Vista - Activation procedure

Purchased 3 new Vista systems from my supplier.
Installed them and left the users to figure the OS out.
All three users said the system reported the code invalid and they HAD to
call MS to get the product activated. Third user asked why this is (as XP is
just plug the keycode in and it calls home on the internet and you are done).
He was told this additional step is "required".
This is stupid... why would this procedure be in place... just causes
additional headaches... thought the new OS would be a bit quicker to put in
place?

Craig Musgrove

Ordinarily Vista should activate over the internet, just like XP did. If it
won't that usually means there's something wrong with the key used. Either
it's invalid, or it's already been used. There's also some known issues
that cause the code to automatically invalidate, and then require the phone
call. But it would be odd for all three new systems to have the same issue.

Joe

"Craig Musgrove" <CraigMusgrove@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:A625D1F3-C20E-442F-B701-92057FCFD776@microsoft.com...
> Purchased 3 new Vista systems from my supplier.
> Installed them and left the users to figure the OS out.
> All three users said the system reported the code invalid and they HAD to
> call MS to get the product activated. Third user asked why this is (as XP
> is
> just plug the keycode in and it calls home on the internet and you are
> done).
> He was told this additional step is "required".
> This is stupid... why would this procedure be in place... just causes
> additional headaches... thought the new OS would be a bit quicker to put
> in
> place?
>
> Craig Musgrove

"Craig Musgrove" <CraigMusgrove@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote
> Purchased 3 new Vista systems from my supplier.
> Installed them and left the users to figure the OS out.
> All three users said the system reported the code invalid and they HAD to
> call MS to get the product activated. Third user asked why this is (as XP
> is
> just plug the keycode in and it calls home on the internet and you are
> done).
> He was told this additional step is "required".
> This is stupid... why would this procedure be in place... just causes
> additional headaches... thought the new OS would be a bit quicker to put
> in
> place?
>
> Craig Musgrove

You haven't provided enough information. If the OS was already installed,
why wasn't it already activated? What specifically were these new Vista
Systems and how were they installed? What did the users do? What product
key did they use?

--
Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]