Vista install wrongly detected as non-genuine

[srochford]

What can you do when Vista decides it's not genuine even though it is?

Nearly 2 years ago, I took part in the beta, submitted a couple of bug reports and got sent a Vista Ultimate key to say "thanks". I finally got round to installing it a couple of days ago. All seemed to go well (I did it as an XP upgrade which might not be the best idea but I just wanted to see how well it would work - MS claimed that the XP to Vista upgrade would work much better than things like 2000-XP)

I activated it online and then started installing updates. After a reboot, I got a message saying "something's changed" and asking me to go online. That then told me that my copy of Vista was not genuine. Given that I'd downloaded the ISO from the MS web site and used my own genuine key I'm pretty sure that they're wrong. Unfortunately, MS at that point are judge, jury and executioner and you've got no way of questioning the decision and no way of contacting anyone to get it reconsidered!

Is there anything you can do when the "is it genuine" test gets the result wrong??

[kmount]

Have you installed SP1? It seems to imply that some false positives can be eliminated on SP1.

Also, I too took part in the beta, the missus' been running my copy of Ultimate for months now without issue, it might be worth checking in your Connect account for the email contact for the folks who ran the beta to see if they can help.

[john]

Have you installed SP1? It seems to imply that some false positives can be eliminated on SP1.

Also, I too took part in the beta, the missus' been running my copy of Ultimate for months now without issue, it might be worth checking in your Connect account for the email contact for the folks who ran the beta to see if they can help.

MY Connect copy of Ultimate from that same thing is fine, so must be an isolated thing / bug thats not global.

[SYNACK]

Should just need to attempt the activation offline from the system properties. It should ask you is you want to activate using other options and provide you with the number to call for your area. I have solved several activation problems this way with early versions of Vista. Just be persistent and they will divert your call to the tech support division to reset the key in the system.

As at 2007:

The two UK product activation numbers are: 0800 018 8354 and 0870 2411963.