If you have a computer running Windows Vista connected to a Lan , a Domain or a Workgroup, you are unable to activate Windows Vista by phone.

Warning Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.
 
 
Disable the Auto-activation feature
To disable the Auto-activation feature, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then click regedit.exe in the Programs list.
   Note: If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type your password or click Continue. 
2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
         HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SL\Activation
3. Change the DWORD value Manual to 1.
   0 = Allow Auto-activation (Default)
   1 = Disable Auto-activation
4. Exit Registry Editor, and then restart the computer.

Enable the Auto-activation feature
To enable the Auto-activation feature, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, type regedit in the Start Search box, and then click regedit.exe in the Programs list.
   Note: If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type your password or click Continue. 
2. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
         HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SL\Activation
3. Change the DWORD value Manual to 0.
   0 = Allow Auto-activation (Default)
   1 = Disable Auto-activation
4. Exit Registry Editor, and then restart the computer.

 
If the end user chooses to automatically activate Windows online when he sets up his computer, automatic activation begins trying to active his copy of Windows three days after he logs on for the first time.

When trying to activate Windows Vista or Windows Server 2008 you may receive this message:

Code: 0xC004E002
Description: The Software Licensing Service reported that the license store contains inconsistent data.

Key Management Service (KMS) uses a KMS key to activate KMS on a KMS host, and to establish a local activation service in your environment. This service can activate Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 on computers that are connected to the KMS host computer. This update extends support for KMS to provide activation for Windows 7 and for Windows Server 2008 R2.

Note: If a KMS key that supports Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 is used to provide activation before this update is applied, the KMS key cannot be installed after you apply this update. If you try to install this KMS key after you apply this update, you receive the following error message:

Error: 0xc004f050 The Software Licensing service reported that the product key is invalid

On a computer that’s running Windows Vista SP2, you may be prompted to reactivate Windows each time you dock or undock your computer or add or remove other forms of removable hardware.

A KMSCLIENT activation computer does not utilize the ActivationInterval sent from a KMSHOST and submits Activation requests based on the default schedule.

SP1 may have stopped a couple of the hacks being used to get around activation, but that hasn’t stopped the hackers. Vista Loader apparently works on Vista SP1. Keep reading →

Windows activation in Windows Server 2008 or in Windows Vista fails when you configure a non-Microsoft firewall to use HTTPS authentication to enable access to the Internet.

• Microsoft: Vista feature designed to ‘annoy users’ | Tech News on ZDNet
  They set out to change the independent software vendor ecosystem to try and make software more secure, and they say it is working.
  (tags: Security UAC )
• A list of Microsoft Knowledge Base articles is available to help you troubleshoot error codes and error messages that you may receive when you try to activate Windows Vista
  Having trouble activating your copy of Vista? Here’s a list of common error codes and how to proceed.
  (tags: Activation Error )

Keep reading →

Having trouble activating your copy of Vista? Here’s a list of common error codes and how to proceed. Keep reading →