Invalid product key from original Vista Ultimate CD

Hello!

I had downloaded the 90-day trial (as an update on WinXP Pro) and used
Windows Vista Ultimate 23-bit without any problems. However, when the time to
actually purchase Windows Vista came, I was not very punctual with the
timing, and I ended up getting that annoying window after startup giving me
the options to active online, log-in with limited functionality, activate by
phone etc. I had tried to do all that but due to the fact that I cannot buy a
Product Key online from my country (Greece) for unknown reasons , I could
not activate by phone since after I called them and provided the installation
ID to the automated voice, I was told, to make a long story short, that I
could not active by phone either.

I ended up buying Windows Vista Ultimate 32-but from a retail shop. Thinking
that I could just enter the product key (from the re-enter your product key
option on the pop-up window at startup), and the product key was wrong- it
was mentioned that I was in use!

I tried booting with the CD, and it appears that I can install Windows Vista
that way, but as you know I would have to format my hard disk and loose
everything! Which I cannot afford by any means.

Which means - I cannot install Vista Ultimate from a Windows environment, my
product key for some reason does not seem to work, and the only way I can
install vista is by formatting my hard disk....nope, I'm not gonna do that!

Is there anybody that might shed some light on how I could resolve my
problem? Could I possible roll-back into WinXP (how?) without losing my
programs and data, and then install Vista from the CD? Any other possible
solutions?

Any help / answer to my post would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a lot!
Dimitris

You do not have to format .....you can install into the Vista directory
thats already there.........changing the product key during the
installation.
peter
"Dimitris" wrote in message

> Hello!
>
> I had downloaded the 90-day trial (as an update on WinXP Pro) and used
> Windows Vista Ultimate 23-bit without any problems. However, when the time
> to
> actually purchase Windows Vista came, I was not very punctual with the
> timing, and I ended up getting that annoying window after startup giving
> me
> the options to active online, log-in with limited functionality, activate
> by
> phone etc. I had tried to do all that but due to the fact that I cannot
> buy a
> Product Key online from my country (Greece) for unknown reasons , I
> could
> not activate by phone since after I called them and provided the
> installation
> ID to the automated voice, I was told, to make a long story short, that I
> could not active by phone either.
>
> I ended up buying Windows Vista Ultimate 32-but from a retail shop.
> Thinking
> that I could just enter the product key (from the re-enter your product
> key
> option on the pop-up window at startup), and the product key was wrong- it
> was mentioned that I was in use!
>
> I tried booting with the CD, and it appears that I can install Windows
> Vista
> that way, but as you know I would have to format my hard disk and loose
> everything! Which I cannot afford by any means.
>
> Which means - I cannot install Vista Ultimate from a Windows environment,
> my
> product key for some reason does not seem to work, and the only way I can
> install vista is by formatting my hard disk....nope, I'm not gonna do
> that!
>
> Is there anybody that might shed some light on how I could resolve my
> problem? Could I possible roll-back into WinXP (how?) without losing my
> programs and data, and then install Vista from the CD? Any other possible
> solutions?
>
> Any help / answer to my post would be greatly appreciated.
>
> Thanks a lot!
> Dimitris
>