Vista - activation failure, specific question re: activation work-around

In april when I was struggling, an Elevated MS tech who suggested I reformat
my hard drive described the "In Place" clean install using my purchased Vista
Ultimate Upgrade Dvd. I forgot. Just Read Paul Randall's description. But
here's the thing: I'm half way through, didn't do Part II, the
install/upgrade from Vista itself yet. So in the intervening 7 days of my
temp. activation, I already installed a zillion programs on my new hard
drive, on my original vista machine, spending much time and effort, having to
call software people for new unlock codes etc.

I should know this but don't : Will the new inplace upgrade that I do, if I
go this route, wipe out the installations of these programs? Wil the programs
themselves remain on the Vista drive (after I "upgrade" it), and if they
remain, will they function without needing reinstallation?? The history
behind this is in a previous post...
Jim

On Wed, 19 Sep 2007 00:50:01 -0700, Jim103144
<Jim103144@xxxxxx> wrote:
The answer is...it should work without having to re-install all those
apps, but it may not.

Hi Jim,

Usually, an inplace upgrade preserves existing installed programs.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"Jim103144" <Jim103144@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:B17B796D-D007-4C47-BF82-66BCEAC41077@xxxxxx

Dear Rick, and all:
..Here's a bizarre corollary puzzle. Alarming. In one of the recent related
threads one of you expert folk suggested to someone that they experiment with
Belarc Advisor. Well, I did in the middle of the night, and it produces a ton
of information about my computer... But my purpose was to confirm for myself
my Vista CD Key. But the CD key it lists for my Vista is NOT the one on my
Vista box-thing!!!! Because I'm in the "clean install" phase, does the
computer somehow generate a CD key that is different? Also, it shows under
software Licenses a separate heading for Microsoft VSTA , spelled without the
I, listing a series of digits as a Key, but none of the alphabetic things
that represent Keys as I'm familar with them. Does that refer to my original
Vista install, which now is on (Lord help me!) Drive H.. or, maybe refer to
the folder that either windows or seagate created and labelled Windows.Old
and which contains 4 directories USERS, PROGRAM FILES, PROGRAMDATA, &
WINDOWS. Or perhaps the directory (which contains most of the drive H: stuff)
on my new C: Don't know now whether the Segate utility created that , or the
Vista install did. But, why the mysterious unknown CD KEY listed by Belarc
under Microsoft Vista.? I did have a kid help me with the installation back
in March....and he did have his own vista....but, no.... It was my own disk
that I used for the clean install to the new drive. It's all over my head.
But, this, the Key thing, makes me nervous about the next step, in which I
use my (store bought, at ? 259.00) Ultimate DVD to 'Upgrade" my clean
install, that seems to have a mystery Key.....
"Rick Rogers" wrote:
..Here's a bizarre corollary puzzle. Alarming. In one of the recent related
threads one of you expert folk suggested to someone that they experiment with
Belarc Advisor. Well, I did in the middle of the night, and it produces a ton
of information about my computer... But my purpose was to confirm for myself
my Vista CD Key. But the CD key it lists for my Vista is NOT the one on my
Vista box-thing!!!! Because I'm in the "clean install" phase, does the
computer somehow generate a CD key that is different? Also, it shows under
software Licenses a separate heading for Microsoft VSTA , spelled without the
I, listing a series of digits as a Key, but none of the alphabetic things
that represent Keys as I'm familar with them. Does that refer to my original
Vista install, which now is on (Lord help me!) Drive H.. or, maybe refer to
the folder that either windows or seagate created and labelled Windows.Old
and which contains 4 directories USERS, PROGRAM FILES, PROGRAMDATA, &
WINDOWS. Or perhaps the directory (which contains most of the drive H: stuff)
on my new C: Don't know now whether the Segate utility created that , or the
Vista install did. But, why the mysterious unknown CD KEY listed by Belarc
under Microsoft Vista.? I did have a kid help me with the installation back
in March....and he did have his own vista....but, no.... It was my own disk
that I used for the clean install to the new drive. It's all over my head.
But, this, the Key thing, makes me nervous about the next step, in which I
use my (store bought, at ? 259.00) Ultimate DVD to 'Upgrade" my clean
install, that seems to have generated a mystery Key.....

Yike!!

Jim

Once you complete the upgrade, your key will be replaced by the upgrade key.
Should you ever need to reinstall, you will use your original key to install
the original product.

The disk doesn't matter. They all have all versions. It's the key that
counts.

"Jim103144" <Jim103144@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:F5E434F0-5E6D-40B4-B244-E13B6DF67B6F@xxxxxx

"Jim103144" <Jim103144@xxxxxx> wrote in message
news:B17B796D-D007-4C47-BF82-66BCEAC41077@xxxxxxHi, Jim
It all depends. In a perfect world, the inplace upgrade would work just as
you want it to. There are many things that might screw it up. A Vista
compatible driver might not really be fully compatible. One or more of the
zillion programs you have installed may not really be fully compatible.
Because of these uncertainties, I would suggest that you organize and back
up on CD/DVD the zillion program install packages and other info (like phone
numbers for software people for new unlock codes etc, and notes on which
packages need to be installed in compatibility mode) to make it easier to
recover if things go bad.

Be sure to report on how smoothly the upgrade goes.

-Paul Randall