Installed SP1, Windows is no longer activated, and wont activate

[cefoskey]

Just finished my SP1 install. Just SP1, no hardware, nothing extra.

Boot into windows and noticed the 3 day activation link under System properties. So I click to activate online (why i have to reactivate since I changed no hardware is beyond me), and I get the message stating" "The product key you typed is already in use"

Of course its in use....on the system I am running to activate it!

Has this happened to anyone else?!

[Archer75]

never had this problem.

[leSLIe]

is your Vista copy a legit one?

[Archer75]

is your Vista copy a legit one?

One is, one isn't.

[Skillz'n Magic]

So.... call Microsoft and get it fixed. It only takes a couple minutes.

[Anarchist4000]

Check and see how many CPUs are detected. I had to reinstall and during the install only 1 of the 2 cores was detected so it said I had a different system. Doesn't exactly take a whole lot to throw up some flags.

At least you can install the service pack. I've apparently got some corrupt files or something somewhere that prevents the service pack from properly installing, after it spends all of an hour dragging its damn files all over the place it comes to that conclusion.

[DeathFromBelow]

Just call them and tell them what happened.

[Anarchist4000]

And talk to a guy from India that has no clue what he's doing?

[Sparkyy]

That guy from India who just happens to have the name of 'Bob', should be able to get you through and hand you a key in a few minutes. Remember, you are paying his salary of $20 a month so put him to good use! ;)

[Slade]

having the same problem, uninstalled the beta SP1 and while updating to the real SP1, I noticed I have to activate again. Stupid winblows...

and let me say for a legit system, I've had more issues than a illegal system... heh

[Skillz'n Magic]

And talk to a guy from India that has no clue what he's doing?

I've never talked to anyone when I've called in the past. It's been an automated process. It may be different since this is a problem with a "duplicate" key though.

[Slade]

mine failed the automated process but after a talk with "Jon" from India, it was fixed. The funny part was how he was trying to convince me that updates to the Os will trigger an activation... jeez.

[Fix Me]

I replaced my motherboard and wireless card and had to call to re-activate. Then, about a month later I added a sound card and a blu-ray drive and had to reactivate again. The process was relatively painless. The phone activation wouldn't work, so I had to wait for a person. They only asked me if it was in use on one PC and then gave me my new activation code. It's not a big deal, but it pisses me off that I have to do it at all. It's total bullshit. I'm not a fucking pirate and I hate being treated as such. /rant

[JAdamz]

In my opinion Microsoft's system of activation for legitimate copies only makes it MORE likely for people to want an illegitimate copy just to make life easier, especially those who change their hardware frequently.

In response to the original post, yes I just upgraded a legit copy of Vista Ultimate to SP1 and it deactivated itself. Not only that, but it removed all the shortcuts in my start menu for whatever reason and unfortunately it doesn't look like they're ever coming back. Time to give the $haft a call. :D

[ZenOps]

Yeah I had to re-activate my retail Vista upon upgrading to SP1 and 64-bit on a reinstall of a laptop (Previously 32-bit and no SP1)

No hardware changes at all other than maybe a pair of USB speakers - had to talk to the guy from India.

Not impressed.

[cefoskey]

One is, one isn't.

Like I would even want to install Vista on 2 of my systems. Hell, I dual boot this one with XP.

It is a perfectly legitimate Vista Home premium retail box. Like I said, it was activated, WGA approved and running fine for a year before the service pack.

Tried automated phone activation, failed. Had to talk to a guy from England, he was hesitant but gave me a code.

I think its ridiculous that I have to spend minutes on my cellphone calling microsoft to activate a product that was already previously activated and verified on my machine which had absolutely no hardware changes. Even if it did require re-activation, the online process should not have failed. Period.

[pigster]

I think its ridiculous that I have to spend minutes on my cellphone calling microsoft to activate a product that was already previously activated and verified on my machine which had absolutely no hardware changes.

I agree, it's very frustrating

Even if it did require re-activation, the online process should not have failed. Period.

Actually, the online process is pretty much guaranteed to fail - think about the process:


Windows thinks something is different, decides it needs reactivation
Contacts activation server
Activation server says key is already used
Fail


The only way it would work is if the activation server allowed you to reuse the key over and over, and if it did, why bother with activation?

[Anarchist4000]

It's sending off a hash of the hardware in your system. I've reinstalled and reactivated several times. The only time I had issue was when one my my cores wasn't detected and it thought a different system was in use. If SP1 uses a different driver for some hardware that could be enough to set it off.

[dgingeri]

I have a machine that keeps doing this. (Pre-SP1) It uses a KMS volume license key, but it will stay activated for about 3-4 weeks, then deactivate. I have to totally format and reinstall to get it to reactivate. I have seen many reports of this issue, and supposedly SP1 was supposed to fix this, but it looks like they failed and made it worse.

[Ravynmagi]

Well I was able to install SP1, then uninstall it, and then reinstall SP1 again, and fortunately nothing bad happened (only uninstalled it to test something).

However the day after I first install Vista and updated the chipset drivers, that did deactivate Vista. I had to call Microsoft.

First there was the automated system that asked me to enter some numbers. Apparently it failed to find me or something, so I was put on hold for a while, then got a guy from India. I had to give him the same long set of numbers I had just entered for the automated system. He gave me another long set of numbers I had to enter in Windows. And I was reactivated. But the whole thing took about 20 minutes though. Would of been nice if Windows could of reactivated me automatically, but it wouldn't.

[Archer75]

I have replaced hard drives, raid cards, sound cards, ram, never had to call to reactivate. And I have an OEM copy.

[-(Xyphox)-]

And talk to a guy from India that has no clue what he's doing?

No no, its talk to Bob or Jim in India... i wish they would use their real damn names :D

[dgingeri]

If they used their real names, we'd have issues even understanding the name and would waste time trying to get it right. They want to spend as little time on the phone as they can so they can get through as many calls as they can. (They generally get paid by the call there, not by the hour.)

[Master Blaster]

If you have a legitimate claim, they will give you a new serial to activate it. No problemo!

[thebeephaha]

In my opinion Microsoft's system of activation for legitimate copies only makes it MORE likely for people to want an illegitimate copy just to make life easier, especially those who change their hardware frequently.

I own at least three copies of XP Pro retail but I just crack them now. I got sick of calling in every week. I just don't want to waste time.

[dgingeri]

I own at least three copies of XP Pro retail but I just crack them now. I got sick of calling in every week. I just don't want to waste time.

That's what I was doing with XP. I bought 2 legal copies, one for my main machine and one for my testing machine, but the constant hardware changes and reformats caused many call in activations.

With Vista so far, I have had to call in 4 times. Each took 30 to 40 minutes while I recite the number to the computer voice on the phone, had it tell me I couldn't activate automatically, then go through the same thing with a person. (Well, excuse me for having 2 motherboards fail and testing through 4 sound cards that all failed!)

I have activation.

[leSLIe]

And talk to a guy from India that has no clue what he's doing?

what are u talking about, those guys are legit !!

http://images.dr3vil.com//files3/145/MSTechSupport.JPG

[Makaveli@BETA]

LMAO.........