Vista Activation Strikes Again - Time to Fight Back

Posted 10/26/2007 at 8:45pm | by Mark Soper

Vista Activation is Broken - So How Can You Avoid Breaking Your Copy of Vista?

Clearly, Microsoft's Vista Activation feature is broken. That's all there is to it. Being unable to distinguish driver updates, BIOS updates, or BIOS setting changes from hardware updates is absolutely unacceptable. It's one of the biggest barriers to Windows Vista acceptance - and it doesn't even work to stop piracy. There are plenty of sources for pirated Vista copies, and some users, fearful of being locked out of their systems, have even purchased legal copies but installed pirated versions that don't have activation issues.

Here are some better ideas that won't get you in trouble at home or at the office:

1. If you're installing Vista on an existing system, do your upgrades first. Upgrade the BIOS (only if you need to), the video card, the RAM, etc. - then upgrade to Windows Vista. Use the Microsoft Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor to find out if you need driver updates or hardware updates to run your preferred flavor of Windows Vista, and download those drivers before you install Windows Vista. You can run the Vista upgrade advisor from the Windows Vista DVD or download it from the Microsoft website.

2. Don't get in a hurry to activate Windows Vista after installation, especially if you still have upgrades to perform. You have 30 days after installation before you need to activate it. Use that time wisely to make sure you have: installed the best drivers for your hardware - configured your system BIOS in the most suitable manner - performed a BIOS upgrade - if it's really needed. Remember, once you activate Windows Vista, you've 'locked in' your system configuration. And, if you change it enough, you might need to reactivate it.

3. When you see the reactivation notification, don't mess around: do it now! It's easy to blow off a "3 days to reactivate" message, but if you keep doing it, you'll eventually wind up with nothing but a web browser (the so-called RFM 'reduced functionality mode') until you contact Microsoft to reactivate. If you take action during the countdown period, you can usually use the Internet to reactivate, but if you wait until the reminder period ends, you're stuck using the telephone.

4. If you like to experiment with different operating systems, use a different hard disk for each one instead of nuking your only drive and reactivating Vista each time you install it. You can grab 250GB or larger desktop ATA or SATA hard disks for less than $80 each, and if you leave the side of your case off (or use a case with a quick-change drive cage), it's easy to swap drives in and out.

5. As an alternative to reinstallation if you have only one hard disk, create a disk image after you activate Windows Vista. Restore the image when you need to, using a program like Norton Ghost, Acronis TrueImage, and so forth. You can store the image to an external USB hard disk or a hidden ("secure") hard disk partition (as discussed in this Microsoft forum thread).

6. Decide which way you prefer to get driver updates: via Windows Update or from the vendor - and stick with it. James Bannan suggests that replacing a driver updated through Windows Update with a vendor-supplied driver might increase the chances of triggering the need to reactivate Windows. If you prefer vendor-supplied drivers because they often provide more features, make sure you configure Windows Update to check for updates, rather than installing them automatically. When Windows Update lists a driver update, note the driver being offered, hide the update, and go to the vendor's website instead for the drivers you need.

7. Complain to Microsoft every time you have a problem with reactivation. The Microsoft Windows Vista Validation Issues forum is a good place to start. Remind Microsoft that you paid good money for Vista and you don't like this kind of treatment.

Users to Microsoft: "We're Not Criminals!"

Microsoft needs to stop treating users who have paid hundreds of dollars for Windows Vista upgrades - and hundreds or thousands of dollars for new computers with Vista - like criminals. Right now Windows Vista activation is punishing legitimate computer users who like to experiment and upgrade their systems while doing nothing to stop piracy.

Microsoft needs to understand that it could sell a lot more copies of Windows Vista if it didn't jerk users around like this. Let's hope - and work hard to help - Redmond get the message.

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Comments

Comments are closed on this article

WesInSV

June 15, 2008 at 2:58pm

Where is the "how to" on how to reset the 30 days of activation? I'd seen it somewhere ... in print.

Marcus_Soperus

June 19, 2008 at 4:12pm

Brian Livingston is just one of many sources describing the use of slmgr to reset the activation clock: http://windowssecrets.com/comp/070215/#story1
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It's amazing how illogical a business built on binary logic can be.

Marcus_Soperus

October 29, 2007 at 3:00pm

The Contacts page at Microsoft.com is one place to start complaining about Vista product activation:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;EN-US;CNTACTMS

It might also be useful to complain to Microsoft's public relations (PR) firm, Waggoner-Edstrom (W-E).

Microsoft's PR contacts page is at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/PR_Contacts.mspx

See the general contact list for W-E at http://www.waggeneredstrom.com/we_worldwide/contact_us.asp

See the Microsoft PR contacts page for W-E phone numbers relating to various Microsoft product families.

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It's amazing how illogical a business built on binary logic can be.

HeartBurnKid

October 29, 2007 at 10:42am

As if intrusive DRM mechanisms on media weren't enough, now you can't change a device driver without the OS throwing a hissy fit?

Sorry, but I have better things to do with my time than sit on hold to try to convince some CSR that I'm not a thief. I'll stick with XP for now, and switch to Linux sometime between now and when Microsoft grows the balls to end-of-life it.

Pinkyblister

October 28, 2007 at 6:44pm

All right everyone: some people out there should have websites, email addresses, street addresses, and phone numbers to complain to Microsoft. I would appreciate anyone who has such to post them here and in the MPC Forum as well. Complaints sometime work with Microsoft-something needs to be done now.

dave23d

October 28, 2007 at 7:22pm

You could also demand a VISTA refund if you wanted too.

Love Linux and 3D Linux Games :)

dave23d

October 28, 2007 at 5:16pm

Linux rocks. Oh, its free and you can always try to see if you MS Apps work on linux, by using WINE.

Otherwise you can use a VM to run both Linux and Windows XP at the same time :-)

Thats a win win for everybody.

Love Linux and 3D Linux Games :)

Morichalion

October 28, 2007 at 8:05am

I don't get why people are harping on the joy of running Mac OSX. It's been my experience that Apple is pretty iron-fisted on how their hardware and software can be used...

That being said, I have no idea why anyone really, REALLY needs vista.
The only reason that comes to my mind, even if I'm thinking REALLY hard about it, is playing bleeding-edge games at launch. Almost everything else can be done w/ free software.

If you absolutely MUST run a particular kind of application, see if it can run on a different operating system. I mean, most of the people I talk to only use a web-browser, an email client, and a word processor. Occasionally, they'll do some image editing or use a spreadsheet. Download Ubuntu, and you have all that. The learning curve is slightly steeper, but your savings can run on up into the thousands of dollars, depending on the software you need.

If you don't mind waiting a 'till a little bit after launch (and maybe learning a little bit, too) you can even run your games on linux with WINE. Okay, this solution isn't worry-free, since the game studios aren't supporting WINE, but you can look at WINE's website to see if any of your games'll run.

Granted, There are those applications that WILL NOT run on anything but a Windows or Apple platform, so switching to linux might not be the best solution. But w/ the pain people are feeling with windows, they really should step back and see what other options there is out there.

Scrubs

October 27, 2007 at 2:19pm

This is all well and good, except for the fact that some updates needed to establish a stable Vista environment aren't even available until you've activated, so you're taking a risk doing the activation. Luckily it worked for me, but could have gone the other way and then I'd have been ditching MS entirely.

pcfxer

October 27, 2007 at 7:14am

Ergo, Mac OS X. Now why can't Apple see the slight extension of using and supporting OS X on PCs? Apple could Drop support for old computers like Pentium Ds and such and only support new hardware just like their own comps.

That said, OS X is based off of BSD and the mach kernel so most of the support for old hardware is built into OS X.

Marcus_Soperus

October 27, 2007 at 7:25am

I agree. MacOS X has driver support for both Intel and AMD processors, and with MS's missteps on rolling out Vista (and supporting Windows XP users), they could make a bundle by opening up MacOS X.

Another benefit to users of having a second commercial OS on the table is that Microsoft would realize it no longer has a monopoly - and would probably drop a lot of its anti-consumer activation policies - and build a better OS.

DOS old-timers might remember how bad MS-DOS had gotten by version 4.0. Then, Digital Research's DR-DOS 5 came out and actually beat MS-DOS 4.0 in features and capabilities in almost every way. Microsoft's MS-DOS 5.0 "borrowed" a lot of features from its competitor, and Microsoft once again took the DOS market seriously - thanks to serious competition

Some would say that Linux will provide the same competition for Windows, but I don't think it will until we see a breakout distro, complete driver support, and broad application support that the public knows about. Right now, Linux is still perceived as a "propellorhead" product without mass appeal.
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It's amazing how illogical a business built on binary logic can be.

elburro

October 27, 2007 at 8:00am

You guys forget one thing. Apple is even more controlling than Microsoft is. Apple wants to tell people what hardware to use, how to use it, and when to use it. They wouldn't even let people install 3rd party apps on thier iphone untill they were preety much forced to.