This week I had to do something that every IT bod hates - wipe one of my customer’s hard drives and reload their system, programs and data.
I’d tried all sorts to resolve their problems, but the final solution was decided for me when the drive started reporting faulty sectors. So, one hasty backup and a new HDD later, I got Vista loaded on the new drive. Since this was the OEM version of Ultimate and had previously been activated on the deceased drive, I knew I was going to have to ring Microsoft to get their Vista re-activated. Armed with their license key, pen and paper, I gritted my teeth and clicked the activate link, fully expecting to be informed that the key was already in use and I would need to speak to a Microsoft representative.
After a few seconds, the expected box came up. What wasn’t expected was the message telling me that activation had been sucessfull!
As I said, this was an OEM version which usually only allows one activation (rather than the retail version, which is supposed to give you ten). Mighty surprised I was!
I couldn’t help thinking about the criticism MS has received in the past for their product activation process, but for now at least, it looks like they have waived the need to call up one of their centres and you can simply reactivate online, regardless of the version that has been purchased.
So far, there has been no official comment from MS.
2 responses so far ↓
Carl J. Stoneham // May 21, 2007 at 3:18 pm
No, you only have to call in if there have been “significant” changes to the hardware configuration. A simple upgrade here or there isn’t normally enough to require a call. Usually replacing one titem means you’re safe. 2-3-4 is when you have to start calling.
John Sherwin // May 21, 2007 at 4:29 pm
No, I had to reinstall using a previously activated key - this has always entailed a call to MS to reactivate in the past as the key had already been used.
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