product key invalid for activation?

[Hmongkeysauce]

hi
need help with a potential problem. my gf has this toshiba laptop that came with with windows vista home premium edition (not sure if its 32 or 64 bit). after a few months of usage, she decided she wanted xp on it instead. so we reformatted the harddrive and put a copy of windows xp on it. however, only after a day of usuage, she decided she wanted vista back on it(she likes the pretty graphics on solitare, etc! :/). anyways, i didnt want to use toshiba's restoration crap(to avoid reinstalling any un-necessary programs) so i decided to borrow my friend's retail copy of windows vista and use the cd key thats stickied onto the underside of the laptop. everything installed fine, except i can't activate it. its telling me that the product key is invalid for activation yet it is going to perform an automatic activation in 3 days! what gives? do i have anything to worry about? or am i going to have to use toshiba's restoration process to get windows vista back on this thing again? any help would be appreciated. thanks in advance.

 

[MrChad]

OEM keys will not work with a retail copy of the operating system. You need to get a copy of an OEM Vista disc from Toshiba or use the restoration process.

 

[RebateMonger]

Tell Toshiba you want a Vista Install DVD. Be willing to pay for it if necessary. Don't buy PCs that don't come with an OS restoration disk.

Even if you decide to do a disk-based restoration, STILL get the DVD, because when your hard drive eventually fails you will likely be out of warranty and Toshiba may not sell you the disk you need at that point.

 

[infini]

What is the difference between an OEM key and a retail key?

 

[nerp]

I have a feeling some posters here don't use Vista or are forgetting some key facts.

There is no difference between an OEM and a retail disc of Vista. in fact, ALL versions of vista have the same exact disc.

You just need to manually activate over the phone. Done. Automatic activation usually fails on OEM hardware.

Just call the number for manual activation and they'll set you up properly.

If you used the OEM recovery discs, you probably wouldn't have to activate. But using a normal Vista DVD with an OEM key -- which you have -- will prompt for manual activation.

 

[Navid]

Yeah, Vista is different.
When you attempt to activate online and it tells you that it failed, it gives you a number to call.
Call them. They will activate it for you.

I have done this myself.

 

[infini]

Is there a program to retrive Office 200 key? None of the ones mentioned does this.