24-hours Vista Activation Rush: Suggestions welcome [ReArm, Developer Act., WoW..] Hello everyone, So, I am currently on a modded Vista Ultimate 32bit SP1 (Vista Extreme Edition R2) and I was planning to test it for 120 days with the ReArm trick, thus gaining some time to backup and reorganize my stuff for a future, big format. Unfortunately the ReArm worked only one time. Don't know why. All updates installed except the (in)famous KB940510. Anyone got an idea? The OS expires in 24 hours, so I plan to use an activation method. My mobo is an ASUS A8N32-SLI Deluxe, and I see the modded Bios is present here. Flashing the BIOS could be perfect, but I can't risk to brick the mobo in any way. Need the PC operative and the data intact. So I was thinking to use a soft crack. I see the Developer Activation 2.0 or the WoW should not mess with the MBR; the Developer seems more likely to work from what I have read around.. So at the moment I am going to try: Developer > WoW > Bios Flash. Then I'll consider Vista Loader 3.0.0.1. Still reading though. And I have to backup important stuff and check recovery floppies, Cds, USBs before starting. Vista is currently installed on an eSATA drive linked to the Silicon Image 3132 controller of the motherboard, drive letter C (but the second primary partition on this drive), then I have a 3-drives Raid 0 on the Nvidia controller, with a bunch of partitions, which I think I'll disconnect during the whole process to avoid mess. I also would rather remain able to install and dual boot other OSs. So if you have good suggestions, I am all ears!
The bios mods here wont brick an ASUS unless you use their updater for some odd reason. If you use the steps lined out you should be safe, I have modded my Maximus Formula, and converted it to a Rampage Formula, then used the modded bios here to add the SLIC. I have flashed it several times back and forth and haven't bricked it yet. The Bios emulation is where MS seems to get everyone. I used to use one before I found MDL, now I don't need to. It's a slight risk, but ASUS seems pretty good for flashing the bios with.
Ok! Everything went fine. No matter how hard I try not to, but I always end up choosing the risky way. So, having prepared a set of recovery floppies, I flashed the Bios, even upgrading directly from version 1303 to 1405 Slic. Then installed the OEM certificate, all right. When adding the product key with -ipk, however, I got a strange error; it said it could be visualized with: slui.exe 0x2a 0xC004F050 Anyway running slui.exe gave me the product key window, and entering it there, proceeded fine. Now I realize I forgot Kaspersky Internet Security active. Could have been that, or the fact that I am using the modded Vista Extreme Edition R2. Anyway, it works perfectly. Great forum!