Preserving Vista Activation

I know there is a way to backup the XP activation and then after a
re-install on the same hardware to copy the files back and have the copy
of XP activated again. Is there a way to do this with Vista?

Just save an image of the windows partition/drive; use Acronis or Ghost.
There are ways to save the activation file(s) but it might get corrupted...
google for it.
Michael

"William" <woogles@charter.net> wrote in message
news:%23PxB8mmGHHA.1468@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>I know there is a way to backup the XP activation and then after a
>re-install on the same hardware to copy the files back and have the copy of
>XP activated again. Is there a way to do this with Vista?

I agree with Michael imaging the drive would be a better bet. You could save
the activation files in Windows XP but, everytime i tried it it never
worked. My preferred method now is to image the hard drive.

--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows Shell/User

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

"William" <woogles@charter.net> wrote in message
news:%23PxB8mmGHHA.1468@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>I know there is a way to backup the XP activation and then after a
>re-install on the same hardware to copy the files back and have the copy of
>XP activated again. Is there a way to do this with Vista?

"John Barnett MVP" <freelanceit@mvps.org.NOSPAM> wrote in message
news:eoBmpKuGHHA.2632@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>I agree with Michael imaging the drive would be a better bet. You
>could save the activation files in Windows XP but, everytime i tried
>it it never worked. My preferred method now is to image the hard
>drive.

In order to save the activation files, you need to ensure you don't
format the hard drive when you re-install. Either that or you would
have to copy the ID of the drive and then re-assign the ID to the
drive since activation stores a copy of it. When you format, the drive
ID changes and activation fails since the hardware ID is different.

> "William" <woogles@charter.net> wrote in message
> news:%23PxB8mmGHHA.1468@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>I know there is a way to backup the XP activation and then after a
>>re-install on the same hardware to copy the files back and have the
>>copy of XP activated again. Is there a way to do this with Vista?

I searched Google and haven't found a way yet, but I suspect it should
be possible once the files are identified.


--
Happy Holidays!

Can I assume what you are writing says, in effect, that neither saving
the activation files or imaging the hard drive will work if the drive
needs to be formatted? I would think that Microsoft is going a bit too
far in the security thing to prevent a user from re-installing Vista on
the same computer that it came from.


Bill wrote:
>
>
> In order to save the activation files, you need to ensure you don't
> format the hard drive when you re-install. Either that or you would have
> to copy the ID of the drive and then re-assign the ID to the drive since
> activation stores a copy of it. When you format, the drive ID changes
> and activation fails since the hardware ID is different.
>

"William" <woogles@charter.net> wrote in message
news:eluX$jzGHHA.1064@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> Can I assume what you are writing says, in effect, that neither
> saving the activation files or imaging the hard drive will work if
> the drive needs to be formatted?

No you can't assume that. If you image the drive, then the drive ID is
written back with the image and all is good.

What I'm saying is if you save the activation files (not an image),
and then format and re-install, the new install changes the drive ID
and activation must be done again.

--
Happy Holidays!

My mistake, thanks for the information.



Bill wrote:
> "William" <woogles@charter.net> wrote in message
> news:eluX$jzGHHA.1064@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>> Can I assume what you are writing says, in effect, that neither saving
>> the activation files or imaging the hard drive will work if the drive
>> needs to be formatted?
>
> No you can't assume that. If you image the drive, then the drive ID is
> written back with the image and all is good.
>
> What I'm saying is if you save the activation files (not an image), and
> then format and re-install, the new install changes the drive ID and
> activation must be done again.
>

Bill, my drive wasn't reformatted but the 'fix' still didn't work for me -
hence my decision to image the drive(s).

--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows Shell/User

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

"Bill" <bill@c.a> wrote in message
news:xdadnZR3hclUZuTYnZ2dnUVZ_rGinZ2d@golden.net.. .
> "John Barnett MVP" <freelanceit@mvps.org.NOSPAM> wrote in message
> news:eoBmpKuGHHA.2632@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>>I agree with Michael imaging the drive would be a better bet. You could
>>save the activation files in Windows XP but, everytime i tried it it never
>>worked. My preferred method now is to image the hard drive.
>
> In order to save the activation files, you need to ensure you don't format
> the hard drive when you re-install. Either that or you would have to copy
> the ID of the drive and then re-assign the ID to the drive since
> activation stores a copy of it. When you format, the drive ID changes and
> activation fails since the hardware ID is different.
>
>> "William" <woogles@charter.net> wrote in message
>> news:%23PxB8mmGHHA.1468@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>>I know there is a way to backup the XP activation and then after a
>>>re-install on the same hardware to copy the files back and have the copy
>>>of XP activated again. Is there a way to do this with Vista?
>
> I searched Google and haven't found a way yet, but I suspect it should be
> possible once the files are identified.
>
>
> --
> Happy Holidays!
>

Bill wrote:
> "William" <woogles@charter.net> wrote in message
> news:eluX$jzGHHA.1064@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>> Can I assume what you are writing says, in effect, that neither saving
>> the activation files or imaging the hard drive will work if the drive
>> needs to be formatted?
>
> No you can't assume that. If you image the drive, then the drive ID is
> written back with the image and all is good.
>
> What I'm saying is if you save the activation files (not an image), and
> then format and re-install, the new install changes the drive ID and
> activation must be done again.

Well Ghost doesn't keep the disk ID when restoring the image.

When we used it with XP and W2k on the first boot, Windows would say
"Detected hardware changes - rebooting" and then restart again. When we
looked into this, the disk ID was changing each time we restored the
image and XP was detecting this. It didn't trigger a re-activation -
but certainly required a reboot, even though the hardware hadn't
physically changed at all.

D

Would that be something the might trigger re-activation in Vista?

David Hearn wrote:
> Bill wrote:
>> "William" <woogles@charter.net> wrote in message
>> news:eluX$jzGHHA.1064@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>>> Can I assume what you are writing says, in effect, that neither
>>> saving the activation files or imaging the hard drive will work if
>>> the drive needs to be formatted?
>>
>> No you can't assume that. If you image the drive, then the drive ID is
>> written back with the image and all is good.
>>
>> What I'm saying is if you save the activation files (not an image),
>> and then format and re-install, the new install changes the drive ID
>> and activation must be done again.
>
> Well Ghost doesn't keep the disk ID when restoring the image.
>
> When we used it with XP and W2k on the first boot, Windows would say
> "Detected hardware changes - rebooting" and then restart again. When we
> looked into this, the disk ID was changing each time we restored the
> image and XP was detecting this. It didn't trigger a re-activation -
> but certainly required a reboot, even though the hardware hadn't
> physically changed at all.
>
> D