vista activation?

I'm sure Microsoft found a way to make it even more painful than XP activation though.
 
Not only will vista require activation for home users, but corporate users will also need to activate vista, so no more VLKs.
 
samsung.204b said:
didn't they say the ultimate version was gonna be free of activation??
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i wish..i haven't heard about this....it would be very nice if so
 
Oline61 said:
I'm sure Microsoft found a way to make it even more painful than XP activation though.
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I'm sorry, but since when did something that usually requires 5 seconds of time (sometimes less, sometimes more depending on your connection speed) with respect to computers become painful? I mean, I can understand paying hard earned cash for something hurting for a few seconds, or maybe if you dropped it on your bare toes hurting for a few seconds, but really, "more painful"? Are you serious?

Usually I keep quiet but that has to be the most ignorant statement I've seen in a while.

Vista requires activation just as Windows XP did, simple. Takes a few seconds as just noted, and it's painless much to someone's dismay.
 
Oline61 is right.
bbz_Ghost, have you ever had to buy a new copy of xp because you activated the old copy too many times?!
 
That person's comment didn't say "activate after <xxx> amount of times because I'm never happy with how my computer works so I keep upgrading and updating the hardware and software on a far too regular basis."

He said "more painful than XP activation" which is an ignorant statement. The OP asked if Vista requires activation; the answer is yes, it does. The rest of Oline61's statement was personal opinion and of practically no value whatsoever.

And yes, I've had to call Microsoft to do a reactivation request and get a new key many times considering I'm a software tester that reinstalls several times a week. It's not an issue for me, it never will be an issue because I choose to not make it one.

You never have to buy a new copy of XP just because you activate it quite often due to hardware or software upgrades. That's another ignorant statement if I've ever seen one. Microsoft never forces you to purchase a new copy. Call 'em and get a new key, simple.
 
bbz_Ghost said:
You never have to buy a new copy of XP just because you activate it quite often due to hardware or software upgrades.
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bbz_ghost is right :)
 
samsung.204b said:
Oline61 is right.
bbz_Ghost, have you ever had to buy a new copy of xp because you activated the old copy too many times?!
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you're kidding right? I've installed more than a dozen times in a month, and everytime I call MS to activate they ask me some reason and then always gives me the activation key.
 
bbz_Ghost said:
Microsoft never forces you to purchase a new copy. Call 'em and get a new key, simple.
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but getting a key, is it not the same as buying a new copy. they told me once i had to buy a new copy. after that i always lie to them.
 
samsung.204b said:
Oline61 is right.
bbz_Ghost, have you ever had to buy a new copy of xp because you activated the old copy too many times?!
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Why would you ever buy another copy if you already owned a legal copy in the first place? If Microsoft gives you any trouble, you explain to them WHY you are re-activating. If you really need to be reinstalling your OS this many times, why aren't you using a drive-imaging program?
 
Hmm. Seems the Microsoft !!!!!! thinks that putting Vista activation into perspective along with XP activation is somehow of "no value", and "ignorant". After all, you should never compare new versions of software to old version to determine if progress is being made!

When I said more painful I was referring to the phone call you have to make if you reinstall because of hardware upgrades every few months. You get on the phone and give the computer your number. Then they say they can't fix it and you get connected to someone on the other side of the globe speaking unintelligibly. You give them the number, and then they attempt to read you the number back. You have to stop and ask them to repeat every other digit. Why can't they just set it so as long as activations are a month apart you don't have to make the damn phone call?
 
I must say, the version of XP I got from my school activated only once, and every time thereafter was a call to Microsoft. I had no problems with the process. True, it was five minutes out of my life, but the process itself was fine.

Oline61 said:
You have to stop and ask them to repeat every other digit.
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I'm really terrible at understanding people with accents, and even I had no problems with their operators.
 
Why can't they just set it so as long as activations are a month apart you don't have to make the damn phone call?
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Because it would defeat the purpose of activation. People could install their one licence copy of XP on multiple computers as long as they install them a month apart. Think about why they do things instead of rushing to criticize.
 
Oline61 said:
You give them the number, and then they attempt to read you the number back. You have to stop and ask them to repeat every other digit. Why can't they just set it so as long as activations are a month apart you don't have to make the damn phone call?
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I activate copies of Windows XP anywhere from once or twice a week upwards of 20+ times a week. I can safely say 98% of the time, I've had absolutely no issues understanding the person on the other end (and for the record, they're not always Indians. . . I've seemingly gotten a lot of Aussies as of late. . .). In any case, is it a pain? Sure. It's not something I want to do at work, but thats because I have plenty of other things to be doing instead of activating 10 copies of Windows. For your average home user, making a 5 minute call once every few months or years isn't exactly what I would call "painful" or a big hassle.
 
Oline61 said:
Why can't they just set it so as long as activations are a month apart you don't have to make the damn phone call?
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It's not about people being fan boys...it's about people applying common sense and rationale. If it bothers you this much to activate, why don't you have a clean image of your system burned to a bootable DVD? Why aren't you using Sysprep so you can migrate to the new hardware? There are plenty of things to do to legally avoid re-activating if you insist on re-installing that often.
 
Having a bootable image is great for reinstalling on the same hardware, but if you upgrade part of your system's hardware you can forget about that.

I've never had a call through to the Product Activation center without having to ask them to repeat the numbers several times.

I am unwilling to compromise my experience to make things easier for Microsoft. Call me an old fashioned consumer, but I expect to be able to use the software I buy to the fullest extent of the License Agreement without significant hassle.
 
Oline61 said:
Having a bootable image is great for reinstalling on the same hardware, but if you upgrade part of your system's hardware you can forget about that.

I've never had a call through to the Product Activation center without having to ask them to repeat the numbers several times.

I am unwilling to compromise my experience to make things easier for Microsoft. Call me an old fashioned consumer, but I expect to be able to use the software I buy to the fullest extent of the License Agreement without significant hassle.
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Um, no. You're wrong about the boot image. djnes knows what he's talking about. Why don't you consider asking him politely HOW to do what you think is impossible?


On another note, Vista has an option during install to let it automatically activate after installation. I think it's set to auto activate after 3 days of the first boot so you have time to get things sqaured away. So in a sense, Vista's activation is less "painful" than XP's. Also VIsta is supposed to be LESS strict about hardware changes before forcing a re-activation.
 
ryan_975 said:
hmm, I'm curious. :p
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Aw, just made a shitty comment that I didn't feel good about after reading it. And I also basically said the same thing you did, so it was pointless, that's all.

People really should read up a little bit before talking about things they may not quite understand completely.
 
digital_exhaust said:
Aw, just made a shitty comment that I didn't feel good about after reading it. And I also basically said the same thing you did, so it was pointless, that's all.

People really should read up a little bit before talking about things they may not quite understand completely.
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gotcha.
 
Perhaps I should clarify. If you create a boot image. Then you upgrade your motherboard. Then you try and reinstall with the boot image. You will have to reactivate because part of your activation ID is a hash created based on your hardware. Therefore the boot image doesn't work for me.

I concede that sysprep seems like it would work, however after looking at that guide, I'd rather take my chances with a reinstall and WPA.
 
I have never had an issue understanding any of the MS operators for reactivation ..I have had to squint one eye and look off to the hard right and down to focus in on a couple tho to get what they were saying ..and a couple have mis-read the numbers back to me ..

Re-activating generally isnt an issue and I have done it countless dozens of times (at least) .. but I do have a bit of a unique(sp?) situation in my computer lab that I run at a school for troubled teens ..and that is that there is only one phone in there ..and its not cordless and it doesnt even come close to reaching any of the computers ..so if I have to reactivate one of those buggers , then I have to write down the number ..call MS and then write down the new number that they give me and then go back to the computer and type it in .. **blech**

:)


[F]old|[H]ard
 
ryan_975 said:
Um, no. You're wrong about the boot image. djnes knows what he's talking about. Why don't you consider asking him politely HOW to do what you think is impossible?


On another note, Vista has an option during install to let it automatically activate after installation. I think it's set to auto activate after 3 days of the first boot so you have time to get things sqaured away. So in a sense, Vista's activation is less "painful" than XP's. Also VIsta is supposed to be LESS strict about hardware changes before forcing a re-activation.
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Just to let you know, I've beat up on Vista, and just pulled a drive out of one pc, and stuck it back in another one, with quite different hardware, and VIsta reconfigured and was all set to go in a few minutes,never triggering any reactivation. It might be quite different with the rtm though.
 
samsung.204b said:
didn't they say the ultimate version was gonna be free of activation??
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I highly doubt it, because the moment I know someone who has a Vista Ultimate, I'd just ask them if I can borrow it, I mean who wouldn't? :p
 
OP:

Yes it needs to be activated

Oline61 said:
I'm sure Microsoft found a way to make it even more painful than XP activation though.
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Simply put: No, you are wrong. Seeing as I have actually been using Vista, activation is seriously as easy as clicking one button. It connects to the internet, it validates, your done.

For Vista Business you will need to enter your Product Key to continue activation. This is because Vista, unlike Ultimate does not prompt you for the product key during the installation. This is a verified design choice by MS as we called to confirm this.
 
I have install Vista ultimate and Premium number of times and they all ask for the Key but you can install without the key and with out activation being checked but then you will have 30 days to activate by putting in you product key etc this is in the RTM versions.
 
I'm not sure if this is the exact reason, but I bought my winxp from my school three years ago. I used to have to always call the phone center to have it activated, but ever since Ive opted to register my copies of winxp Ive been able to activate it via the internet. I know their isn't a time limited because of various hardware issues I have had to reinstall like three times. Its good to register anyway, because I've recieved email or web pages for support on issues outside of my control.
 
Back to topic... Yes, Vista will require activation but it will also be a bit better than XP with a more clear-cut requirement of hardware changes before requiring a new activation. XP is asking for activations more erratically and more frequently, even on a simple driver change and such.
 
abudhu said:
activation is seriously as easy as clicking one button
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As discussed previously, this is true until you exceed your activation limit and have to make the CALL.
 
Oline61 said:
As discussed previously, this is true until you exceed your activation limit and have to make the CALL.
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..yes , the dreaded ...Call ...

How do you bypass the fake lady that comes on at first and just go directly to the person in India?


[F]old|[H]ard
 
ThreeDee said:
..yes , the dreaded ...Call ...

How do you bypass the fake lady that comes on at first and just go directly to the person in India?


[F]old|[H]ard
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Hit zero? That usually works on other systems. Never tried it on MS's though.
 
Oline61 said:
As discussed previously, this is true until you exceed your activation limit and have to make the CALL.
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True true. We had to make a call earlier in November when it first showed up under our Volume License. It had 5 activations, which as you can imagine filled up pretty quickly. Talking to them wasn't so bad, we gave them some info, they said they would change it. Although...that change did come about 4 days later. Now we can activate 500 machines.

/Sigh.
 
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