Hello. Bought laptop with Vista pre-activated last Sept. Used ABR to backup, then restore the activation files when I wiped factory install and used nLite for a new, custom install. Finally got around to installing the free W7 upgrade last week. Here's where it gets tricky. I imaged Vista in C:\, then restored the Vista image to D:\, so I could install W7 in C:\. (Now bear with me b/c while it seems I am going off-track, I think this might have something to do with the ultimate problem regarding the Daz loader...) So I installed W7 in C:\, but when I booted to Vista in D:\, the desktop wouldn't come up b/c it thought it was still in C:\, so it was looking in the W7 C:\ drive, instead of in its own. (A gorky version of the W7 desktop would try to come up inside Vista!) So I did a reg edit in Vista, swapping C:\ and D:\ so that when Vista loads, it thinks it is in C:\ and sees W7 as being in D:\. That fixed the problem, and Vista runs great, as does W7. Back to the problem now. So, Vista is factory pre-activated in D:\, and I use the Daz loader (nice, Daz!) on W7 in C:\. It worked great and all was well... until I tried to boot to Vista. I got the "this is not a genuine copy of Vista" and "activate now" errors. Followed the directions in the Repository guide on dual boots, where it says to run the Daz loader in Vista, after running it in W7. I ran it in every mode in Vista, but it didn't take, even though I got the message that it completed the task successfully. Upon reboot though, no joy. So I used the UNINSTALL button on the loader (inside Vista), and rebooted, and it very politely put all the factory-activated files back on Vista so that it boots fine again... but now W7 is not activated. One more thing...when I run the commands slmgr -dli etc to see activation status in Vista, I get an error, even though Vista reports it is activated in Ctl Pnl/System. I am thinking the error is because of the reg edit where I have Vista believing it's in C:? The error is: Script: C:\windows\system32\slmgr.vbs Line: 1648 Char: 9 Error: the data is invalid Code: 8007000D Source: (null) I'm wondering, if I did not have to do that reg edit in Vista swapping the drive letters, would the loader have broken Vista at all? Any suggestions on how to activate W7 with a loader and leave Vista intact? Thanks for reading!
just one thought. what brand of SLIC 2.0 did your computer come (the original vista preinstalled one)? And what brand SLIC 2.1 is Daz loader loading in memory at startup?
I can't say this about Daz's loader but I know from experience with the Hazar/Orbit30 loader 1.5 it only worked on one system not the other no matter what I did. My best advise to you if you are running win7 and vista dual boot is to just get a bios mod and activate both that way. I know for a fact that if you get a bios mod that is slic 2.1 it will activate both OSes if you insert the keys/certs.
If I understand your question, the laptop is an Acer and the [genuine activation in Vista is] SLIC Dump: ACRSYSACRPRDCT_2.0. I ran a SLIC dump in W7 (before I discovered Vista was no longer bootable and while the Daz loader was still installed) and it was an Acer SLIC 2.1, though I don't know if there is more than one 'brand' of Acer SLIC 2.1 and I didn't look closely.
I was wondering how this works! (needing a SLIC 2.0 for Vista and 2.1 for W7) It's my understanding that the SLIC vers has to match the OS, so if you have SLIC 2.1 in the BIOS because you have W7 installed, how does that square with the certs and OEM product key for Vista that look for a 2.0 string? (Phoenix Bios ACPI 2.0 from 7/2009)
is it me but why dual boot? xp is good windows 7 is better but slower and vista should not of been invented its rubbish so whats the point of dual booting?
SLIC 2.1 is Backwards Compatible with Vista. A Bios with SLIC 2.1 Info will Activate both Windows 7 and Vista. You just need to install the proper Certificate and OEM SLP Key in each OS to activate them. If you do try a Bios Mod just Make Sure that Any and All Loaders are Completely Removed from your PC Before you try to Activate.
Thanks for that tip. And yes, all loaders are uninstalled. Out of curiosity, if I let MS do this the way it wanted with my legit OS discs, but continued to have a dual boot, would the W7 upgrade mod the BIOS or insert an emulated SLIC 2.1 license? I assume the latter since I can't imagine MS wanting to deal with ruining people's BIOSs by flashing them. (As things can always go wrong, as we know.)
I bought two laptops at the same time, last Sept, being forced to buy Vista in both cases, when I only wanted one with Vista (to get the free W7 upgrade when it became available), and XP on the other. So I wiped one Vista laptop and installed XP on that machine (I lost track of how many times I bought XP [including a retail copy]). Then I started using the Vista machine so I would be familiar with W7 navigation. As it turned out I liked the Acer laptop better than the Toshiba and using a new OS was a nice change after building so many XP systems, so I ended up inadvertently building up my Vista desktop. Now I am starting over with W7 (i.e. building it), and don't want to lose everything I built into Vista until my W7 system catches up. If I have to do something that is already present in Vista, I can boot into it and use it. And btw I also have XP on my desktop. So I'm covered. But after having sworn I would never use Vista in a gazillion years, I have to say I enjoy it. And W7 even better. OTOH when I go back to my customized XP machines to do something, they also look nice, but imo there is no future in building a system around XP at this point for the long run, unless you're talking about a netbook. In time I will likely wipe Vista and install Linux or OSX to play around with.
The only way that Bios will get Flashed is if you Physically do it yourself. No Loader or other Activation Method changes anything in your BIOS. The Loaders just add SLIC info in memory tand install a Certificate and OEM SLP Key to fool Windows. I'm assuming Upgrade Disks from M$ just install a Valid Key for your PC that will require online activation.
@sb18180 And one more quick reason that dual booting is handy -- maybe the best one: If your main OS takes a dump from corruption or a nasty or some such thing, you can boot into the other OS to troubleshoot and fix it, or even to restore the backup image. Yes, I have two other computers, but it is much handier and easier to troubleshoot from the same computer, and from within Windows, though I have boot CDs for the occasion as well.
Ah. Well, since I don't trust MS, I didn't use the free upgrade W7 disc they sent, but a downloaded ISO with a good hash! So it did not require a key when I installed it, and still doesn't have one. I can use RemoveWAT for W7 and it still plays nice with the genuine activated Vista in D:\, but I would rather have a key and cert, and activation status, (especially since I am running a legit OS I purchased), as you never know when a service pack or something will start checking activation file integrity.
Zepp, my point was that since your machine is Acer, your factory preactivated vista has acer cert and key. Now since you have a loader, then if the slic 2.1 loaded into memory is something other than acer, your vista will become unactivated.
Ok, that's that I thought you meant. The SLIC 2.1 the loader installed was Acer. I tried the whole thing again today. Installed the loader in W7 first, and used the SLIC DUMP tool to check it out. Everything looked in order. No red... Acer brand SLIC and sigs OK and cert and key there. And certainly works as far as W7 is concerned. Then booted into Vista, got the "not genuine" and "activate now" errors as before, so tried the loader there again. Same problem of it just not working for Vista. Uninstalled the loader in Vista and again had the same problem upon rebooting into the Vista OS afterward, of many BSODs upon getting to the desktop. (Happened the first time too.) Said aswsp.sys was to blame, and PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA. Tried shutting down and leaving it a few minutes... finally after maybe 5-7 tries, I successfully booted back into Vista and aside from having to restore my theme and wallpaper, all was well. The factory pre-activated files were back in place, and Vista showed as activated. Someone mentioned a loader might not work in a dual boot... that a hard BIOS mod might be the only choice (aside from using RemoveWAT in W7). Has anyone successfully used the Daz loader in a dual boot system with W7 and Vista?