activation of vista

[hari]

hi friennds
i purchase vista home premium retail pack and installed , at first it
activated automatically, when i re install due to some problems ,it said that
the key is already in use.i activated through phone. is that i have to
activate by phone ,if i have to re install in future .
i know from internet that if i purchase retail pack i can install many times
in one pc.
then why should i use telephone and answer their questions to activate as in
oem
i am confused,
please help

 

[John Barnett MVP]

Sadly, hari, it is just the way activation works in Vista. Even though you
have a retail pack, you still have to go through the telephone activation
when you re-install. I have found that the easiest way around the problem is
to set up Vista how you like it and then 'image' the hard drive using
something like Acronis True Image. If you have any problems you can then
always re-image the drive and activation will remain intact.

With XP so long as the software had been on your PC for 120 day without
being re-installed you could activate over the internet, but I'm not sure
whether this is still the case with Vista.


--

--
John Barnett MVP
Windows XP Associate Expert
Windows Desktop Experience

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

 

[hari]

Sadly, hari, it is just the way activation works in Vista. Even though you
have a retail pack, you still have to go through the telephone activation
when you re-install. I have found that the easiest way around the problem is
to set up Vista how you like it and then 'image' the hard drive using
something like Acronis True Image. If you have any problems you can then
always re-image the drive and activation will remain intact.

With XP so long as the software had been on your PC for 120 day without
being re-installed you could activate over the internet, but I'm not sure
whether this is still the case with Vista.


--

--
John Barnett MVP
Windows XP Associate Expert
Windows Desktop Experience

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

is it works, or, is their any problem to activate by phone if i have to re
install in future

 

[John Barnett MVP]

Hari, if you have a retail copy of Vista (which according to your post you
do) then you will have no trouble activating by phone should you decide (or
need to) re-install in future. With retail packs you can also transfer it to
a new computer (after removing it from the old one, of course) whereas with
an OEM copy the software I tied to the first machine you install it on.


--

--
John Barnett MVP
Windows XP Associate Expert
Windows Desktop Experience

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

With XP so long as the software had been on your PC for 120 day without
being re-installed you could activate over the internet, but I'm not sure
whether this is still the case with Vista.

Its not.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

is it works, or, is their any problem to activate by phone if i have to re
install in future

I completely rennovated my test box a few weeks ago using the same retail
copy of Vista Ultimate I had been using with the old mobo, memory, and hard
drive. I had to activate by phone because I got the same message you did.
No problem. I didn't even have to talk to a real person. The voice
response system asked me only one question: "How many computers is the
software used on?" Yesterday I had reason to perform an in-place-upgrade,
which requires reactivation. This time I was able to activate over the
internet with no problem.

In a way, you just never know which it will be, but you will not be refused
activation as long as the software is not installed on two devices at the
same time. I suspect hardware changes made the difference for me the first
time.

 

[Dustin Harper]

It says it is already activated because it was, but by you. You would need
to call Microsoft and activate it over the phone. It is part of the
anti-piracy tactics that MS uses in Vista. It is also one of my biggest
complaints, as well as one of the most frequently asked questions in these
groups.

 

[hari]

thank you very much friends

 

[John Barnett MVP]

Thanks Colin, I wasn't sure on that particular point. The last time I did a
clean install was 9 months ago and I only did that because I purchased a new
machine and needed to install Vita Ultimate instead of Premium.

I find it easier to do a clean install, download all updates, test the
machine for a day or so, activate and then image the drive/partition. I can
then re-image the drive/partition as and when I like without have to bother
about activating again.

I usually re-image every couple of months, download any new updates and then
straight image the drive again. Obviously a daily backup is performed on all
important documents/files etc so, should any problems arise, I have only
lost, at most, a day.


--

--
John Barnett MVP
Windows XP Associate Expert
Windows Desktop Experience

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..