Vista - Vista Utimate upgrade/transfer to new machine (bad kitty)

I had a laptop that I had upgraded from Home Premium to Ultimate (bought CD). Cat knocked over a cup of tea and fried motherboard. I bought a new machine that had Home Premium 64-bit, and I upgraded to Ultimate x64 with the CD that I had bought for the first machine. System shows that I need to register within 30 days (Ultimate). Since my Vista Premium/Ultimate on machine 1 is no longer operational can I transfer the Ultimate upgrade to the new machine? In short, I am not able to use my Ultimate upgrade on old (dead) machine so I would hope I could use the upgrade on new machine at n/c?

If that is the case, what do I need to do?

Thanks,

Dan

I can't say for sure but I don't think you're going to be able to use it.

Did the dead machine come with the OS pre-installed, if so and you used the upgrade CD on that machine it's tied to that one as it uses the installed OS for the upgrade path, which is why you get it cheaper.

If you activated the new upgraded machine that is now part of that OEM install so can't be transferred to another one.

Hopefully what I've said is wrong but I'd wait and see what the experts have to say about it before doing anything else.

Smack the cat to start with


Your best bet would be to phone MS and use the automated prompts to have a new key issued. From memory, click on the activate windows and select by phone. It should generate a new installation ID which you input at the prompts. This should issue you with a new key. If that fails, speak to an operator and explain the situation.

Good luck