Cannot activate my Vista Ultimate on new machine

  • Thread starter Thread starter dba123
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dba123

I was using my purchased Vista Ultimate just fine on my first PC. But I just
upgraded the motherboard and pretty much everything else. Now it's a new PC.

So I took my Vista install CD, installed it on my new machine. Now I can't
activate it. It won't let me saying it's already been activated.

I recall someone told me that Vista activation is tied to the initial
hardware you install it on. Is this really the case? If so, there has to be
a resolution to this as Microsoft can't be that stupid to restrict you like
this. I mean how am I supposed to upgrade my fing PC!?

What do I do? I don't want to spend $60 on a support ticket. I tried to
put in my PID which also now it's saying has expired! wtf!

Any help would be appreciated in terms of getting around this or how to
contact Microsoft to get this crap resolved for my home PC.
 
dba123 said:
I was using my purchased Vista Ultimate just fine on my first PC. But I
just
upgraded the motherboard and pretty much everything else. Now it's a new
PC.

So I took my Vista install CD, installed it on my new machine. Now I
can't
activate it. It won't let me saying it's already been activated.

I recall someone told me that Vista activation is tied to the initial
hardware you install it on. Is this really the case? If so, there has to
be
a resolution to this as Microsoft can't be that stupid to restrict you
like
this. I mean how am I supposed to upgrade my fing PC!?

What do I do? I don't want to spend $60 on a support ticket. I tried to
put in my PID which also now it's saying has expired! wtf!

Any help would be appreciated in terms of getting around this or how to
contact Microsoft to get this crap resolved for my home PC.
Click to expand...


Please visit John Barnett’s support page:
http://vistasupport.mvps.org/product_key_already_in_use.htm
 
Thanks.

I think it's interesting in the tone of this article that you passed to me.
I know you didn't write it but it shows the cockiness of programmers that I
cannot stand...ego trips that assume everone assumes or knows what they konw.
It states that you should "obviously" know that you need to reactivate it
once again. Please.

I'm a C# developer. Do I assume this or that? Absolutely Not. Does the
activation screen give me a phone option ...of course. But...do I assume
that I must go the phone route to re-activate it again...NO.

This is stupid as hell. Meaning why doesn't Microsoft make a more
informative activation screen then in this case. What Microsoft should do is
state "if you have already activated this copy of Vista on a previous machine
of yours, please take the phone route to re-activate this software on your
machine again".

Hmm, would that resolve this concern? Certainly would.
 
dba123 said:
Thanks.

I think it's interesting in the tone of this article that you passed to
me.
I know you didn't write it but it shows the cockiness of programmers that
I
cannot stand...ego trips that assume everone assumes or knows what they
konw.
It states that you should "obviously" know that you need to reactivate it
once again. Please.

I'm a C# developer. Do I assume this or that? Absolutely Not. Does the
activation screen give me a phone option ...of course. But...do I assume
that I must go the phone route to re-activate it again...NO.

This is stupid as hell. Meaning why doesn't Microsoft make a more
informative activation screen then in this case. What Microsoft should do
is
state "if you have already activated this copy of Vista on a previous
machine
of yours, please take the phone route to re-activate this software on your
machine again".

Hmm, would that resolve this concern? Certainly would.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the feedback. I understand your point and I think I will
re-write my own page in a better tone.
 
dba123 said:
Thanks.

I think it's interesting in the tone of this article that you passed to
me.
I know you didn't write it but it shows the cockiness of programmers that
I
cannot stand...ego trips that assume everone assumes or knows what they
konw.
It states that you should "obviously" know that you need to reactivate it
once again. Please.

I'm a C# developer. Do I assume this or that? Absolutely Not. Does the
activation screen give me a phone option ...of course. But...do I assume
that I must go the phone route to re-activate it again...NO.

This is stupid as hell. Meaning why doesn't Microsoft make a more
informative activation screen then in this case. What Microsoft should do
is
state "if you have already activated this copy of Vista on a previous
machine
of yours, please take the phone route to re-activate this software on your
machine again".

Hmm, would that resolve this concern? Certainly would.
Click to expand...


The word 'obviously' did not appear anywhere in John Barnett's instructions.

Re. the activation process, activation is of the OS, not the user. The
process does not know who is running it, only the last known address (basic
computer spec)..

--
Mike Hall - MVP
How to construct a good post..
http://dts-l.com/goodpost.htm
How to use the Microsoft Product Support Newsgroups..
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=newswhelp&style=toc
Mike's Window - My Blog..
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/default.aspx
 
You can select "Activate by Phone", call MS and they will get you activated
in about 5 minutes.

Basically, your old machine was activated and there is no way to
"deactivate" an install.
 
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