Will It Activate ?

In all the years I've been computing I haven't tried this 'cause I didn't
even consider that it might be possible. If it works, I'll feel a little silly
but will be tickled to death.

I've installed Vista Home Premium on the Dell 500 and put in the key on
the top of the machine. It took it and installed. I checked the box,
"Automatically Activate" but after the install I went to Control Panel
and clicked "System" (in Vista) and at the bottom it said:
"3 day(s) until automatic activation. Activate Windows now"
I didn't want to get shot down that soon so I didn't click Activate Now.
This is the third day and I'll know in about 3 to 5 hours if I still have it
on. Will it successfully activate?

I said in a discussion that I didn't think it would do that and BlueSun
(Kevin Childers) said "Why wouldn't it?". I wondered "Why would it?"
but didn't and decided to try instead of talking about it. If I understood
correctly all you have to do is install the same OS as the one that came on
it. Not a more or less expensive version. I'll see soon.

090308 8:30 AM (new time)
Still don't know, yesterday it said:
"1 day(s) until automatic activation. Activate Windows now"
This morning it says:
"(0) day(s) until automatic activation. Activate Windows now"


Thump

It failed but one of the kids (goes by merty) saved this install by telling me about
a program that backs up and restores your key and activation. The key on the
cases can and do lie! If you have a factory install you'd better get this and run
it now before your OS crashes or the hard drive dies like mine did. It seems to be
working fine now and shows up as activated in Control Panel > System. It came
on the machine you bought and belongs to you so back it up and save it now.
Download Activation Backup and Restore Here

Thump