On my Dell Studio 17 I had Vista Ultimate x32 pre-loaded.

I used a Vista Ultimate 64 bit CD to wipe it clean and hand-install.

Interestingly enough, even though I checked the key/serial (that was on the sticker on the PC) re-checked and did it all over again, when the system went to auto-activate, it failed.

So, I put in the same serial AGAIN after it failed , and voila - it worked!

This is not the first time I've seen this though. My wife's desktop PC had Vista Home Premium on it, which I had to wipe in favor of WinXP Pro because of some incompatibilities with apps she was using for school. When she was done with those classes, I put Vista back on, and the exact same thing happened.

Anyone else seen this behavior?

Hi,

I have done numerous installations , and occasionally it takes a couple of goes -this is to do with connecting to the M$ activation service.

Interested to hear your Dell machine activated online with the product key on the case. Often ( depending on manufacturer, it seems ) a call to the manufacturer is needed to activate after using the key from the sticker on the case.

When you put Vista back on your wife's machine - did you use the key from the case for that ? If so, is that also a Dell ?

Thanks.

SIW2

Originally Posted by SIW2

Hi,

I have done numerous installations , and occasionally it takes a couple of goes -this is to do with connecting to the M$ activation service.

Interested to hear your Dell machine activated online with the product key on the case. Often ( depending on manufacturer, it seems ) a call to the manufacturer is needed to activate after using the key from the sticker on the case.

When you put Vista back on your wife's machine - did you use the key from the case for that ? If so, is that also a Dell ?

Thanks.

SIW2

My wife's machine is an <GAG> Emachine ... and yes, I used the key that was on the label from the manufacturer.

Even though mine came with 32 bit, I was aware that the 32 bit key will work with the 64 bit if being installed on the same machine.

No need to call in either case though - just had to enter the key a 2nd time. Go figure?