# [URGENT] Vista Ultimate 64Bit activation



## mikey8684 (Feb 23, 2008)

Hey all.

Recently my copy of vista has been a real shit.

I was playing CoD4 and out of nowhere a box popped up asking me to re-enter my serial for vista ??? I ignored it and kept playing.

Now when I boot up the box pops up before it goes to the desktop and asks the same thing.

- Purchase new key.
- Re-enter key.
- cant remember the 3rd :S.

I have an OEM copy so I didnt get a key ... 

I found some info on keznews .... along with a serial to try out .. but no luck it comes up with an error ... i dont know if it needs the net to connect to validate or woteva...

WTF do i do ???????? 

I dont have the net on my pc at home, I'm writing from work.

I so far have had no luck with this ridiculous shit on the net so I hope one of you champions can help me 

DESPERATELY WAITING 

P.S. do me a favour and dont tell me to re-install ... its not an option as i will lose 3yrs of photos of my son and family, as well as games movies and music. blah blah blah.


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## DanishDevil (Feb 23, 2008)

Borrow an external drive from a friend and dump the files onto that so you don't lose them.

How the hell did you not get a key with an OEM copy?  That sounds more like a bootleg copy than an OEM copy to me...


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## CrAsHnBuRnXp (Feb 23, 2008)

So is this a computer you bought from a place such as Dell? Or did you build it yourself and go on Newegg and purchase an OEM copy of Vista?

How long have you had the comptuer/OS installed?


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## erocker (Feb 23, 2008)

Your copy of Vista cannot be validated without being online.


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## ShadowFold (Feb 23, 2008)

All the OEM's ive bought came with keys..


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## mikey8684 (Feb 23, 2008)

Ive had it installed for about 6 months or so.
I got it from a mate (not a copy) and he said it doesn't need a key to install. I didn't think that was right but when I went through the installation it skipped the part to enter the key and just started installing.

I cant use an external drive to transfer anything coz i cant get into my pc to do anything.

I guess i could take it to a mates house and try connecting it to his network and activate it :S ... im just stuck and really pissed off that this has  happened ... i dont wanna lose such important stuff.


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## ShadowFold (Feb 23, 2008)

He must have retail and let you install it and then Vista realized that you both were using the same key.. so yea you gotta buy your own key.


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## mikey8684 (Feb 23, 2008)

where and how do i purchase my own key ? ... and how much in $$AUS


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 23, 2008)

run CMD and type 

slmgr -rearm


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## ShadowFold (Feb 23, 2008)

mikey8684 said:


> where and how do i purchase my own key ? ... and how much in $$AUS



idk how much 200$ USD is in AUS sorry  its somewhere around 200$ USD for a Vista Ultimate key


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 23, 2008)

http://readerszone.com/2008/02/06/recover-windows-vista-product-key/


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## Dia01 (Feb 23, 2008)

I've had this happen many times with OEM.  All I've done is call microsoft support line (activate by phone option or something like that) and tell the guy at he other end the problem.  I've replaced mobo's before and even stated that and he still provided me with another valid key.


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## ShadowFold (Feb 23, 2008)

Dia01 said:


> I've had this happen many times with OEM.  All I've done is call microsoft support line (activate by phone option or something like that) and tell the guy at he other end the problem.  I've replaced mobo's before and even stated that and he still provided me with another valid key.



Theres a key on my dead gigabyte board would it work with the new board im gonna get?


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## Fitseries3 (Feb 23, 2008)

reactivation key is different from the product key. i think he needs the product key.

see my link above


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## mikey8684 (Feb 23, 2008)

OK guys you've been pretty quick to help out ... BUT ... most of you have suggested to do stuff that i cant do ... i have no access into windows ... this box pops up b4 i get to the desktop and if i cancel it logs me off and sits on the user accounts screen.

if someone knows a way for me to get into my pc and try this stuff i would greatly appreciate it  ??? 

Again thanks so far


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## ShadowFold (Feb 23, 2008)

Tried safe mode?


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## farlex85 (Feb 23, 2008)

You should have the option to call a number also. Try that.


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## Silverel (Feb 23, 2008)

You'd still be able to access the hard drive from another machine if you pull it out to swap yer files over. Just don't let it boot from yours if you do that.


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## mikey8684 (Feb 23, 2008)

no i havent yet .... i didnt bother coz i thort it would just do the same ... but i will definately try wen i get home 

fingers crossed :S


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## Solaris17 (Feb 23, 2008)

if you need to abck stuff up.....if you do need to reinstall click use in reduced functonality mode......it will open up IE...when your in IE go to your site bart thing and type in your drive name..it will allow you to access things..it will look kinda like a ftp server the only prob is it acts exactly like an ftp...when you click on something it asks if you want to save it say yes(this is only going to work with firefox) when if ur running firefox it brings up the little downloads box...which you can run the program from....if u need to use a cd burning program or something...just member to "save" the .exe...the files dont matter.


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## mikey8684 (Feb 23, 2008)

farlex85 said:


> You should have the option to call a number also. Try that.




if someone can give me the number i will try that .. i cant find the thing on the net


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## farlex85 (Feb 23, 2008)

Well, it should show it when attempting to activate, there should be an option to activate by phone or internet, and they would give you a number to call. Its starting to sound like you are talking about a product key though, which you will need to get from you friend or buy a new one. In either case, you can call 1-800-microsoft, and they should be able to help you out.


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## Dia01 (Feb 23, 2008)

Try this it may be right not sure.
http://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?ln=en-au&x=14&y=14&prid=10659&gprid=455000


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## mikey8684 (Feb 23, 2008)

cool thanks for the number ... i will try once at home


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## ex_reven (Feb 23, 2008)

Solaris17 said:


> if you need to abck stuff up.....if you do need to reinstall click use in reduced functonality mode......it will open up IE...when your in IE go to your site bart thing and type in your drive name..it will allow you to access things..it will look kinda like a ftp server the only prob is it acts exactly like an ftp...when you click on something it asks if you want to save it say yes(this is only going to work with firefox) when if ur running firefox it brings up the little downloads box...which you can run the program from....if u need to use a cd burning program or something...just member to "save" the .exe...the files dont matter.



^^^ This works.

Did it yesterday.
I opened IE (in reduced functionality) and used "My Computer" as the http address. 


On another note, if you reinstall vista your old files should still be there. Vista saves them in a folder called C:\Windows.old

So long as you dont format the drive


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## mikey8684 (Feb 23, 2008)

ok so i've got a few things to try now ... i will give em a go and get back to ya ... thanks again guys ... so helpful.


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## mikey8684 (Feb 26, 2008)

Ok guys tried everything and no luck  ... had to format reinstall ... luckily my windows is on a separate partition.

The sucky thing now is re-installing all my stuff  

OR 

is there a way to get everything working again without re-installing it all ... same OS ... if not its not a big deal its only software and games.

I dont have the net on my pc so i cant update windows either 

So yeah thanks for all your help so far 

waiting for an answer


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## ex_reven (Feb 26, 2008)

Just copy paste it over.

Some stuff will work, other crap wont, but its worth a try.

I think it has to do with registry entries and how stuff remains linked when it gets copied over.
Some applications will work fine, others will be a little picky in my experience.

Im not sure of the technical reasons for it.


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## mikey8684 (Feb 26, 2008)

Cool Cool thanks dude will give it a go ... not a real biggy if it dont work ... just time consuming re-installing everything


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## CrAsHnBuRnXp (Feb 26, 2008)

Whatever was on the drive you formatted, you will have to reinstall. If you have games or other apps on another partition or hard drive, all you have to do is go to that partition/hard drive and run the app/game through there. I have games installed from x amount of formats ago and they still work. However, their save files are usually stored on teh C: drive. So I hvae to back those up.


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## phanbuey (Feb 26, 2008)

call microsoft, explain to them ur situation, say that ur vista just deactivated.. they will give you a serial.  They gave me one.


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## mikey8684 (Feb 26, 2008)

phanbuey said:


> call microsoft, explain to them ur situation, say that ur vista just deactivated.. they will give you a serial.  They gave me one.




If I could have contacted them before I formatted I would have but it only gave my 3 options -

log into windows with limited functionality.
enter new serial#. (requires internet which my pc doesn't have yet).
contact m$. (requires internet which my pc doesn't have yet).

I would have thought just like in XP that it would have listed the contact number but it needs to go online and get the details for some shit reason  so I just format re-installed ... if it happens again I will try contact them to get a serial.

Anyone know the Ph# from Australia ?


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## ex_reven (Feb 26, 2008)

If you click on "telephone activation" the australian number should be listed there...


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