clean install with upgrade product hughleef 6/9/2007 3:07:00 PM Can anyone help me with this problem? I upgraded to Windows Vista Home Premium last week. It worked fine for a little while, then my hard drive failed. I called my Dell representative, and he said the problem was that my Dell computer was using a RAID 1 array, which Vista didn't support yet. The only way to restore my computer was to turn off the RAID array and do a clean re-install of Vista. This worked, and everything has been working fine. The problem is that now Windows Vista wants to be activated (again) and says that my Product Key is not valid for a clean install. I was legitimately upgrading from Windows XP to Windows Vista, and only did the clean re-install after the system totally failed. Does Microsoft ever make an exception?

Re: clean install with upgrade product "peter" <peter[ at ]nowhere.net> 6/9/2007 3:39:38 PM The normal upgrade path is to have XP installed first and then install Vista....Vista needs XP installed. You might try "upgrading" Vista with Vista and then activate peter "hughleef" <hughleef[ at ]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:56BEA68D-10E3-45D6-9E32-B1EC80580988[ at ]microsoft.com... [Quoted Text] > Can anyone help me with this problem? I upgraded to Windows Vista Home > Premium last week. It worked fine for a little while, then my hard drive > failed. I called my Dell representative, and he said the problem was that > my > Dell computer was using a RAID 1 array, which Vista didn't support yet. > The > only way to restore my computer was to turn off the RAID array and do a > clean > re-install of Vista. > > This worked, and everything has been working fine. The problem is that now > Windows Vista wants to be activated (again) and says that my Product Key > is > not valid for a clean install. I was legitimately upgrading from Windows > XP > to Windows Vista, and only did the clean re-install after the system > totally > failed. > > Does Microsoft ever make an exception?

Re: clean install with upgrade product "Kerry Brown" <kerry[ at ]kdbNOSPAMsys-tems.c*a*m> 6/9/2007 4:03:31 PM "hughleef" <hughleef[ at ]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:56BEA68D-10E3-45D6-9E32-B1EC80580988[ at ]microsoft.com... [Quoted Text] > Can anyone help me with this problem? I upgraded to Windows Vista Home > Premium last week. It worked fine for a little while, then my hard drive > failed. I called my Dell representative, and he said the problem was that > my > Dell computer was using a RAID 1 array, which Vista didn't support yet. > The > only way to restore my computer was to turn off the RAID array and do a > clean > re-install of Vista. > > This worked, and everything has been working fine. The problem is that now > Windows Vista wants to be activated (again) and says that my Product Key > is > not valid for a clean install. I was legitimately upgrading from Windows > XP > to Windows Vista, and only did the clean re-install after the system > totally > failed. > > Does Microsoft ever make an exception? Did you install without entering the key? If you did, did you pick the right version of Vista that matches your key. If yes to both then insert the DVD and do an "upgrade" from within Vista this time entering your key. You should now be able to activate. You may have to phone for activation if you had activated the first installation. -- Kerry Brown Microsoft MVP - Shell/User http://www.vistahelp.ca

Re: clean install with upgrade product hughleef 6/9/2007 5:53:00 PM Thanks for the advice. I tried this workaround after reading something similar in the Windows Supersite. Unfortunately, it did't work for me. The installation gets almost all the way to the end, and then says that Vista was unable to configure certain components and the upgrade has failed. It then rolls back to the existing install. I wonder if Microsoft got wind of this workaround and disabled it because of the potential for abuse. "Kerry Brown" wrote: [Quoted Text] > > Did you install without entering the key? If you did, did you pick the right > version of Vista that matches your key. If yes to both then insert the DVD > and do an "upgrade" from within Vista this time entering your key. You > should now be able to activate. You may have to phone for activation if you > had activated the first installation. > > -- > Kerry Brown > Microsoft MVP - Shell/User > http://www.vistahelp.ca > >

Re: clean install with upgrade product "Gary R." <roberthaus[ at ]yahoo.com> 6/9/2007 7:46:36 PM "hughleef" <hughleef[ at ]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:55EB4597-4CF2-4ABB-B531-99943FD49237[ at ]microsoft.com... [Quoted Text] > Thanks for the advice. I tried this workaround after reading something > similar in the Windows Supersite. Unfortunately, it did't work for me. The > installation gets almost all the way to the end, and then says that Vista > was > unable to configure certain components and the upgrade has failed. It then > rolls back to the existing install. > > I wonder if Microsoft got wind of this workaround and disabled it because > of > the potential for abuse. Did you choose "custom install" when doing the Vista upgrade? Several "how to" descriptions around the web don't mention that it fails if you don't do this, and the errors you're getting sound like what happened to me when I followed them. So install the correct version without a key and deselect the 'automatically activate' option, then after it's working, insert the DVD and install again, using the key and choose custom install to that same partition (it will save the old windows folder which you can delete later). Gary

Re: clean install with upgrade product "peter" <peter[ at ]nowhere.net> 6/9/2007 10:30:33 PM I just finished "upgrading" an Activated Vista Home Premium Upgrade edition which I had running for about 3 weeks now and had the windows.old folder deleted already. I originally installed as a new install which created the windows,old folder.I was having problems with the Vista Event Viewer not functioning and could not turn the service on...no matter what.I finally gave up and decided to to a reinstall. This time I installed as an upgrade install which overwrote the previous new install.I entered the Product Key during the installation and after installation I activated over the net....no phone call required. So it is possible to do a "repair" in that manner....... peter "hughleef" <hughleef[ at ]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:55EB4597-4CF2-4ABB-B531-99943FD49237[ at ]microsoft.com... [Quoted Text] > Thanks for the advice. I tried this workaround after reading something > similar in the Windows Supersite. Unfortunately, it did't work for me. The > installation gets almost all the way to the end, and then says that Vista > was > unable to configure certain components and the upgrade has failed. It then > rolls back to the existing install. > > I wonder if Microsoft got wind of this workaround and disabled it because > of > the potential for abuse. > > "Kerry Brown" wrote: >> >> Did you install without entering the key? If you did, did you pick the >> right >> version of Vista that matches your key. If yes to both then insert the >> DVD >> and do an "upgrade" from within Vista this time entering your key. You >> should now be able to activate. You may have to phone for activation if >> you >> had activated the first installation. >> >> -- >> Kerry Brown >> Microsoft MVP - Shell/User >> http://www.vistahelp.ca >> >>

Re: clean install with upgrade product Artsr3 6/13/2007 12:34:02 AM "peter" wrote: [Quoted Text] > I just finished "upgrading" an Activated Vista Home Premium Upgrade edition > which I had running for about 3 weeks now and had the windows.old folder > deleted already. > I originally installed as a new install which created the windows,old > folder.I was having problems with the Vista Event Viewer not functioning and > could not turn the service on...no matter what.I finally gave up and decided > to to a reinstall. > This time I installed as an upgrade install which overwrote the previous new > install.I entered the Product Key during the installation and after > installation I activated over the net....no phone call required. > So it is possible to do a "repair" in that manner....... > peter > "hughleef" <hughleef[ at ]discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message > news:55EB4597-4CF2-4ABB-B531-99943FD49237[ at ]microsoft.com... > > Thanks for the advice. I tried this workaround after reading something > > similar in the Windows Supersite. Unfortunately, it did't work for me. The > > installation gets almost all the way to the end, and then says that Vista > > was > > unable to configure certain components and the upgrade has failed. It then > > rolls back to the existing install. > > > > I wonder if Microsoft got wind of this workaround and disabled it because > > of > > the potential for abuse. > > > > "Kerry Brown" wrote: > >> > >> Did you install without entering the key? If you did, did you pick the > >> right > >> version of Vista that matches your key. If yes to both then insert the > >> DVD > >> and do an "upgrade" from within Vista this time entering your key. You > >> should now be able to activate. You may have to phone for activation if > >> you > >> had activated the first installation. > >> > >> -- > >> Kerry Brown > >> Microsoft MVP - Shell/User > >> http://www.vistahelp.ca > >> > >> > > I just did a clean install with Vista business. On 2nd. pass, it will not come up to the enter key screen. Any suggestions. 2nd. computer. 2nd. OS 2nd. Key. 1st. put away before I started. (OEM)