Fun with Vista Validation!

As I've mentioned in previous blog entires (yes they're all old now), after I did my first game machine build I bought Vista Home Premium a while back so I could get Halo 2 for the PC.  I did originally install Vista on my laptop because I was hoping it would run Halo 2 well enough I could take it on the road with me.  It was horribly sluggish so I proceeded to install Vista on my gaming machine which is where I should have installed it in the first place.  Of course the validation didn't work, so I was able to go through a chat system, explain what I did, explained that Vista had been removed from my laptop and fortunately they were willing to go ahead and validate it for me so I didn't just lose $240.

Several months if not over a year later I make the decision to upgrade my componants on my machine.  I knew I was going to have to go through this mess again so I opted to install the Windows 7 RC instead with the full intention of purchasing the full version once it came out.  Once Windows 7 RC had expired however, I found myself in a predicament, because I was planning on buying a new gaming laptop, which would come with Windows 7 and it didn't make sense for me to spend the money on the gaming machine if it wasn't going to be used as much.  So I installed Vista which of course didn't validate, but it said I had 30 days and that seemed like plenty of time before I'd get my new gaming laptop.

Since then I've been debating if I really need the laptop or not since I've been working so much anyway.  So I decided yesterday to attempt to Validate Vista.  Oddly enough I start up my computer and the 30 days had expired.  My first goal was to find a way to do it through chat like I did the first time. It seemed very easy.  But nowhere could I find the option to chat with someone, I have no idea how I did it the last time, maybe they've removed that capability.  So I go looking for a phone number.  Even THAT was hard to find.  One page would say "open windows validation to get phone numbers in your region", I'd go in there it would not give me the option for a phone number, instead it would send me back to a page I'd already looked at multiple times.  I ended up spending almost an hour doing this.  Before I finally decide just to try the automated phone validation.

I call automated phone validation, she asks me what the 9 blocks of numbers were, I could say them I didn't have to key them, I was very surprised at how easy this was working despite the fact I was talking to a computer instead of a person.  She verifies my windows, asks me how many machines I've installed it on, then starts giving me a validation number.  Remember in the last paragraph where I said I ended up spending almost an hour doing this?  I know this, because right in the middle of getting my validation code, my computer restarts.

I restart my computer, bring up windows validation, call the automated validation system back, this time it says she can't validate my system and passes me to a real person. I'm feeling good about this, I'm thinking this will be faster, real person, can explain my situation and hopefully get it taken care of.  I get a real person - and he says their system is down and I should call back in 20 minutes.  really.  I went ahead and explained the situation to him to see if he could at least confirm I could validate so I wouldn't have to call back if they weren't going to do it for me.  His response? Call back in 20 minutes.  Gotcha.

I wait a couple of hours and go back through the only way I knew how, through the automated system. Go through the trouble of telling her the 9 columns of numbers for the 3rd time.. and she validates me this time!  She gives me my validation number, Windows Vista is now validated, and all is well in the universe.

See how much easier Computers are than Consoles?  I kid, I kid.