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I recently formatted my laptop which came with Vista preinstalled and installed Windows 7 on the primary partition. I've now installed Vista on a different partition, but it won't activate my valid product key. I've looked around on here and have seen similar issues being raised, but I don't have the telephonic activation option (only option I have is online activation). I am located in South Africa.
When I enter my product key from my sticker it says it is not valid, so I must either try to activate online again or buy a different product key. I have reinstalled Vista on the primary partition several times and activated the key without a problem. This is the first time I am installing it on a different partition.
Cindy Jayakumar
Posted 2012-11-03T18:46:37.593
Reputation: 352
Sounds like you may need to call Microsoft, they may have flagged the key due to so many activations. – colealtdelete – 2012-11-03T19:17:09.210
I've only done it about 4 times before, and according to the help files, I can activate as many times as needed as long as it's on the same hardware. – Cindy Jayakumar – 2012-11-03T19:24:05.610
Vista activation phone# 1-866-740-1256 – Moab – 2012-11-03T19:41:43.477
Is it possible you used the wrong Vista media? product keys are tied to version (home, pro etc) and distribution, OEM Retail, MSDN – Moab – 2012-11-03T19:43:16.780
@Arabella - Follow the directions to manually activate your installation this is your only choice. This involves calling a number and getting the activation approved. – Ramhound – 2012-11-03T21:09:56.563
I'm from South Africa, is this why the telephone activation option is not showing in my activation options? – Cindy Jayakumar – 2012-11-03T21:51:28.240
@Arabella - you should edit that last comment into your question - it's a really important factor in finding a solution. – Preet Sangha – 2012-11-03T22:00:53.300