T60 vista business running problem..

I was able to install Lenovo Vista business on my 2.5yr old T60 . It was working fine but few days ago when i turned it on , it was asking me for a product key? It wont let me get to my files nor do anything but enter the product key.

I thought vista business didnt have a key & only ultimate/home did. is there a way i can solve this?
if there is a key i need to provide, can someone be kind enough to share?
thank you!

 

All versions of Vista require a license. And, one normally has a grace period of 30-days to activate the product key related to the license.

If you installed Vista Business from a legitimate source, it should have come with this license / product key.

If you are past the 30 days and do not have a key, I believe your files are lost unless you call Microsoft and purchase a key.

 

Specialista is right. Where did you get this version of Vista?

 

I found this on a torrent site

http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/3948699/ThinkPad_T60p_Vista_Business_Restore_Disc

It seeems like im the only one w/ this problem when i read the comments.

 

This is because your laptop is not licensed to have Windows Vista installed (that it, it does not have a COA label with a Windows Vista product key). You'll have to purchase a retail copy of Windows Vista or purchase an upgrade disc.

The reason why you're the only person [in the torrent comments] having this problem is because other users' T60s are likely to be licensed to have Vista installed / have a Vista product key (that is, they have Windows Vista COA labels on their notebooks), whereas your T60 is not licensed. Most of these users probably have Vista installed already, and want to perform a system recovery, but don't have the recovery disc.

As already mentioned, all Windows Vista editions need to be activated using a product key. However, some OEM operating systems (such as pre-installed operating systems and OEM recovery discs) can activate themselves using activation data in the BIOS (which therefore don't require the user to enter a product key during or after system recovery), but these systems are licensed to have Windows Vista installed.

Unfortunately, only one machine can be activated with one product key at a time (maintained by WGA checks online).

 

ahhh. your right it has a Windows XP sticker. & doenst have vista. thank you for a clear good information. i guess im going to have to buy one from microsoft.
....any donaters plz? lol

 

Yeah, but I had a licensed version that recieves an erroneonus patch and becomes unlicensed. When I got my t61p I gave this unit away to a friend and the same two patches have bothered him. So it's not always a user of an unlicensed copy.

Renee

 

Enterprise editions dont have the problem of licensing(mass licensing). vista business has ordinary licensing

 

so enterprise version have no licensing? huh. is it for corporate use?

 

All versions require licenses. I'm assuming "mass licensing" is referring to volume licenses. Larger businesses implement a KMS server and KMS license to handle all licenses within an enterprise. All that information gets reported back to Microsoft from the KMS server. Most people have MAK or Retail licenses. If you want to know which you have go to a command prompt and type slmgr -dli.

 

i have KMS license. but its under grace period of 26days 38580min. to be exact...left until termination.

hey mandrake...i see you also a T60(saw your review) and was curious if you had a Vista manually installed before. if you did, did you get a restore disk version or a OEM disk and install all drivers seperately?
i can ask my friend for a copy of Vista ultimate and install drivers...which burns almost a whole afternoon.

 

new problem! =( i was thinking today nd i remembered that my T60 with a XP COA is now set at its restoring for windows Vista business with no product key. i have 26days until it turns off and no xp factory settings. what should i do if i fail to find a product key and have to degrade to xp?

 

I believe you get 45 days to do the first activation. If I remember correctly KMS licenses last for 6 months after that. In that period of time it must contact a KMS server to renew it's license. If it does not it will stop working. Plus KMS licenses can only be installed X number of times.

I did install Vista at one point early on through Microsoft Technet. Lenovo wasn't ready for it and my machine would get hot very quickly because of the lack of software support for the hardware. Now I downloaded Windows 7 and besides for a few quirks it runs really well. I would recommend it over Vista but you have to deal with it being a Beta OS.

 

If you don't want to spend the money on a Vista license your options are to downgrade to XP, use Linux (Ubuntu is the most user friendly) or go with a beta OS like Windows 7. Good Luck!

 

i acutally did have Windows 7 on my T60 for about 3 days and i didnt like the fact that it was a "beta". i perfer a complete OS so i just installed this Vista business but now im faced with a product key problem. =(

so do you know about how much the key would cost? ill purchase if its under 20~30 usd.

i only had 30days and it went straight to the blocked startup asking for a key & that only. so i just reinstalled it and i have 25days left again.


heres my info on the command i ran.

 

I would call lenovo to see if they can get you a deal but it will probably still be over $100. You'll also need to remove the KMS license using the slmgr tool or just reinstalling with the new purchased license.

Some people also get good discounts through their work or school. Others subscribe to Technet ($199 yearly) and get all MS software (for testing purposes only).

 

hey i just looked up the price on microsoft activation site and key for business cost $273usd....vista isnt that tempting you know. not willing to pay over 80~100.

i think ill call up lenovo on monday and check out their deal on the key.