Windows Vista Activation

I purchased a new computer with Vista. I switched off the onboard sound and
installed a soundcard. Suddenly it said there was a hardware changes so I
need to activate Windows. I tried to activate it online and it said the code
was already in use. Now it has disabled a bunch of features. What am I
supposed to do.....BUY another copy?

Run the activation application again, select the phone option, they'll give
you a code to activate it. Should take 5 minutes.

--
Paul Smith,
Yeovil, UK.
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User.
http://www.dasmirnov.net/blog/
http://www.windowsresource.net/

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"Richard" <> wrote in message
news:A5D4953D-01B4-4EB6-8E4B-...
>I purchased a new computer with Vista. I switched off the onboard sound
>and
> installed a soundcard. Suddenly it said there was a hardware changes so I
> need to activate Windows. I tried to activate it online and it said the
> code
> was already in use. Now it has disabled a bunch of features. What am I
> supposed to do.....BUY another copy?

Richard wrote:

> I purchased a new computer with Vista. I switched off the onboard sound
> and
> installed a soundcard. Suddenly it said there was a hardware changes so I
> need to activate Windows. I tried to activate it online and it said the
> code
> was already in use. Now it has disabled a bunch of features. What am I
> supposed to do.....BUY another copy?

No, you're supposed to telephone Microsoft and explain what happened and ask
them kindly to reactivate your Vista license. Although this can be annoying
and make you feel like you need to grovel to use your computer, the truth
is that you're helping Microsoft stop piracy of their products.

Kind Regards,
MH

"Mr. Happy" <> wrote in
news::

> Although this
> can be annoying and make you feel like you need to grovel to use your
> computer, the truth is that you're helping Microsoft stop piracy of
> their products.

That's just a silly statement.

Activation has nothing to do with *users* helping MS stop piracy.

It has to do with MS inconviencing their paying customers when a simple
hardware change, in this case a sound card device, triggers reactivation.
Just as a few weeks back when an SATA driver update did the same to many
users.

Don't get me wrong, MS has every right to try to protect their product, but
the way activation is SUPPOSED to work and the way it actually does are two
different things.

Thanks Paul, that worked.

"Paul Smith" wrote:

> Run the activation application again, select the phone option, they'll give
> you a code to activate it. Should take 5 minutes.
>
> --
> Paul Smith,
> Yeovil, UK.
> Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User.
> http://www.dasmirnov.net/blog/
> http://www.windowsresource.net/
>
> *Remove nospam. to reply by e-mail*
>
>
> "Richard" <> wrote in message
> news:A5D4953D-01B4-4EB6-8E4B-...
> >I purchased a new computer with Vista. I switched off the onboard sound
> >and
> > installed a soundcard. Suddenly it said there was a hardware changes so I
> > need to activate Windows. I tried to activate it online and it said the
> > code
> > was already in use. Now it has disabled a bunch of features. What am I
> > supposed to do.....BUY another copy?
>