Dell Studio 1450 Bios to include SLIC 2.1

EuphoricAngel,

Unfortunately, Dell will not be creating any new bios updates for this system.

SLIC 2.1 isn't REQUIRED in order to activate Windows 7.  It's an optional mechanism that manufacturers can use for convenience.  But for other systems, you should just be able to enter the Product Key from the system's sticker to activate Win7.  Sometimes Windows makes you do phone activation even to re-activate the same OS on the same box, but that should be about it.

I do not have a retail or volume product key. My system came with windows 7  OEM install. Aftr formatting my HDD, the auto activation is not working.

Hi Jesse,

Thank you for the response, if that is the case how do I reactivate my own windows 7 pro??

After installing it is asking for activation, I tried doing manually...got the message "invalid key".

After reading on forums, I understood that the bios needs to have SLIC 2.1( mine has only SLIC 2.0)

Please suggest a workaround.

The product key is in the battery compartment - but you MUST use a Dell OEM install disc to use it.  If you don't have that, you'll either need to buy it from Dell support, or contact Microsoft to see if they'll allow an activation of the copy you do have.

Every machine that came with a Windows 7 license came with a product key.  As EJN63 says, it might be in the battery compartment or under a flap on the underside of the system.  I've even seen some that placed the sticker on the AC adapter itself, although I can't remember if that applied to any DELL systems.

Hi jphugan, thank you for the update, I believe if I use the authentic dell OEM SLP key on the updated SLIC 2.1 enabled bios, windows should activate.

Is this doable?

Also, just to be clear here, even if a BIOS update were released for your system to add SLIC 2.1 support, that doesn't add a Win7 product key to your system.  SLIC is a mechanism that allows a product key to be embedded into the BIOS of the box, but if there isn't one there now, a BIOS update isn't going to add one, and Windows won't activate unless you have an actual key for it to find there.  You need to find the key that actually came with your system.

I think by the time Windows 7 arrived, there weren't generic OEM keys anymore; I believe there were instead unique product keys embedded by the OEM that Windows 7 could simply retrieve, but I'm not certain about that.  However, we're just talking theory at this point.  If your BIOS doesn't support SLIC 2.1, then you can't use that feature, although even if it did, I'm unaware of any tools available to consumers that are capable of embedding the key into the BIOS.  If it were as easy as you suggest, then a BIOS update to add SLIC 2.1 support would allow anyone to give themselves a Windows 7 license, even if they only actually paid for a lower-end edition (Home Basic/Premium rather than Pro/Ultimate) or even if they ordered the system with Linux rather than Windows, and I don't believe Microsoft would have made it that simple.

The BIOS on the system will have a SLIC code for the OS with which it shipped.  IF you install Windows from a Dell OEM disc with the correct version of Windows, it won't even ask for the license key on the label in the battery compartment.  No other media will work though - not even an OEM disc from another manufacturer.

Hi enj63, I understood what you say n other members have been saying. However, the issue is that although my Dell studio came installed with windows 7 pre-activated ( I assume the process as you mentioned). I had a motherboard problem and had it repaired, post that installed windows from Dell recovery media, no activation.....thinking it to be bios (system setup showed A05), although the original factory shipped was A06, hence I updated bios to A06, still no activation.

This will happen if the installation is done using non-Dell OEM media.  The Dell board WILL have the requirement needed to activate an OEM install of the same version of Windows that's on the product key label.  If the person who did the install used any other media -- from another system maker, or a generic windows disc, or used, say a Windows 7 Pro, Ultimate, etc. on a system that like this one, probably shipped with 7 Home, the install won't activate.

I am using dell OEM recovery disk and that is windows 7 home(this is what came pre-installed originally)

Now, if I am trying to install, it's not activating, I tried giving the COA key that is on sticker

Are you installing it on a cleanly formatted hard drive?

Yes