What's this warning about Windows Activation required within 22 days or else?

[wmelkk]

I upgraded Fusion to 1.1 and now as admin whenever I log into any of the Boot Camp XP+SP2 accounts a message pops up that Windows Activation is required within 22 days. When the system activation icon is clicked, the activation window says that this particular windows XP has been activated too many times and to enter a different product key. What's up with this? How can I get this message/warning to STOP appearing? http://I've attached the Collected Support Information file.

[lancetyler]

I got the same warning after installing 1.1 when starting the VM on my Vista Ultimate/Boot Camp installation. However, when I booted directly into Windows and checked the activation status all was well, and I have not received the warning on subsequent VM starts. So I hope it fixed itself. I updated the VM Tools somewhere in there, since I was prompted to do so. Maybe that did the trick.

[jim_gill]

The activation prompt occurs when Windows thinks the hardware has substantially changed. While you must activate once under Apple's Boot Camp and once more as a virtual machine (the hardware presented to Windows looks different in a VM), VMware Tools captures those settings and arranges things so taht Windows Activation is satisfied.

You say you've upgraded to Fusion 1.1. Was this working for you before the upgrade, with Fusion 1.0? If so, we can probably get past the prompt. If you've upgraded form Parallels, perhaps not. Fusion 1.1 does not introduce any hardware changes that would trigger activation issues with a 1.0 -> 1.1 upgrade.

[lancetyler]

The prompt to activate Vista Ultimate came after I upgraded from 1.0 to 1.1 (I am running Tiger 10.4.10, but will be installing Leopard this week, so wanted to prepare). It appeared when running Fusion immediately after the upgrade.

Prior to that, I had never had Parallels installed, and Windows was properly activated and working fine under both Boot Camp and Fusion for a couple months before the upgrade to Fusion 1.1.

As I said, the activation request seems to have gone away on its own. I was prompted to reinstall VM Tools, which I did, and after booting directly into Windows via Boot Camp, things worked fine with no activation request.

[jim_gill]

Prior to Fusion 1.1, Vista Bootcamp users faced reactivation within three days of any switch between Boot Camp and Fusion for the Vista image, because we didn't have Tools support to manage Vista's activation records. (This is why Vista in Boot Camp was marked experimental for Fusion 1.0.) Fusion 1.1 adds that support.

You may still need to be activated at least once in each mode (Tools will pick up an existing activation). In Vista, you can see if your machine is activated by looking at the System information in Control Panel.

[TSHK]

In my case, the activation request is still appeared in control panel in VM (Boot Camp partition) under fusion 1.1.

1) I installed Vist in Boot Camp partition and activated. It works well.

2) And then I installed Fusion 1.0 and activation requested was appeared in Vista (VM from Boot Camp partition) under fusion 1.0

3) I upgraded to Fusion 1.1 and re installed VMware tool, but still activation request appeared in control panel in Vista in VM (Boot Camp partition).

How do I fix this problem ?

[rcardona2k]

This was a known problem with Fusion 1.0 and Vista (experimental support), so upgrading to Fusion 1.1 is necessary and upgrading the Tools as you did is important.

If you are running Vista x64 - that is not supported in the Boot Camp partition and therefore not in Fusion 1.1.

edit: missed where you had upgraded to Fusion 1.1, sorry.

[Mac_hatter]

On a lark I used BootCamp Assistant 2.0 for first time and installed Ultimate x64 and it took.

Never did in the past. So it works. It may not have the official seal of support.

Some people lost their BootCamp partitions when they upgraded to Leopard and upgraded the Apple Windows drivers.

In one statement, I read that Vista x64 is supported. In another, that it isn't if it is in native NTFS partition (BootCamp I keep saying, is as far as I can tell, an installer only and some drivers, services, startupitems).

Right now I'm using Norton Ghost 12 to take Vista x64 and create a .vmdk - trouble is Norton Ghost 12 is acting like a piece of old smelly fish and fails.

[jim_gill]

One of the purposes of Windows Activation is to tie your copy of the software to a particular machine, limiting the number of machines on which one copy of Vista (XP, Office, etc) can be installed. When Vista sees that the hardware has changed significantly, it requests reactivation.

This is the case when you run the Boot Camp partition under Fusion: Vista sees a different network adapter, a smaller RAM size, and other changes because the virtual hardware exposed by Fusion appears as a different computer.

It is necessary to activate Vista once under Boot Camp, and once again under Fusion. Once that is done, VMware Tools arranges matters so that the Vista Activation subsystem will see valid activation in each mode, but Tools does not disable or circumvent the activation modules. I know that retail versions of Vista Home Basic won't do an automatic reactivation; you may need to contact Microsoft as explained by the activation wizard to get a key that will activate Vista for your virtual machine.

[barrygordon2]

I'm going to have the same problem as you in the next couple of days. I purchased a retail copy of XP Pro OEM and it's installed and running via bootcamp (approximately for 1-year). VMwave will see this as a un-activation copy. What you need to do is call Microsoft "Activation Hotline" at 888.571.2048. This is an automatic line. When it asks for you to entered the activation code just press 0 0 0 0 and eventually someone will answer. Tell them that you only have one machine with one binary of the Microsoft XP Pro. They should be able to give you a key to entered.

Please post your results. I would appreciate your answer before I download Fusion.

[TSHK]

Thank you for your comments.

I activated successfully by phone to Microsoft and solved my issue.

I updated the process as follows.

1) I installed Vist in Boot Camp partition and activated. It works well.

2) And then I installed Fusion 1.0 and activation requested was appeared in Vista (VM from Boot Camp partition) under fusion 1.0

3) I upgraded to Fusion 1.1 and re installed VMware tool, but still activation request appeared in control panel in Vista in VM (Boot Camp partition).

4) In Vista under VM (Boot Camp partition), I activated successfully by phone to Microsoft.

It works well in both Vista environment ( Boot Camp and VM (Boot CAmp partition)).