You may be a victim of software counterfeiting.

[kareem]

I get this message from my bootcamp vista installation in VMware. I don't get it when I boot directly into it via bootcamp though.

The system screen in control panel says my installation is activated. Is the vm not fooling Vista properly? Is this a known issue?

Windows defender won't update definitions in this state. Not sure if there are any other side effects, aside from the annoying constant dialog boxes giving me that message.

[WoodyZ]

For users with only 1 licence I believe they would be suffering unreasonable hardship due to VMware's behaviour.

Are you serious, "unreasonable hardship" give me a break! An unreasonable hardship might be if all of a sudden you couldn't use your computer at all as a direct result caused by something VMware did wrong and this is not the case! This issue is first and foremost a Microsoft issue. It's my understanding that the User has several choices, only use Boot Camp or only use the Boot Camp partition Virtual Machine or don't install SP1 or if you've already installed SP1 then uninstall it. Now the last option mentioned could be considered a hassle however it in no way be considered an unreasonable hardship! If you have install media that is already at SP1 then choose one or the other, Boot Camp or normal file based Virtual Machine until VMware can address the issue. At the present time technically Windows Vista SP1 is not a supported OS as it didn't even exist when Fusion first shipped and while VMware does what it can as it can to correct issues such as this it is nether there fault it occurred nor are they obligated to do anything about unsupported software although in the past they have resolved issues such as this and then subsequent changes have become technically supported.

The bottom line is you just have to give VMware time to address the issue and if there is any blame to be placed it's squarely on Microsoft as they are unilaterally continually modifying there WPA and WGA technologies leaving other companies that provide legitimate software solutions to deal with the aftermath.

[Mac_hatter]

SP1 beta and RC have been out a rather long time for vendors to have looked and tested their wares to be compatible. It was even delayed to allow more time.

Compared to Apple, well, Apple doesn't give you as much time and 10.5.x is as likely to make changes and break compatibilty if not more so.

So yes, I only use native Vista SP1 Ultimate x64.

[voigtstr]

Is VMware actively researching the issue? I think I'll be able to survive for the time being using two licences and activating windows every three days. For users with only 1 licence I believe they would be suffering unreasonable hardship due to VMware's behaviour.

We're looking at it, but I want to point out that it's Windows that is doing the activation and saying there's a problem, not us.

Thanks Etung,

I will keep the faith, and look forward to a solution down the track.

[goodwill1120]

Please do fix it. We all know (ok almost all ) its not VMWare's fault, but this is a killer issue as I have issues on activating that over internet too somehow. (And I would bet everything on MS would rather NOT fix it) I wish you luck and even if this would cost us some more money we would be happy to pay for it

[MacPC]

You are aware that this is due to Microsoft's Mafia style to force you to buy its craps. Microsoft keeps track of your hardwares. When you install it on Bootcamp, your license is registered to that particular Mac hardware, so that license if ONLY good for the Mac, then when you run Vista in Fusion, it considers it a different machine because it sends the hardware info of Fusion to Microsoft, not the Mac Hardware, thus you will get the annoying counterfeit message.

[goodwill1120]

Anyone knows does the latest 1.1.2 update fix the problem? Now I tend to avoid start bootcamp if possible...

[admin]

1.1.2 does not address Vista SP1 in Boot Camp.

[voigtstr]

I had to request another product key for vista today from technet because the previous key ceased to activate. Is this issue still being researched?

[goodwill1120]

I think it has already been fixed on 1.1.3

[voigtstr]

I've got 1.1.3 (94249), it hasn't fixed the issue.

[admin]

1.1.3 addresses Vista SP1 Boot Camp, but does not address 64-bit Boot Camp. From an earlier post, this sounds like your situation.

[voigtstr]

Alas, no. I'm running vista sp1 64 bit boot camp.

[jim_gill]

We have this scheduled to be fixed in the next beta release, but I don't have a date to give you, and I can't guarantee that the fix will make it (but we dearly want it to).

[voigtstr]

Hi Jim,

Do you know if there's been any progress on the beta, and vista 64 sp1 activation?

Cheers

Simon

[admin]

Vista 64-bit SP1 should work in Fusion 2.0.

[John-D]

Is the final release of Fusion 2.0 compatible (e.g. activation problem resolved) with 32-bit Vista SP1 in a Boot Camp implementation?

If not, this should be highlighted as a "known issue".

[admin]

This thread is fairly out of date, check the timestamps. Fusion 2.0 should work with Vista SP1.

[John-D]

Thank you for the reply, I noticed the thread dates after my initial panic. I've been running Vista SP1 with Boot Camp and was going to install Fusion 2.0 after scanning the forum for issues. I feel much better now

PS - The required steps for installing Fusion 2.0 with Boot Camp to prevent MS activation issues are well documented by VMWare and I was surprised to see this reference to a problem.

[Tankerman]

I am getting this very same issue of Windows telling me that I "May be the victim of software counterfeiting" and I am running Fusion 2.0.1.