vista

General Computing Microsoft Windows
1

got a laptop yesterday with vista already installed.
turned it on and it worked fine
merrily working out how to work it lo and behold an error message!
restarted the laptop.
asks for a microsoft product key. Minutes later found it on the bottom of the lappy.
typed it in.
you can activate it over the internet but i did not have that luxury so i tryed to use the automated phone line(god i hate them!)
after four minutes off typing in all the numbers it tells me that “this copy of vista is already installed on another computer”.
I am very annoyed:mad: cause that is not true and that i cannot use my laptop till i activate it using the internet(which i do not have!)

rant over.
thanks for listening

p.s can anyone help?

2

would’ve thought it already registered if you bought it from a shop they would have doe it i’d thought. Didn’t do anything to mine i don’t think just tookit out of the box and away i went not got vista though got xp with a vista upgrade voucher

3

Did the laptop come from a legit store? if so just take it back, if not…

4

who do you think i am?

5

legitimate question that one I think, unless your laptop was a display model and someone noted the number and used it illegally :shrug:

I’d take it back :agree: or go to an internet cafe that offers wireless (if it has wireless) only costs a couple of pound an hour in most places.

DT.

6

Tony Montana

7

:lol:

8

[QUOTE=DoubleTop;367669]legitimate question that one I think, unless your laptop was a display model and someone noted the number and used it illegally :shrug:

I’d take it back :agree: or go to an internet cafe that offers wireless (if it has wireless) only costs a couple of pound an hour in most places.

DT.[/QUOTE]

it has got wireless
good idea.

9

Since installing vista ultimate I’ve had to activate it 3 times so far. If the phone service is telling you that it’s already registered then I wouldn’t waste my time going to an internet cafe. Best thing to do is to call the phone activation service but when they ask you to enter the first set of numbers, don’t press anything. You’ll eventually get put through to a person. Who will undoubtably lecture you on how many machines you’re allowed to install Vista on :rolleyes:

Taking some RAM out of my machine forced me to reactivate :frowning:

10

I still think I’ll stick with XP. It took me 8 years to get XP from Win98 and it will take me just as long to get VISTA, if at all.

11

sorted it
found the recovery disc and reinstalled it
lost microsoft office but small price to pay for a working laptop

12

You can use Open Office for free. It’s an excellent replacement for Office.

13

[QUOTE=cd player;367880]sorted it
found the recovery disc and reinstalled it
lost microsoft office but small price to pay for a working laptop[/QUOTE]

You’ll still have to activate it. You have 30 days to do so.

14

Ben Hur

15

Isn’t it 3 days to activate?

16

Ben Hur?:confused:

17

Yeah, Judah Ben-Hur. From the classic 1959 movie.

18

30 days :).

19

3 days for Business on the OVS agreement. It installs with a temporary key then you have to use the change key option and activate.

In my experience of about 40 installations at the office;)

20

Vista Home and Ultimate 30 days.
The business version is 3 as it is used on multiple computers the way corporate versions are on XP.