Windows Activation WITHOUT product Key?

spinstorm · 30 Jan 2007 at 02:42

I was wondering could Vista activate itself even though I did NOT enter the product key when installing it?

I was under the impression that you HAD to enter the Key for it to install - but when I clicked on phone activation to see what it would say it did not ask for the product key - it simply gave me a list of numbers to enter when I call the automated phone line!

So what is going on there?

I plan on unistalling Vista after 30 days as I am just trialing it on my laptop and DO NOT want to activate it until I feel its ready and all the drivers etc are compatible (which could be today as its out or in 6 months time depending on how quick or slow everyone else is with Vista!).

TC1 · 30 Jan 2007 at 06:42

I believe you would have to enter the Product key / Tell them the code when you get through to somoeone on the phone?

WJA96 · 30 Jan 2007 at 08:53

It makes no real difference if you activate it or not. By installing the software and accepting the user agreement you have 'used' it so you may as well activate it. It can't activate itself after 3 days if you didn't check the 'self activate' check box.

If you really wanted to test it, you could have downloaded the 'test' some time ago which will not die until September 2007. Even then, it won't actually die, it'll just ask you to buy a key and activate it.

What's your problem with activation? It's a very misunderstood process and you can generally re-activate three times a day, every day, providing you haven't changed key hardware and even then it's only a free phone call to India to generate a new hardware key.

spinstorm · 30 Jan 2007 at 21:29

you misunderstood me - I bought Vista for my Home PC not my laptop - as I have had hardware issues with my PC (I believe a faulty motherboard that may need replacing) that MAY create issues if I was to activate Vista on my PC as it is now.

I just thought I would run it on my laptop and not activate it so I can use it on my normal PC when its fixed! So obviously I do not want it activating on my laptop automatically as I will remove Vista after 30 days and use it and activate it eventually on my PC at a later date!

jaric · 30 Jan 2007 at 22:03

If you install without entering your product key then it won't activate, even if you try, because it won't have a valid key to activate.

spinstorm · 31 Jan 2007 at 21:19

I never entered my product key BUT I used keyfinder to check if windows "knew" the product key and it came up with the key I NEVER entered!

How can it know the key when I have not entered it?

Has Vista got some other sneaky security feature built in that none of us knew about?

csmager · 31 Jan 2007 at 21:27

spinstorm said:
I never entered my product key BUT I used keyfinder to check if windows "knew" the product key and it came up with the key I NEVER entered!

How can it know the key when I have not entered it?

Has Vista got some other sneaky security feature built in that none of us knew about?

Not the key on your disc, surely? It has a default key it installs with if you don't choose to enter one, but you won't ever be able to activate using that.

Deathwish · 31 Jan 2007 at 21:41

I believe you can install Vista without inputting the CDkey, you get 30 days "trial" in effect. After then you will be prompted for a key+activate at the same time.

Explicit · 31 Jan 2007 at 21:53

spinstorm said:
I never entered my product key BUT I used keyfinder to check if windows "knew" the product key and it came up with the key I NEVER entered!

How can it know the key when I have not entered it?

It's probably a 30 day grace period key, but don't quote me on that.

.Griff. · 31 Jan 2007 at 22:12

Deathwish said:
I believe you can install Vista without inputting the CDkey, you get 30 days "trial" in effect. After then you will be prompted for a key+activate at the same time.

That's exactly how it works.

spinstorm · 1 Feb 2007 at 04:48

The key is different to the one on the Vista CD which is a good thing as if it was the same then we wouldn't need the key!

I don't however see a point in using a key at all for the first 30 days!? Is it so I can download updates from MS? But if thats the case then the key is the same for every copy of vista (as I doubt they are making special 30 day keys for every single CD!) in which case anyone can simply download a DVD image of Vista and get the 30 day "trial".... in which case there seems to be no point in having the key for the first 30 days as everyone will have it anyway!

(its almost 5am so it is possible that didn't make much sense! if it didn't then sorry!)

WJA96 · 1 Feb 2007 at 08:27

There is more than one key for Product Activation. There is the 'soft' key that you enter and a hard key that binds the soft key to your hardware. In that way you are limited in how often you can change the hardware in the system. The OEM licence, for example, does not allow you change the motherboard for a different model because it is only licenced for one OEM PC and OEM PCs are defined by the motherboard primarily.

As soon as you activate the OEM key, you can't legally change the motherboard for a differnt model, which is not something that is widely known I think.

And they are tightening up on this apparently.

bikes · 1 Feb 2007 at 08:38

WJA96 said:
As soon as you activate the OEM key, you can't legally change the motherboard for a differnt model, which is not something that is widely known I think.

I would have thought so, seeing the amount of times its been said lol

WJA96 · 1 Feb 2007 at 09:16

bikes said:
I would have thought so, seeing the amount of times its been said lol

At the moment, you can phone India and they'll give you a new hardware key. They are rolling out a new automated system with a computer generated female voice who just says "buy a new licence"!

They really do want to close the loophole on OEM licences being used outwith the terms of the licence.

TC1 · 1 Feb 2007 at 11:58

WJA96 said:
There is more than one key for Product Activation. There is the 'soft' key that you enter and a hard key that binds the soft key to your hardware. In that way you are limited in how often you can change the hardware in the system. The OEM licence, for example, does not allow you change the motherboard for a different model because it is only licenced for one OEM PC and OEM PCs are defined by the motherboard primarily.

As soon as you activate the OEM key, you can't legally change the motherboard for a differnt model, which is not something that is widely known I think.

And they are tightening up on this apparently.

They might be but my mate got it Re-activated no problem and he had to get a completely different motherboard!! Microsoft ok'd it.

WJA96 · 1 Feb 2007 at 12:03

TC1 said:
They might be but my mate got it Re-activated no problem and he had to get a completely different motherboard!! Microsoft ok'd it.

Vista or XP?