Hey everyone

I firstly upgraded my version of XP to Vista business. The product activated
online without problems.



However i then made some HW upgrades to the PC and then decided a fresh
install was needed so reformatted
my disk and reinstalled.

Now my product wont activate saying the key is in use already.

thanks for any help
n

Neil

Phone MS and explain what you did.
They will re-activate over the phone.

Good luck.

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''

"Maccormack, Neil" wrote:

> Hey everyone
>
> I firstly upgraded my version of XP to Vista business. The product activated
> online without problems.
>
> However i then made some HW upgrades to the PC and then decided a fresh
> install was needed so reformatted
> my disk and reinstalled.
>
> Now my product wont activate saying the key is in use already.
>
> thanks for any help
> n
>

A very common problem - And yes, I said PROBLEM.

Make the Indi-6 call for the Big Number and you'll be back in the running...


"Maccormack, Neil" <Neil.Maccormack@mccann.ch> wrote in message
news:ADB987BC-A447-469E-A101-4E94D5A4C7BA@microsoft.com...
> Hey everyone
>
> I firstly upgraded my version of XP to Vista business. The product
> activated
> online without problems.
>
> However i then made some HW upgrades to the PC and then decided a fresh
> install was needed so reformatted
> my disk and reinstalled.
>
> Now my product wont activate saying the key is in use already.
>
> thanks for any help
> n
>

The key IS in use - by you!

Activate by phone.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User
(For email, remove the obvious from my address)

Quote from George Ankner:
If you knew as much as you think you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!



"Maccormack, Neil" <Neil.Maccormack@mccann.ch> wrote in message
news:ADB987BC-A447-469E-A101-4E94D5A4C7BA@microsoft.com...
> Hey everyone
>
> I firstly upgraded my version of XP to Vista business. The product
> activated
> online without problems.
>
> However i then made some HW upgrades to the PC and then decided a fresh
> install was needed so reformatted
> my disk and reinstalled.
>
> Now my product wont activate saying the key is in use already.
>
> thanks for any help
> n
>

if you used an upgrade disk and put in your activation key after you did
a clean install, you will get the activation key is in use message.
Doing a clean install using the undocumented work around by installing
without using a key and not activating, then running setup from within
vista, reinstalling vista normally , should work for you. The same
thing happened to me with an ultimate upgrade. Do a google search for
more detailed instructions on the work around for a clean install of vista.

good luck.

Bill

Maccormack, Neil wrote:
> Hey everyone
>
> I firstly upgraded my version of XP to Vista business. The product
> activated
> online without problems.
>
> However i then made some HW upgrades to the PC and then decided a fresh
> install was needed so reformatted
> my disk and reinstalled.
>
> Now my product wont activate saying the key is in use already.
>
> thanks for any help
> n
>