Vista Activation + Bootcamp 1.3 + Build 4124

[gooberdlx]

Got Build 4128... things work fine now except when I boot into Vista with Parallles (via Bootcamp partition) it asks me to Activate.

I got the latest Parallel tools installed that came with it so I figured that would take care of product activation...

But to no avail... it forces me out every time I use the VM... works fine if I just boot straight into it.

Anyone else seeing this?

[Kylew01@mac.com]

I am seeing the exact same thing with my business edition too. Any help would be appreciated.

[stuartrice]

I had the same problem. The solution was to use the phone activation system -- it takes about 4 minutes and then you'll be set. It has something to do with the way in which Vista writes Hardware IDs. I guess when you emulate, it thinks that you've installed new hardware, and Vista must be pretty sensitive about piracy...

Anyhow, you should be up and running smoothly after using the phone activation system with Vista....

[tumma]

I do have the same problem, upgraded to 3.0 eager to reuse my BootCamp partition, but I got the error message that the Windows Copy is not activated. I tried over and over again to register online, typing in the new number, but because it is the first time booting in from parallels, and having not installed yet latest version of Parallels Tools, I have no networking support... and online activation fails, locking me out of the system :(

Booting direct continue to works fine :-)

Please find out a workaround or fix this problem, it is pretty annoying!

Ciao
Tumma

[gooberdlx]

I had the same problem. The solution was to use the phone activation system -- it takes about 4 minutes and then you'll be set. It has something to do with the way in which Vista writes Hardware IDs. I guess when you emulate, it thinks that you've installed new hardware, and Vista must be pretty sensitive about piracy...

Anyhow, you should be up and running smoothly after using the phone activation system with Vista....

The problem with that is that it will ask you to activate the next time you boot straight into Vista (Correct me if I'm wrong). I'm sure they have this problem figured out somewhere... by making the VM bios act like your real bios... or something along those lines.

I think this could be a solvable solution...

[gooberdlx]

:: bump ::

I'm sure there are other people with this problem... I don't really want to call in and activate Vista over the phone... because don't you get a limited number of activations per license?

[gholland04]

I've also downloaded v3.0 4128, however when I try to boot into BootCamp/Vista I receive an immediate error.

Windows failed to start. A recent Hardware or Software change might be the cause.

status: 0xc0000225

Windows failed to load because firmware (bios) not ACPI compatable.

Anynoe had this issue? If so did you resolve it?

Thanks,

[Inferior Minion]

The problem with that is that it will ask you to activate the next time you boot straight into Vista (Correct me if I'm wrong). I'm sure they have this problem figured out somewhere... by making the VM bios act like your real bios... or something along those lines.

I think this could be a solvable solution...

I'm actually very curious about that. As seen here (http://forum.parallels.com/thread12692.html), my current workaround is to load Vista via BootCamp then load up Parallels and not reboot once the new ACPI drivers are loaded. The only reason I haven't called and reactivated is because during a BootCamp reload, Vista re-activates and I'm afraid to see that fail. Being able to load into BootCamp and use the full potential of Vista is currently more important to me than loading Vista via Parallels in Mac OS X. Anyone that has called and re-activated via Parallels over the phone, have you tried loading into BootCamp after the reactivation to ensure it does ask you to activate yet again?

I would much prefer a fix in which I did not have to re-activate, though.

[davosian]

Instead of going through a full activation again, you could extend Vista's trial period in Parallels up to 120 days. This should be plenty of time for Parallels to come up with a fix.

I did exactly this and can now use the fully activated Vista version in Boot Camp as well as Vista in Parallels as a fully functional "trial" version (almost fully functional - it is not recognized as a genuine version meaning you cannot get to a few free Microsoft downloads, but this is what you have Boot Camp for if you really need this).

You can find the instructions on how to extend your trial version here:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/extend-windows-vista-trial-to-120-days/


I think this is an acceptable short term solution that does not break anything.

D.

[Zenara25]

That's what I'm doing currently (the 120 days). Although I didn't know you could do this after already activating. Good news for Inferior Minion.

[gooberdlx]

This problem is really bugging me and my support ticket has been out there for a couple of days... :: sigh ::

[AndersBostrom]

I installed Vista Business on Boot Camp 1.3 and the the latest Parallels build and the I booted into Boot Camp and activated (via phone as the HTTP interface never succeded), then I booted into OS X and started Parallels where I could see it was inactive. Used phone activation again, but got message that install code was invalid, so was connected to manual support. told them that my hardware had changed and they connected me to the auto activate system and I got VM activated.

Booting back and forth shows both way of using same system is activated.

Only issue I have is that every time I go between Boot Camp and VM (either direction) I get a "New drivers installed for ACPI - need to reboot", so a reboot is needed.

[Zenara25]

That's the same issue I have as well as stated in this thread.
http://forums.parallels.com/showthread.php?t=12692&highlight=acpi

[Archy]

Hello everybody!

If you have troubles with inactive Vista running from Boot Camp partition please answer my questions:
1. Was your Vista activated in native Boot Camp before installing Parallels Desktop?
2. Are your Vista still activated in native Boot Camp after installing Parallels Desktop and several reboots to Boot Camp then in Parallels?
3. Have you activated Vista in VM?
4. Are your Vista activated in Parallels after that?
5. In native Boot Camp?

Thank you for your answers.

I've also downloaded v3.0 4128, however when I try to boot into BootCamp/Vista I receive an immediate error.

Windows failed to start. A recent Hardware or Software change might be the cause.

status: 0xc0000225

Windows failed to load because firmware (bios) not ACPI compatable.

Anynoe had this issue? If so did you resolve it?

Thanks,

Please try this way:
1. Create new VM
2. Choose "Custom" installation.
3. Choose Guest OS type "Windows Vista".
4. Choose prefered ammount of RAM.
5. Choose "Use Boot Camp" as virtual HDD.

[gooberdlx]

1. Was your Vista activated in native Boot Camp before installing Parallels Desktop?

Yes

2. Are your Vista still activated in native Boot Camp after installing Parallels Desktop and several reboots to Boot Camp then in Parallels?

Yes

3. Have you activated Vista in VM?

Nope

4. Are your Vista activated in Parallels after that?

N/A

5. In native Boot Camp?

N/A

My Vista is activated in Boot Camp and not in Parallels... when I boot into Vista with Parallels I get the activation warning... That's the easy breakdown of it!

[Inferior Minion]

Hello everybody!

If you have troubles with inactive Vista running from Boot Camp partition please answer my questions:
1. Was your Vista activated in native Boot Camp before installing Parallels Desktop?
2. Are your Vista still activated in native Boot Camp after installing Parallels Desktop and several reboots to Boot Camp then in Parallels?
3. Have you activated Vista in VM?
4. Are your Vista activated in Parallels after that?
5. In native Boot Camp?

Thank you for your answers.



Please try this way:
1. Create new VM
2. Choose "Custom" installation.
3. Choose Guest OS type "Windows Vista".
4. Choose prefered ammount of RAM.
5. Choose "Use Boot Camp" as virtual HDD.

1. Was your Vista activated in native Boot Camp before installing Parallels Desktop?
- Yes

2. Are your Vista still activated in native Boot Camp after installing Parallels Desktop and several reboots to Boot Camp then in Parallels?
- Yes. Every time I reload Boot Camp after running Parallels, Windows tells me it has successfully activated itself, meaning it thought it was deactivated, and it reactivates. Once the reactivation is done, it loads the x86 ACPI drivers and asks me to reboot - highly annoying. This actually makes me want to try booting up without any internet connection to see what happens to the reauthentication process. I'll give that a try tonight and report how it goes.

3. Have you activated Vista in VM?
- No. I have tried to activate, but I am told that activation key is already in use. I am afraid to reactivate via telephone and, in the process, make loading up in BootCamp deactivate and lock. Running my Vista Bootcamp in Parallels is merely convenience, loading it up in BootCamp directly is necessity.

4. Are your Vista activated in Parallels after that?
- N/A

5. In native Boot Camp?
- N/A - This is the question I am still waiting for someone to confirm.

I have tried creating a new VM and still run into the same issues.

[rayarub]

1. Was your Vista activated in native Boot Camp before installing Parallels Desktop?

Yes.

2. Are your Vista still activated in native Boot Camp after installing Parallels Desktop and several reboots to Boot Camp then in Parallels?

Yes... as above, Vista will reactivate itself after it is booted back up through Boot Camp.

3. Have you activated Vista in VM?

Yes, through the telephone.

4. Are your Vista activated in Parallels after that?

Yes.

5. In native Boot Camp?

No, now the situation is exactly the opposite; it will run fine from VM, but not in boot camp.

[dinodeano89]

Although I didn't have an issue with my activation of my parallels, I have had an issue with activating my windows XP Professional, and I don't see my self having that issue on my family pc, so I am led to believe I am receiving this error/issue because its coming through parallels, maybe?

But the issue is as follows:
I have successfully installed parallels and through this i installed my copy of Windows XP Pro, but during the installation process i was asked to activate my XP Pro, i did this by ringing the activation hot line provided through windows > I received the activation number > I successfully entered the activation number, and I received a message saying I successfully activated my Windows, thanks, but as soon as i continue (after the activation step) the screen image comes up with the Windows "Logging Off" then the usual "saving your settings" once it has done this, the message titled "Windows Product Activation" pops up saying "This copy of Windows must be activated with Microsoft before you can log on. Do you want to activate Windows now?" > i click "Yes"

and then as soon as it comes into the "Windows Product Activation" screen, there is a message saying "Windows is already activated. Click OK to exit." > i click "OK"

and then it repeats this process of "logging off... saving settings" then the message "Windows Product Activation... this copy of windows must be activated... do you want to activate windows now.." the same message as before. I am stuck in this process and i have no other options that i am aware of to continue and successfully get into my Windows desktop. I activated my Windows the correct way, over the telephone, after the internet activation didn't work.

If anyone is able to help me past this activation error, that would be greatly appreciated. Kind Regards,

Dean

[islagrancan]

1. Was your Vista activated in native Boot Camp before installing Parallels Desktop?

Yes.

2. Are your Vista still activated in native Boot Camp after installing Parallels Desktop and several reboots to Boot Camp then in Parallels?

Yes... as above, Vista will reactivate itself after it is booted back up through Boot Camp.

3. Have you activated Vista in VM?

No, I am scared to use up all my activations.

4. Are your Vista activated in Parallels after that?

N/A

5. In native Boot Camp?

Yes, but not in Parallels. Makes me activate immediately in Parallels, but if I boot back to Bootcamp it reinstalls the ACPI drivers that work with its prior activation and its happy again.

[mr_daemon]

Same thing here.

Didn't want to activate in parallels...

Rebooting in bootcamp says Vista is activated...

Is thing going to be fixed at some point?

[islagrancan]

I guess we are all Mac people and so don't know much about windows, but the activation seems to be driven by the fact that Vista sees new ACPI hardware - I wonder if Parallels could spoof the virtual hardware to look like the physical hardware and therefore take care of this issue? Or is there some way that we could stop Windows trying to install new drivers for ACPI, and that would be enough to stop the activation?
Windows Vista seems to boot fine on the old ACPI driver even though it wants to install a new one . . .

[Archy]

OK. Thank you for answers.

Right behavior:
If your Vista is activated in native Boot Camp after running it in Parallels, installing Tools and several reboots it must stay activated in native Boot Camp.
Vista asks for activation in Parallels - it is normal.
After activating in native Boot Camp and in Parallels Vista won't bother you again.

[Archy]

Regarding ACPI reinstalling - it will be fixed in next free update.

[islagrancan]

Thanks for the feedback Archy, I will try activating in Parallels as well and will post back if there are problems. Glad to hear that the ACPI issue is being looked at!

[Voodoobobx]

I installed Vista Business using Boot Camp 1.3.
Installed Parallels 3.0 4128 Trial and Booted Vista into it. (will buy full activation before my trial runs out)
I activated my Vista installation within Parallels (maybe stupidly).:confused:
Now I am unable to activate in Boot Camp. Is there anything I can do to make this work?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[twoods]

I can not comment on Vista but I would sure like to know if the below holds true as it does for XP since I will be upgrading very soon.

With windows XP, at startup one thing it checks to see is if the primary MAC address used at activation has changed. If it has then it will report that there's been significant hardware changes and ask you to reactivate.

By default the Parallels VM assigns a virtual MAC address to the "realtek" driver interface which differs from the system's real hardware MAC address for "en0" (built-in ethernet) interface. The "en0" MAC address is used when you start boot camp in native hardware mode. So each time you switch between the two operating modes (VM boot camp or native boot camp) windows detects a different MAC address and thus the request to reactive which then gets recorded as the new MAC tied to the license.

To overcome this (at least in XP) you simply change the "realtek" virtual MAC address to match the true hardware "en0" MAC address. So now regardless of which mode you boot in the MAC address remains the same and windows XP is happy. As an additional note I use the "shared network" setting in Parallels and this has not adversely affected any of my applications, VPN operations, wireless access, or Evdo access.

Procedure:
------------------
1st determine your "en0" mac address. Two ways to do this.

1) In OS X open a console window and type "ifconfig en0" you will see something in the output that looks like; ether 00:16:cb:c9:da:53 (my example)

or...

2) In OS X you can open your "System Preferences" and select the "Network" icon. From there in the "show" drop down window select "Built-in Ethernet", click the "Ethernet" menu tab and you should see something like; Ethernet ID: 00:16:cb:c9:da:53

- Armed with this info fire-up Parallels and after selecting your VM image (do not start it) go to the top Parallels menu bar and under "Edit" select "Virtual Machine".

- You should now be looking at the "Configuation Editor" for your VM.

- Select "Network Adapter 1" and then click on the "Advanced" tab top right.

- In the "MAC address" field replace the virtual mac address of the Realtek 8029(AS) with the real hardware mac address of your en0. i.e. 0016cbc9da53 omitting the colons.

This does the trick for XP but not sure for Vista.

ALSO...

Memory thresholds may trigger a reactivation request. See the excerpt below found on VMware's forum which would hold true to Parallels too... (I give XP 1024mb)

Known Issues (from VMware site)
Product Activation
The Microsoft Windows XP product activation feature creates a numerical key based on the virtual hardware in the virtual machine where it is installed. Changes in the configuration of the virtual machine might require you to reactivate the operating system. There are some steps you can take to minimize the number of significant changes.

Set the final memory size for your virtual machine before you activate Windows XP. When you cross certain thresholds—approximately 32MB, 64MB, 128MB, 256MB, 512MB and 1GB—the product activation feature sees the changes as significant.

Note The size reported to the Windows product activation feature is slightly less than the actual amount configured for the virtual machine. For example, 128MB is interpreted as falling in the 64MB–127MB range.

Install VMware Tools before you activate Windows XP. When the SVGA driver in the VMware Tools package is installed, it activates features in the virtual graphics adapter that make it appear to Windows XP as a new graphics adapter.


Regards,

Tim
--

[rogerimp]

1. Was your Vista activated in native Boot Camp before installing Parallels Desktop?

Yes

2. Are your Vista still activated in native Boot Camp after installing Parallels Desktop and several reboots to Boot Camp then in Parallels?

??? My copy of Vista always boots without an activation warning when I'm in boot camp. When running Parallels Desktop, it always complains of an invalid activation.

3. Have you activated Vista in VM?

No.

4. Are your Vista activated in Parallels after that?

N/A (answer to #3 is no)

5. In native Boot Camp?

N/A (answer to #3 is no)

[rogerimp]

After activating in native Boot Camp and in Parallels Vista won't bother you again.

Has anyone verified this to be true? I'm still squeamish about activating a second time. I don't want to destroy my expensive new OS.

[NyQuilKid]

I tried that and it did not work - I booted into BootCamp, re-activated and then when into MacOSX Parallels and opened my BC Vista install - I tried to re-activate there but it stated teh key was already in use.

This latest build effectively make my Parallels Vista BC useless - VMWare Fusion Beta still works however. If I call up MSFT to get another key, does anyone know if that will screw up my BootCamp install, which is activated and working?

My Specs:
Host OS: MacOSX 10.4.10
Guest OS: Vista Ultimate OEM installed on BootCamp partition
Parallels 3.0 build 4128

[8F] The NyQuil Kid

[boygenius]

If you have troubles with inactive Vista running from Boot Camp partition please answer my questions:
1. Was your Vista activated in native Boot Camp before installing Parallels Desktop?
YES


2. Are your Vista still activated in native Boot Camp after installing Parallels Desktop and several reboots to Boot Camp then in Parallels?
YES

3. Have you activated Vista in VM?
NO

4. Are your Vista activated in Parallels after that?
(SEE #3)

5. In native Boot Camp?
(SEE #3)

Thank you for your answers.

[moose88]

:: bump ::

I'm sure there are other people with this problem... I don't really want to call in and activate Vista over the phone... because don't you get a limited number of activations per license?
The nice people at microsoft ;) use automated activation via phone now.
after you give them your install id. They will ask some questions (also automated)
the questions are as follows:
1) is the the first time you have installed windows on this computer? Say yes
2) is this the only computer with this copy of windows installed on it? say yes
3) has your computer had any changes or repairs to it recently? say yes
4) have you changed the processor or other hardware on the motherboard say yes
5) have you replaced your motherboard? say NO


anyway my install of windows xp kept crashing in parallels and since i had to install about mmm 8 times till it worked I got to talk to the nice automated voice lady alot:rolleyes:

EDIT: yea i said xp. Im pretty sure they do vista this way too. Correct me if im wrong.

[rogerimp]

Well, activating again within Parallels just isn't working. MS thinks this activation is in use. This is the second time I bought the full version of Parallels and I still can't use it with my boot camp vista system. Sucks.

[Ynot]

rogerimp, Parallels can't hack your activation! :)

So you should have at least one activation available for guest Windows. If you activated your Vista before some times (5 as far as i remember) and all your activation tries are used, you can't activate Vista in Parallels and Parallels can't do anything with this issue.

[rogerimp]

I only activated my newly purchased copy of Vista once. In boot camp. It continues to be valid in boot camp.

Anytime I boot the boot camp partition in parallels, Windows tells me my activation is invalid. Also when I try to activate it from within parallels, Microsoft tells me my activation is in use and they can't activate it.

Again, I have only activated successfully once.

I purchased Parallels 2.0 because it said it worked with vista and it worked with boot camp. Only after purchasing did I realize it doesn't work with Vista + Boot Camp. I bought Parallels 3.0 because it said it worked with Vista on Boot Camp. I've bought the software twice and have gotten it to work zero times. I'm not very happy with my experience thus far.

[premierm]

I have the same issue as rogerimp.

I have been reading this thread for a while, and was hoping that with this new release the problem would have been solved, but alas, it has not.

My Vista program still asks me for proper validation from my boot camp partition even though I can log into it directly no problem. But the whole reason for purchasing Paralles was to access the program simultaneously with my Mac operating system. This however has not been posible.

Please come up with a fix soon,

anxiously awaiting...

[jetownsend@mac.com]

I have the same issue as rogerimp.

And I have the same issue they do. Vista thinks it's running on a different machine when it's running under Parallels virtualization than it was when it was booted and previously activated with Boot Camp, and asks to be re-activated with a new product key. What do we do?

[nickel4242]

I also have the same issue:

http://forum.parallels.com/thread14634.html

[timlaw]

I've also downloaded v3.0 4128, however when I try to boot into BootCamp/Vista I receive an immediate error.

Windows failed to start. A recent Hardware or Software change might be the cause.

status: 0xc0000225

Windows failed to load because firmware (bios) not ACPI compatable.

Anynoe had this issue? If so did you resolve it?

Thanks,



I had this problem. I noticed that Parallels had selected Windows XP as the operating system type for my bootcamp partition. I changed it to Vista and then everything worked fine after that.

[cope23@msn.com]

1) I have a 100% Genuine copy of Windows Vista Ultimate. This is a BootCamp Install and has been running in Parallel 3.0 for about 3-4 months -- no issues.

2) Yesterday -- It would not let me log in. Code:0xC004E002. "The Software License Service Reported that the license store contains inconsistent data"

3) When I log in via BootCamp (native into Vista -- same UID) it initally says -- not genuine software. Then is corrects itself, says it is genuine.

4) log out, log back in -- no issues in BootCamp. I repeated this with both my named user and the Admin user

5) Go back to OSX, start parallels, same issue -- wont log in, "not genuine"

6) Go back to bootcamp same as Step #3 (initally not genuine, then genuine)

I have deleted my parallels BC; and reinstalled. Same issue (except that I get to login once and not be able to use anything as it says I am not valid...)

[bulletproof]

My post here (http://forum.parallels.com/showthread.php?t=16044) will resolve the BSOD issues (...the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM and Stop Error 0x0000007b) that arise from installing Parallels 3 and using it with Boot Camp, but will not resolve the activation issue.

The reason reactivation is an issue is because of the significant hardware changed detected by Windows when switching from Boot Camp to Parallels, or vice versa. When using Boot Camp, Windows has complete access to all hardware in your Mac. When using Parallels, Windows has a different Hard Disk Controller, Video Card, and Processor core count. Which ever configuration you have Windows activated under will cause the other to be invalid.

Parallels will need to come up with a way to allow Windows to run without "Significant Hardware Changes" or a way to duplicate and change the files that Windows uses for activation, so that the installation under Parallels shows that it is active, without affecting the Windows installation under Boot Camp...