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Windows upgrade activation

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    Windows upgrade activation

    I bought a laptop with XP home edition pre-installed.
    Then I bought Vista Business upgrade edition, and installed that.
    Then Norton failed to spot a hideous virus that messed up my disk partition so badly that the computer wouldn't start. The only way I could get it to start was to tell it to boot from a linux CD, which let me clean up the disk so I could install Windows Vista again.

    That was a couple of weeks ago, and now Windows wants to be activated, but it won't accept my product key because it thinks it's a clean install and it's only an upgrade key.

    Should I pop round to CEX and get a cheap Windows 2000 full edition CD, install that, then install my Vista upgrade on top? Or is there a better way?

    #2
    Just phone the MS number thats displayed, they'll give you a new activation key if you explain it well enough. Had to do it before but it's fairly quick and painless.

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by thunderlizard View Post
      I bought a laptop with XP home edition pre-installed.
      Then I bought Vista Business upgrade edition, and installed that.
      Then Norton failed to spot a hideous virus that messed up my disk partition so badly that the computer wouldn't start. The only way I could get it to start was to tell it to boot from a linux CD, which let me clean up the disk so I could install Windows Vista again.

      That was a couple of weeks ago, and now Windows wants to be activated, but it won't accept my product key because it thinks it's a clean install and it's only an upgrade key.

      Should I pop round to CEX and get a cheap Windows 2000 full edition CD, install that, then install my Vista upgrade on top? Or is there a better way?
      If you look hard enough, you will find instructions on how to perform a clean install of Vista Upgrade without having to install any other OS.
      If your company is the best place to work in, for a mere £500 p/d, you can advertise here.

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        #4
        The below link will solve your problem.

        How to clean install Windows Vista with upgrade media.

        Comment


          #5
          Originally posted by Clippy View Post
          The below link will solve your problem.

          How to clean install Windows Vista with upgrade media.
          Clever. Lateral thinking. I'll try that one.

          Comment


            #6
            Yes, that seemed to work.

            Comment


              #7
              wow, thats cool, thank you so much for sharing this.... I have had alot of troubles with the upgrade version of Vista to get it installed, since exactly as they mention on the site, it won't let me activate the products, so I messed around with it and finally bought a full version of Vista, this could have safed me money....

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