[gunbunnysoulja]

I just built my first HTPC, and loaded Vista onto it. I was going to use it for 30 days before I purchased a Product Key, however after I was messing with OverClocking and needed to reset the CMOS on my mobo, for some reason it now says ACTIVATION REQUIRED TODAY, even though I should of had 29 days left.


What functionality is lost with Vista Home Premium NOT being activated?


Everything I tried still seems to work, including Media Center and other misc programs I quickly tried. The desktop went to an all black background, but everything else seems to be good.


Hopefully I'm not forced into reduced functionality mode tomorrow... since it said REQUIRED TODAY.

 

[jamiee]

Strange, that shouldn't have happened....?


Have you installed all of the Windows Updates?

Cos it sounds like an old bug from when Vista was first released, where tweaking certain BIOS settings or flashing to a different BIOS revision after installing Vista would trigger an immediate activation notice.


There was a windows update made available that corrected this, and it should be part of Service Pack 1.

 

[gunbunnysoulja]



Quote:
Originally Posted by jamiee /forum/post/14222461


Strange, that shouldn't have happened....?


Have you installed all of the Windows Updates?

Cos it sounds like an old bug from when Vista was first released, where tweaking certain BIOS settings or flashing to a different BIOS revision after installing Vista would trigger an immediate activation notice.


There was a windows update made available that corrected this, and it should be part of Service Pack 1.

I wonder if the date getting reset to 2006 had something to do with it.


It is vista home premium SP1.

 

[grittree]

Google "slmgr". The top link will show you how to check and extend the trial period.


Works for pre SP1, not sure on SP1 version.

 

[gunbunnysoulja]



Quote:
Originally Posted by grittree /forum/post/14222658


Google "slmgr". The top link will show you how to check and extend the trial period.


Works for pre SP1, not sure on SP1 version.

I tried about 5 different methods of the (legal) extension, and none worked for me. In CMD prompt, nothing was being recognized and everything came back as invalid.


I made sure to run as administrator also.

 

[renethx]

I think it has something to do with BIOS date reset to January 1 2007 (2006?) when CMOS is cleared. You have to manually change it. (This is a kind of annoying bug of some mbs.)


If you forgot to change the date in BIOS and once entered into Windows, the only way you can do may be:


- Activate now


or


- Clean reinstall Windows

 

[kapone]



Quote:
Originally Posted by renethx /forum/post/14222929


I think it has something to do with BIOS date reset to January 1 2007 (2006?) when CMOS is cleared. You have to manually change it. (This is a kind of annoying bug of some mbs.)


If you forgot to change the date in BIOS and once entered into Windows, the only way you can do may be:


- Activate now


or


- Clean reinstall Windows

That is correct. Once you have installed Windows and NOT activated it, any attempt to change the BIOS/system date forward or backward will pretty much trigger the immediate activation. Once that's triggered, you really can't do anything about it other than either activate or reinstall. All of the legal methods of extending the trial period work BEFORE this trigger is activated. For e.g. when you are on day 28, you can extend it, but on day 30 you can't (as far as I know).

 

[gunbunnysoulja]

Thanks for the replies. Since I have all my drivers updated and all the programs I want, I don't really want to do a clean install. Guess I will have to activate now.