Reactivation Problems Explained

[dunedin]

It is a bug right enough

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=271

For once, the OEM system scores over the Retail DVD

“This issue apparently only affects those who install Windows Vista using retail media. For the 90% or more of the Vista customer base who are getting OEM machines with Windows Vista preinstalled, this won’t be an issue, as OEM activations are tied to the system BIOS and activation status is only affected if you swap out a motherboard.”

Elaine

[SuperSparks]

Interesting. So it could be that a driver update that I'd already done at some time in the past had taken my system to the edge of requiring activation, and adding the RAM the other day was what tipped it over. That would make sense.

Thanks Elaine

[dunedin]

At least MS are aware of this problem and are working to solve it. But how long will that take?

In the meantime something which might cause a lot of trouble is the "one reassignment " before a customer has to buy another copy of Vista.

All those who have had to reactivate by phone will have used up their "one reassignment " so I hope MS will make allowances if anyone is caught out for a second time. It would be best to keep this in mind for the future.

Elaine

[SuperSparks]

That "one reassignment" idea was dropped long ago, before Vista even went to RTM. It is the same as XP now, and retail copies of Vista can be reinstalled on new hardware an indefinite number of times, as long as it is removed from the old hardware first.

[dunedin]

Thanks Nick, I did not know it had been changed.

The article I saw it in was dated last October.

Elaine

[jenae]

Hi, Thanks Elaine for the heads up on this one, out of the box office 2007 failed activation so we rang MS and sure they are nice and after keying in the new code all was well except the install did not appear to go well (turned out the CD drive was failing) so we had to uninstall and reinstall. This time it took more explaining when activation failed for the second time, all fixed now however if you were to bundle the time this took to the customers account ... I know we would have problems. Also we have converted many clients systems to Vista many on Retail versions... boy I hope they fix this quick.. for both our sakes.

[SuperSparks]

Here's a couple of articles about the revised licence terms:

http://windowsvistablog.com/blogs/wi...ing-terms.aspx

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=166