Unexpected downgrade to Home Premium

[Guest]

My Vista Ultimate computer (MSDN provided OS) suddenly and unexpectedly
decided to downgrade itself to Home Premium. Of course, it's decided that the
copy is no longer genuine because the product key it's been using for the
past 3 months is for Ulitmate, and it's now asking me to type in a new
product key. Obvously, the product key I have will only activate Ultimate
edition. I'm stuck.

First of all, what could possibly have made the computer decide to downgrade
itself, and second, how do I get it back?

 

[Max]

I seriously doubt such a thing could occur on it's own.

 

[Richard G. Harper]

Not likely.

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Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User] (e-mail address removed)
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[Hugh Wyn Griffith]

Phone the MS activation line and ask to be restored? It's a question of
KEYs isn't it?

 

[Guest]

Phone the MS activation line and ask to be restored? It's a question of
KEYs isn't it?

No. The key is good; the key works. But the key is for Ultimate. Activation
is only a secondary concern.

The computer, which was installed as Ultimate, now thinks that it's Home
Premium. The question is how to set the computer back to thinking it's
Ultimate again.

It already has all of the Ultimate programs, libraries, and other
components, but there's some setting somewhere that got flipped, or some file
that got corrupted, to make the computer think it's Home Premium.

Activation is only a concern because, since the OS was installed quite a few
months ago, the computer now will only run in reduced functionality mode,
which makes diagnosis and recovery a smidgen more difficult.

 

[Hugh Wyn Griffith]

Activation is only a concern because, since the OS was installed quite a few 
months ago, the computer now will only run in reduced functionality mode, 
which makes diagnosis and recovery a smidgen more difficult.

So you did _not_ activate it with the KEY?

Surely that is so if it is now in reduced functionality mode.

In any case it is my understanding that it is the KEY which determines which
version you install so my inclination would be to phone Activation and ask them
to sort it out -- assuming you bought a legitimate copy of VISTA in the first
instance.

 

[Guest]

So you did _not_ activate it with the KEY?

Surely that is so if it is now in reduced functionality mode.

In any case it is my understanding that it is the KEY which determines which
version you install so my inclination would be to phone Activation and ask them
to sort it out -- assuming you bought a legitimate copy of VISTA in the first
instance.

No, it WAS activated when I installed it back in December (and in theory,
remains activated still). Activation isn't the problem. The product key isn't
the problem. This is a legitimate, activated install of Vista Ultimate that
yesterday began thinking that it's Home Premium instead.

Because it now thinks that it's home premium, WGA has just now rejected the
original activation performed under Ultimate because Ultimate product keys
cannot be used for Home Premium. That's an inconvenient side effect, but I
don't think it's the root of the problem.

If the computer can be restored to understanding that it's Ultimate edition,
then I believe that WGA will back off and the computer will be considered
activated again.

The product key is only a preiferial consideration. The edition of windows
installed isn't directly determined by which product key you use; rather,
whether you can use a product key is determined by which edition of windows
you've installed. This can be confusing, because the product key can also be
used to tell Windows Setup which version to install when going through the
initial setup process.

This is a very unusual situation, and certainly not intended by the
programmers to ever happen, so I'm currently testing the hardware to see if
it could be caused by some external factor.

Otherwise, what I was hoping to find is some mechanism to restore whatever
was changed or corrupted so that I can recover the computer without being
forced to wipe and reinstall.

I'm starting to think, judging by the general incredulity and confusion,
that no one here knows enough to help me.

 

[dean-dean]

Is System Restore (Version Restore?) an option? If you invoke winver using
Command Prompt, is there anything about Evaluation Copy, Expiration, any
other clues in the About Windows window?

 

[Guest]

Is System Restore (Version Restore?) an option? If you invoke winver using
Command Prompt, is there anything about Evaluation Copy, Expiration, any
other clues in the About Windows window?

Rolling back KB932246 with system restore solved the problem and got the
computer back to working, but it still seems a bit unstable. At least now I
can back up all the documents before wiping and reinstalling.

Either this last update was the problem, or it was the trigger.

I'd always heard that WGA was dangerous for customers, but I'd figured that
the honest ones would be safe. I very nearly lost my data because you can't
make backups in their "reduced functionality mode", all because of a false
positive caused by a bad update.

 

[Jack Splat =\(8\)]

After Vista and Microsoft analyzed your bank account and last years tax
returns your were deemed in worthy of the Ultimate Vista experience. Try
again next year!

=(8)

 

[dean-dean]

Glad to hear your OS is back among the Land of the Living. This is one for
the record books. I might create a new restore point while things seem
relatively calm. Yes, W.G. Advantage has no doubt reduced the functionality
of many paying clients in the past, and will do so in the future. But we're
rewarded with Microsoft Match-Up! for our patience...

 

[Darrell Gorter[MSFT]]

Hello Tyler,
Can you send me the cbs.log file?( compress it in a zip file as it can get
quite large)?
Remove the online portion off my email address to send it to me.
C:\windows\logs\cbs\cbs.log

Thanks,
Darrell Gorter[MSFT]

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights
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|>Subject: Re: Unexpected downgrade to Home Premium
|>Date: Sat, 17 Mar 2007 22:21:08 -0700
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|>"dean-dean" wrote:
|>
|>> Is System Restore (Version Restore?) an option? If you invoke winver
using
|>> Command Prompt, is there anything about Evaluation Copy, Expiration, any
|>> other clues in the About Windows window?
|>>
|>
|>Rolling back KB932246 with system restore solved the problem and got the
|>computer back to working, but it still seems a bit unstable. At least now
I
|>can back up all the documents before wiping and reinstalling.
|>
|>Either this last update was the problem, or it was the trigger.
|>
|>I'd always heard that WGA was dangerous for customers, but I'd figured
that
|>the honest ones would be safe. I very nearly lost my data because you
can't
|>make backups in their "reduced functionality mode", all because of a
false
|>positive caused by a bad update.
|>