Vista key invalid?

[sixbreasts]

Hiya,

Because i am an idiot and didnt do the sony vista cd recorvery disk maker thing, i am in a bit of trouble..
after a complete format and a failed attempt to downgrade to XP i installed vista again ... but using a vista bussiness copy which is avail to me from my work.
on vista install i used the code on the underneath of my lappy as the key.
install completed and lappy works fine... only now and again i will get an annoying pop up from microsoft saying 'your key is invalid' please either: phone or go on line to purchase a new key, or enter a new key in this here box.

any ideas on how to stop this box of joy?

Jon x

[Blencogo]

Hi Jon,

I know you could use the XP Product Key to activate XP installed from someone elses discs but I'm pretty sure you cannot do this with Vista. Microsoft have closed this little loophole.

The Product Key on the bottom of your Vaio only entitles you to the SONY OEM Version of Vista - which never needs you to enter the Product Key and never needs activation when being reinstalled from Recovery Discs or Recovery Partition. In fact, the Product key held in a Vaio is not the same as the Key shown on the bottom. So this Key will never be a valid activation Key.

If you have carried out a full format without making the Recovery Discs, the only thing you can do is buy a replacement set of Recovery Discs from Sony (about £30) if you want to reinstall the original OS.

[sixbreasts]

thanks for the info.

i think i shall input my works' key then next time it grummbles.

something has got crossed up though - as i have managed to update vista in this state.

[Blencogo]

I think it allows you 30 days before it cuts you off!

[Blencogo]

Try running

slmgr -xpr

at the Command Prompt and press Enter. This should return your Activation Status.