Vista - Windows prompts me with a licencing error

Last Sunday upon restart I selected a user on my PC and the screen went blank
and displayed an error message "Licencing error "with two choices Validate
online or Close. If you selected Close you went back to the user selection
screen. If you selected Validate online it took you to the Genuine Microsoft
pages at Microsoft.com and asked you to Validate your licence. You try and
validate and it says your licence is invalid.

This is a Dell machine I bought 7 months ago and the Vista licence is under
an OEM product code. The only way to get to the desktop (ie I can surf the
net all I want) is to restart the machine in Safe mode and restore Windows
settings to the previous update. When I do that it comes up normally until
the next Update (usually that evening and I start all over).

HAS ANYONE EXPERIENCED THIS PROBLEM OR KNOWS WHAT TO DO TO.

FRUSTRATED TERRY

Hi Terry,

You will most likely need to do a phone activation, and it sounds like you are in "Reduced Functionality Mode".

This tutorial will show you how to get out of "Reduced Functionality Mode" and extend the trial time another 30 days so you can get Vista activated again.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/66990-activation.html


Once you are back to full use, this tutorial will show you how to do a phone activation. Once Vista is activated, you should be ok.

Activate Vista by Phone

Shawn

Unfortunately that did not work I ran as administrator and I got an error

Microsoft slmgr.vbs
Line 291
Char 5
error permission denied
800A0066
Microsoft VBScript runtime error

"brink" wrote:

Okay My problem is still occurring a week later and nothing has worked. Here
is what I have done to date


Last Sunday Oct. 14th I started up my computer which had some Microsoft
Updates to load. After loading and providing me with the User login screen I
chose a user only to get the following screen

I got a blank black screen with not task or start bar and an error message

An Unauthorized change has been made to your license
To keep your system stable you must go online to validate that your software
is genuine
Then it gave me two choices

- Validate Online
- Close
I went to Microsoft Genuine, followed the instructions (ie clicked Validate
Windows) and validation failed.

I then ran CMD as administrator and entered net start slsvc as directed
I got the following error SLMGR.VBS
Line 291
CHAR 5
Error permission denied 800A0066
Microsoft VBScript runtime error

I then called Dell Support and we tried a number of things (scanned for
Viruses, connected support reviewed licence etc.) I restarted the machine in
safe mode and restored the Windows flies to the previous settings since the
last change. That brought the computer up normally and the desktop appeared
again. Thinking the problem was resolved we shut down the support call and I
believed my problem fixed.

Monday morning upon restart additional updates were posted again to the
computer and again I got the original error. I was then again put into
reduced functionality mode ( a term I learned later). Started the same
process over again and started to research. I posted my problem on a
Microsoft discussion forum and a very nice moderator gave me this answer
You will most likely need to do a phone activation, and it sounds like
you are in "Reduced Functionality Mode".

This tutorial will show you how to get out of "Reduced Functionality
Mode" and extend the trial time another 30 days so you can get Vista
activated again.

http://www.vistax64.com/tutorials/66990-activation.html


I followed his steps and did the slmgr –rearm and I get an error. After
reloading windows and getting back to my normal settings everything shows
that I am activated. This computer is a Dell bought 7 months ago and the
Vista licence is an OEM product key.

I have tried everything that has been posted I need to get this fixed.
Perhaps my best bet is to turn Windows update off so it won’t keep creating
this error.

Help

Frustrated terry

"Terry" wrote:

Terry,

You might try using this Hotfix Update from Microsoft. It sounds like the problem you are having.

You may be prompted to activate Windows Vista on a computer on which Windows Vista was already activated by a Volume License or OEM installation

If it does not help or causes more problems, this tutorial will show you how to uninstall a Update.

Windows Update - Uninstall

Hope this works for you,
Shawn

Okay here is what I have found out. There is ONE particular update KB933729
Vista Update 10/09 that is causing the problem. Everytime I update with this
one it creates the licencing error that this case is all about. I have
upgraded all other patches without incident.



"brink" wrote:

Terry,

That is good news. Glad you have it narrowed down. This tutorial will show you how you can hide the update so it will not keep showing up in the available updates list to be installed in Windows Update.

Windows Update

Shawn