Reformatting and reinstalling vista

I have Windows vista home premium and i am wanting to reformat my computer
but i have only had vista installed for a few month i am wondering once i
have reinstalled vista will it let me activate my key or is thwere a time
limit before i can reactivate?

Thanks,
Richard

Hello,

Vista will let you activate right away. If necessary (but I don't think so),
you will be able to activate by phone.

Greetings,
P. Di Stolfo

--
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// http://blog.lysorp.com - small Windows Blog in German language
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"Richard Crooks" <Richard Crooks@discussions.microsoft.com> schrieb im
Newsbeitrag news:54E7CAD7-B98A-43A2-87EC-49BE61601F91@microsoft.com...
>I have Windows vista home premium and i am wanting to reformat my computer
> but i have only had vista installed for a few month i am wondering once i
> have reinstalled vista will it let me activate my key or is thwere a time
> limit before i can reactivate?
>
> Thanks,
> Richard

You shouldn't have any problem with activation; however, if you find that
you cannot activate via the internet just use the telephone activation
option. I've actually re-installed my copy of Vista three times so far and
it has always activated first time over the internet. I should add, however,
that no hardware was changed, it was simply a reformat. If you do change
hardware then, of course, you will probably need to use the telephone
activation, unless you have an OEM copy of Vista in which case you may not
be able to activate after a hardware upgrade.

--
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..

"Richard Crooks" <Richard Crooks@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:54E7CAD7-B98A-43A2-87EC-49BE61601F91@microsoft.com...
>I have Windows vista home premium and i am wanting to reformat my computer
> but i have only had vista installed for a few month i am wondering once i
> have reinstalled vista will it let me activate my key or is thwere a time
> limit before i can reactivate?
>
> Thanks,
> Richard

"John Barnett MVP" <freelanceit@mvps.org.NOSPAM> wrote in message
news:OQIfOtz4HHA.4880@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
> You shouldn't have any problem with activation; however, if you find that
> you cannot activate via the internet just use the telephone activation
> option. I've actually re-installed my copy of Vista three times so far and
> it has always activated first time over the internet. I should add,
> however, that no hardware was changed, it was simply a reformat. If you do
> change hardware then, of course, you will probably need to use the
> telephone activation, unless you have an OEM copy of Vista in which case
> you may not be able to activate after a hardware upgrade.

Never worked for me and I had only installed Vista once in six months. Once
you have installed Vista once it will say it is already in use the next time
you go to activate so you have to phone Microsoft to get it re-set. That's
the way it has been for everyone else I have read about trying to activate
again after already installing once.

Think about it Jack. Those who have no problems activating over the internet
have no reason to post here, do they. John did point out that telephone
activation may be necessary if the internet doesn't work for this poster.


"Yukon Jack" <NO@EMAIL.HERE> wrote in message
newsBnyi.71610$Fw7.40128@fe03.news.easynews.com. ..
> "John Barnett MVP" <freelanceit@mvps.org.NOSPAM> wrote in message
> news:OQIfOtz4HHA.4880@TK2MSFTNGP03.phx.gbl...
>> You shouldn't have any problem with activation; however, if you find that
>> you cannot activate via the internet just use the telephone activation
>> option. I've actually re-installed my copy of Vista three times so far
>> and it has always activated first time over the internet. I should add,
>> however, that no hardware was changed, it was simply a reformat. If you
>> do change hardware then, of course, you will probably need to use the
>> telephone activation, unless you have an OEM copy of Vista in which case
>> you may not be able to activate after a hardware upgrade.
>
> Never worked for me and I had only installed Vista once in six months.
> Once you have installed Vista once it will say it is already in use the
> next time you go to activate so you have to phone Microsoft to get it
> re-set. That's the way it has been for everyone else I have read about
> trying to activate again after already installing once.

How can I reformat my computer so it has no windows on it so I can put
another version on it? Like Windows 98 and then XP Upgrade? I don't like
Vista....

Steps please is what I mean.

Hi Gabrielle,

Too many steps the way you are proposing. Insert the WinXP upgrade disk and
boot the system from it. When prompted for the installation location, delete
the existing system volume (C:\) and then create a new one from the free
space. Format it (quick format is fine) and run setup. When prompted to
qualify the clean install with the upgrade disk, insert the Win98 system
disk. After verification completes, swap back to the XP disk and finish
setup.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"Gabrielle Channing" <GabrielleChanning@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message news:AEE3F084-7652-4F11-858B-5960FE7137E7@microsoft.com...
> How can I reformat my computer so it has no windows on it so I can put
> another version on it? Like Windows 98 and then XP Upgrade? I don't like
> Vista....
>
> Steps please is what I mean.

If you have SATA drives, you will also need the drivers from your MOBO or
assembler site, loaded to a FLOPPY and installed using F6 (bottom of install
screen very soon after the install begins) to provide the drivers.

"Rick Rogers" <rick@mvps.org> wrote in message
news:u$I3atFJIHA.5160@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> Hi Gabrielle,
>
> Too many steps the way you are proposing. Insert the WinXP upgrade disk
> and boot the system from it. When prompted for the installation location,
> delete the existing system volume (C:\) and then create a new one from the
> free space. Format it (quick format is fine) and run setup. When prompted
> to qualify the clean install with the upgrade disk, insert the Win98
> system disk. After verification completes, swap back to the XP disk and
> finish setup.
>
> --
> Best of Luck,
>
> Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
> http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
> Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
> My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com
>
> "Gabrielle Channing" <GabrielleChanning@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote
> in message news:AEE3F084-7652-4F11-858B-5960FE7137E7@microsoft.com...
>> How can I reformat my computer so it has no windows on it so I can put
>> another version on it? Like Windows 98 and then XP Upgrade? I don't like
>> Vista....
>>
>> Steps please is what I mean.
>

"Richard Crooks" wrote:

> I have Windows vista home premium and i am wanting to reformat my computer
> but i have only had vista installed for a few month i am wondering once i
> have reinstalled vista will it let me activate my key or is thwere a time
> limit before i can reactivate?
>
> Thanks,
> Richard

You should be able to get away with reactivating windows every 30 days. I
have done it three time now.


==================

"widdersg" <widdersg@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:86489BA3-35E2-42A6-9997-698985CB97B4@microsoft.com...
>
>
> "Richard Crooks" wrote:
>
>> I have Windows vista home premium and i am wanting to reformat my
>> computer
>> but i have only had vista installed for a few month i am wondering once i
>> have reinstalled vista will it let me activate my key or is thwere a time
>> limit before i can reactivate?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Richard