To confirm that you are running a legitimately purchased copy of Windows Vista in accordance with the terms of the End User License Agreement (EULA), Microsoft relies on Windows Product Activation, a process which verifies your Product Key and hardware configuration online or over the phone. While activation has been around since Windows XP was introduced, some of the measures surrounding it have been tightened as part of the new Microsoft Software Protection Platform. This chapter looks at how Activation and Validation work, though note that I don’t cover any illegal methods of bypassing Activation.
LICENSING AGREEMENT
The End User License Agreement (EULA) for Windows Vista contains the terms and conditions of acceptable usage for the OS. You do not actually own Windows Vista outright; Microsoft gives you permission (a license) to use the software under certain terms and conditions.
While their contents do not differ, there are some notable differences between the license conditions for OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) editions of Vista – sometimes called ‘System Builder’ editions – versus the Upgrade editions vs. the Retail editions:
OEM: An OEM edition of Vista usually comes pre-installed on, or accompanying, a new PC and is bound specifically to the first PC on which it is installed. If you substantially alter that PC (e.g. change the motherboard), or you attempt to reinstall the OEM copy on a completely different PC you may fail activation since you have technically breached the licensing conditions. There are other limitations applying to OEM versions, including limited or no technical support from Microsoft or your hardware vendor. This is why OEM copies are the cheapest editions.
Upgrade: An Upgrade Edition requires that you already own a qualifying previous full version of Windows. However in terms of upgrading your PC or transferring Vista to a new PC, there are no specific limitations on the number of times you can do this.
Retail: The full Retail Edition does not require the ownership of any other version of Windows, and can be installed on any PC, and allows unlimited upgrades or moves to another PC. This is why it is the most expensive edition.
However all editions of Vista must adhere to the following general conditions of use. GENERAL CONDITIONS OF USE
Some important conditions of use you should consider from the EULA for the average home PC user are spelled out in plain English below:
The above has been provided for information purposes only and cannot be the sole basis for any actions you take – you must read the specific EULA which accompanies your particular edition of Vista carefully for yourself to ensure you understand all the licensing terms and conditions as applicable to you.
ACTIVATION
This section goes through the procedure for activation, and also addresses any common issues you may experience.
PRODUCT KEY
When you first install Vista, you will be prompted to enter your Product Key, which appears as a series of 25 letters or numbers separated by dashes in the format: xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx. This key can be found on a sticker on your computer if you purchased the PC with Vista pre-installed, on the installation disk holder of your Vista retail package, or on the Vista manual. The Product Key is very important for two reasons:
Make sure you keep your Product Key in a safe place, do not share it with anyone else and if your PC or copy of Vista did not come with a Product Key then contact your retailer or the person from whom you purchased the Vista DVD and ask them to give you one as it is absolutely necessary (unless you are in a corporate or business environment). If you wish at any time to alter your Product Key while using Vista, you can do so by going to Control Panel>System and clicking the ‘Change product key’ link at the bottom of the box. Entering a new key will require you to reactivate. If you want to look at options for purchasing additional Product Key(s) online from Microsoft see here.
ACTIVATION
Once you have installed Windows Vista, you will have exactly 30 days within which to activate Windows. During this time you can use Windows Vista as normal, but you will regularly be prompted to activate. To see how many days you have left before your activation grace period runs out, either click the prompt which appears in the Notification Area, or go to Control Panel>System and click the link at the bottom of the box, or go to the Start>Search Box and type “slui” (without quotes) and press Enter.
If you are aware that your PC may undergo some further changes shortly, such as the installation or removal of key pieces of hardware it is recommended that you do not activate Windows right away. You have 30 days within which to bed down your final hardware configuration and I suggest you use it. Activating before your hardware setup is finalized could see you having to re-activate repeatedly, including having to call Microsoft to complete Activation or running into other potential complications. Microsoft generally views multiple activations in a short space of time as quite suspicious.
There is a legal method by which you can attempt to extend the grace period before Activation by another 30 days, up to a maximum of 120 days in total, before you must Activate. Follow these steps to do so:
1. Open an Administrator Command Prompt – see the Vista Usage Notes chapter
2. In the Command Prompt type “slmgr -rearm” (without quotes) and press Enter.
3. Reboot your PC and you should now have an additional 30 days before Activation.
4. You can repeat Steps 1- 3 above to give you a total of 120 days maximum before Activation is required.
This is useful if you want to bed down your hardware prior to final activation, or if you want to try out one of the different editions
of Vista, by not entering a Product Key during installation and extending the Activation period. However at some point you will have to Activate for your copy of Vista to be legal.
Once you are ready to activate, use one of the means further above to access the activation application and click the ‘Activate Windows online now’ button. When activation commences, you will automatically connect to a Microsoft server and send several pieces of information specific to your system including:
If automatic activation fails or you are not connected to the Internet, you will be given instructions on how to activate Vista by contacting Microsoft over the phone. If Activation succeeds you will not be required to reactivate Windows Vista again unless:
For more details of exactly what Activation entails, and under what circumstances you may need to do it, see this Activation FAO.
REDUCED FUNCTIONALITY MODE
Prior to Vista SP1, if you had not activated successfully within 30 days, or if you did not reactivate within 3 days after any major hardware changes, or were found to be running a non-genuine version of Windows, you would enter Reduced Functionality mode. This meant that certain features and capabilities of Vista were disabled as detailed in this Microsoft Article. However as of Vista SP1, Microsoft has formally removed Reduced Functionality Mode. Non-genuine copies of Vista will not have any reduced functionality – the user will only experience the following:
You will need to successfully activate your copy of Vista with a valid product key to get back to normal. If you were lead to believe your copy of Vista was genuine when you purchased it, contact Microsoft and report the details of where and how you purchased this copy of Vista.
VALIDATION
Alongside Product Activation, Microsoft has implemented an additional anti-piracy feature into Windows called Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) Validation, or just Validation for short. Windows Vista will periodically connect to Microsoft servers to validate itself, sending similar information to that sent under Activation (see further above). This validation may also occur when you connect to Windows Update or download certain Microsoft updates. If Validation fails, the user will not be able to download updates from Microsoft, and can only download critical security updates through the Microsoft Download Center or through Windows Update set to automatically update (See the Control Panel chapter). The OS may also exhibit the symptoms described under the Reduced Functionality Mode section above.
If you are having problems with WGA on a legitimate installation of Windows, visit the Windows Genuine Advantage Diagnostic Site. If you use Firefox as your main browser, Microsoft has released a Firefox plugin to allow WGA to work on this popular browser.
If you are still having problems with Activation or Validation, the only correct course of action is to contact Microsoft Technical Support for your particular country.
