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Vista can't decide if it's genuine or not RRS feed

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    For some reason my copy of Vista, which I use via Bootcamp on my Mac or as a VM using Parallels 6, has suddenly decided it's not genuine anymore. And then it thinks it is. And then it thinks it isn't again. And so on. This happened when I first started using the VM rather than rebooting from OSX to Windows all the time, and required a phone call and support to fix. But it's been playing nicely up until about two weeks ago when I fired up the VM and it said it wasn't a genuine copy of Windows. Shutting it down and booting the computer into Windows said the same thing. Rebooting into OSX and starting the VM again made it say it was valid after all but then the next time I booted into Vista it said it wasn't genuine again. It's been like this for a couple of weeks, mostly saying it's not genuine but sometimes accepting that it is. Right now I'm in OSX, I've got the VM open in another monitor and I'm looking at a perfectly normal Vista desktop - everything I do to check its validation status says it's absolutely legit. But I've no idea whether it'll say that again the next time.

    My second problem is that we've recently moved and my Vista disc and licence is somewhere in a stack of boxes in the roof of the garage, and I have other things I'd rather do than spend hours looking for it. I'm giving serious thought to upgrading to Windows 7, which everyone seems to think is a better OS anyway and I'm told will only cost me $100 or so. But will I be able to do the upgrade install keeping files and accounts intact if Vista is in one of its I'm-not-genuine-so-there moods when I try?

    Thanks,

    Dasyurid.

    Saturday, December 21, 2013 6:24 AM

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    The reason for this is probably that the MAC addresses in the VM and in the Bootcamp boot are different - and this triggers a reactivation request, which if ignored, will result in the non-genuine status.

    The usual recommendation is to use either Bootcamp, OR Parallels, but not both.

    I believe that some people have found a workaround - but I have no idea where/what it is.

    Noel Paton | Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
    CrashFixPC | The Three-toed Sloth
    No - I do not work for Microsoft, or any of its contractors.

    Sunday, December 22, 2013 10:52 AM
    Moderator

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    MGA Diagnostic Report is Required:

    To properly analyse and solve problems with Activation and Validation, we need to see a full copy of the report produced by the MGADiag tool
    (download and save to desktop - http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=52012 )
     Once saved, run the tool.
    Click on the Continue button, which will produce the report.
     To copy the report to your response, click on the Copy button in the tool (ignore any error messages at this point), and then paste (using either r-click/Paste, or Ctrl+V ) into your response.

    Carey Frisch

    Saturday, December 21, 2013 5:19 PM
    Moderator
  • Question
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    The reason for this is probably that the MAC addresses in the VM and in the Bootcamp boot are different - and this triggers a reactivation request, which if ignored, will result in the non-genuine status.

    The usual recommendation is to use either Bootcamp, OR Parallels, but not both.

    I believe that some people have found a workaround - but I have no idea where/what it is.

    Noel Paton | Nil Carborundum Illegitemi
    CrashFixPC | The Three-toed Sloth
    No - I do not work for Microsoft, or any of its contractors.

    Sunday, December 22, 2013 10:52 AM
    Moderator