and install the OS, giving you up to 30 days to activate it? Been that way on every install I've done. Not saying what was done is right, but that might of helped get him into Windows!

He could have ordered a disk from digital river instead, I read all the information they had on their site and I didn't think it too safe so I did not order it from them. I ordered Windows 7 from the microsoft store at the student price and had them send me a disk.

Yeah they are Impossible to reach just like any big company. Try getting a hold of Google if you email gets locked, try getting a Apple genius without a appointment to look at your Iphone when it's frozen and you are expecting a important call. Better support is needed all around at most places.

@sdusty143:

if you bought the student version from digital river then you should have received an purchase receipt email to your student email address. It'll have all the order info including the product key.

@nagumi: Windows 7 Product keys work for both the 32bit and 64bit installations. If you can get a hold of the 64bit install media you can just use your key to do the install.

@wchamilton: What I can't figure out is why he seemed to think he'd only ever need his key once? Never planning on reinstalling or what?

~I

@sdusty143:

My guess is that within 30 days it will require you to activate. I know prior versions of windows allowed you to install without a key, but after a month would stop working until you activated.

Yup I got Office 2007 from them, paid for the disc (yeah, dopey I know), download worked fine. Never got the disc. They claimed they sent 2 additional discs, never got those. Everytime we verified my address, and I have no problems with my mail.

For digital delivery? Thumbs up. If anything goes wrong or you order a disc? Forget it, you're hosed. Don't bother. Write it off as a loss.

@fantomesq:

For $30 (or, quite frankly, $1) I expect that something like a product key should be available for some time (Perhaps forever, although 90 days would be reasonable for anything under $5) via a simple to access website.

This isn't rocket science to set up.

@wchamilton:

and when I burn the product to a CD I print the key out and tape it to the disk.

DON'T DO THIS!

In the case of CDs, you are taping it directly to the metallic reflective substrate, without which your CDs will not work. This includes CD-Rs.

DVDs don't have the above problem, since the substrate is sandwiched between two layers of polycarbonate.

However, both will become unstable when used in a drive, which will, at best, wear the drive quicker, at worst, explode the disc in the drive.

This goes for labels, too, unless they cover the entire surface of the disc uniformly.

@KarbonKopy: You are right, but the screen asking for code does not tell you that you can just leave it empty for now, if you enter wrong code it just tells you "meh" and no further info is provided

My Vista won't install Service Pack 1 so I can't install Windows 7. I don't really know what to do. Every FAQ I look at says the same thing, which doesn't work at all.

I was really scared they'd mess up my order too, but luckily I had my iPhone gmail handy to get the product key from. I was actually able to download it ten minutes before midnight. I thought that was pretty nifty.

@shepd: The product key isn't displayed on the order page; apparently the only copy you get is sent to you via email. Hence the reason I didn't delete the email that has the key, which is what he should have done.

@wchamilton: Actually, depending on when he had purchased his student copy, there may have been a product key on the order page. I purchased the student copy yesterday from them and the order page listed the product key along with the link to download the software. They also then e-mailed me the same info. Granted, he may have preordered, and they were not giving out the keys till the release date.