76. Repair A Vista Installation Using The
Upgrade Option Of The Vista DVD
Important Update:
Please read prior to attempting a repair
installation using the upgrade option.
If you have installed the recent Service
Pack 1 for Windows Vista and your original
Windows Vista DVD does not include
this Service Pack, then the Upgrade
option will be disabled, thus
preventing you from doing an in place upgrade. The
reason for this is that, by installing Service Pack
1 your system is, in effect, newer than that of your
original Vista DVD (the only exception to this is if
you have a slipstreamed copy of Windows Vista
including Service pack 1).
Therefore, if your original Windows Vista
DVD does not contain Service Pack 1
you will need to Uninstall Service Pack 1
from your PC prior to attempting the
upgrade. See:
110. Uninstall Windows Service Pack 1
The two most obvious repair option for a Windows
Vista installation is either re-installing
(and losing all your data and programs) or using the
repair options available on the
Windows Vista DVD.
However, what if the repair options don't work?
Do you really want to re-install the operating
system and lose everything on your hard drive?
Probably not!
Well there is a third option and that is to
actually upgrade the copy of Vista
you already have using your Vista DVD.
By doing this you can re-install Vista
over the top of your original copy without losing
any programs or data you already have on your PC.
While upgrading should, in theory, not disturb
what applications/documents you already have on your
hard drive it would be far wiser to actually
backup any important files/documents prior
to attempting this upgrade.
To repair your Vista installation using the
upgrade option proceed as follows:
1/ To begin with you must proceed as if you were
upgrading to Windows Vista from another operating
system. Therefore, before you start go through the
52. Upgrading To Windows Vista instructions
first to see what is involved.
2/ Once you have read the upgrade
instructions then begin the upgrade. You
should be aware that the upgrade may take several
hours.
3/ After the upgrade has completed the following
instruction will be found useful.
4/ Because you have upgraded the
system you will, after the upgrade
has finished, be prompted to activate
your copy of Windows Vista.
5/ Select the Activate Online Now
option
6/ At the next screen, if you are unable
to get an internet connection, Choose the
Create new internet connection
option.
7/ When the Create New Internet
Connection window opens, Select the
connection that you had created in the old
copy of Vista and then Type in your
User name and Password.
8/ Once connected to the Internet the
activation process should proceed.
9/ If the activation is unsuccessful
you will need to call the automated
activation line. The toll free
number (in most countries where Microsoft has a
presence) is available when you Click the
Activate by Phone option.
10/ Once activation has
completed the desktop will continue
to set up and then, finally, you will be presented
with the Welcome Center screen.
11/ Close the Welcome Center
screen.
12/ If you now look in the bottom Right
hand corner of your screen you may see a
message Windows Vista, Build xxxxxx. This
copy of Windows is not genuine.
13/ To get this far your activation must have
been successful. This indicates that the copy of
Vista you are using is Genuine, even though the
above message is telling you different. So once you
get to this stage simply reboot
your PC.
14/ Once the PC re-boots the
This copy of windows is not genuine
message should have disappeared.
15/ If the message doesn't disappear, then try
validating your copy of Windows Vista by visiting
http://www.microsoft.com/genuine
16/ When the site opens, just Click the
Validate Now button.