The Vista Hive

[EQTitan]

Can abnyone tell me if there is a way to have MS send me the product kerys I previously received? I had to reformatt my computer and left the keys in my outlook express inbox and didn't backup my inbox.


Is there a way to retrieve them?

 

[allanon1965]

I am running the pre rc1 build, but am having trouble getting my HP photosmart 1215 printer to work, loads the xp drivers fine, but will not respond, any ideas? HP website had nothing...

 

[Noema]

Originally posted by: Mesix
I have (and use) beta 2 but never received an invitation for RC1


Where can I get it?

 

[Cardio]

5536 is a huge improvment over Beta 2. You can install it as an upgrade if you boot into it from Wndows or do a clean install (only) by booting from the 5536 DVD. The only Antivirus I have found that works is AVG's latest build. The CA for Beta 2 and Trend for Beta 2 will not. It will run rather well with 512MB, much better with 1GB and preforms even better with 2GB. The included drivers seem to be better than ATI's Vista Drivers which would not even run with an X1900XL. Windows drivers also best with a 7900GT on my rigs, anyway. Some irratants still there but not as bad ie....User Accounts. It has been quite stable and seems to be only about 4~5% slower than XP in most benchs. This is down from about 8~15% with Beta 2, YMMV. I must say I like it better than XP already and the final product may be a major improvement from this build, which is still bloated with debugging junk. It even found and installed working drivers for H|D audio.

I have been told it will install without entering product code, but have not tried it. The codes with Beta 2 are good for 10 installs so if you have lost yours you might be able to get one from a friend. They are not specific to any one download. (Verified)

Try it, you'll like it.

Some question how long this Build will last, but most will probably go for RC1 and later anyway.

 

[Underclocked]

Encountered a strange behavior using IE on 5536 last night. Was cruising between here and some other computer related forums (which I have in a subfolder of a folder in favorites named Computers. Anyway, the Computers folder in my favorites just quit working. Any other folder would open and show the subfolders and links within... but not the Computers folder.

Thought maybe the contents of the folder had been eliminated but when I shutdown IE and explored to the Favorites folder, all was there and intact - restarted IE and no problem using Favorites at all.

Odd one.

edit: everyone should get the free bcedit tool from http://www.vistabootpro.org/ . Might prove invaluable. I know it has been mentioned here before but I only found mention of it using forum search.

 

[MercenaryForHire]

So is this where we come to beg for keys?

If anyone has gotten sick of Vista, I'd appreciate the opportunity to try it out myself. Have the ISOs already, just no key.

- M4H

 

[ViRGE]

MS will likely do another CPP signup this month for RC1, M4H.

 

[Bozo Galora]

RC1 released today to tech net subscribers build 5600
the last pre-RC1 was 5552 which was pretty good actually
RTM's will be 5700 series
5600 avail to public next week (tues.?)
see dailytech
all the probs mentioned here so far are now meaningless, history, vapor

vista_5600.16384.060829-2230_x86fre_client-LR1CFRE_EN_DVD.iso - 2,584.25 MB

vista_5600.16384.060829-2230_x64fre_client-LR1CxFRE_EN_DVD.iso - 3,677.22 MB

 

[Spyvie]

New ForceWare 96.33 Vista RC1 drivers are out, they work for me on 5536

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: Spyvie
New ForceWare 96.33 Vista RC1 drivers are out, they work for me on 5536

Impressive, Nvidia doesn't waste any time. I hope ATI is equally as fast.

 

[Underclocked]

After encountering two issues in 5536 (reported both to MS) decided to quit playing with it at least until RC1 is downloadable. Used VistaBootPRO 2.1 Beta to remove the Vista boot loader while running in WinXP. Worked perfectly. The only apparent residual I have is each partition now has a Recycle Bin and a Recycled - both apparently identical. Looks odd but any and all of them work.

 

[ViRGE]

Originally posted by: ViRGE

Originally posted by: Spyvie
New ForceWare 96.33 Vista RC1 drivers are out, they work for me on 5536

Impressive, Nvidia doesn't waste any time. I hope ATI is equally as fast.

Humm, newer ATI drivers are included with RC1, but damn if there's actually a way to actually change any settings.

 

[Bozo Galora]

geez, there are torrents out already with both versions 32-64
what a country

 

[Shadow Conception]

Originally posted by: ViRGE

Originally posted by: ViRGE

Originally posted by: Spyvie
New ForceWare 96.33 Vista RC1 drivers are out, they work for me on 5536

Impressive, Nvidia doesn't waste any time. I hope ATI is equally as fast.

Humm, newer ATI drivers are included with RC1, but damn if there's actually a way to actually change any settings.

I installed Vista yesterday and didn't have to go to ATI's website for drivers; they came with Pre-RC1. But one of the things I found missing was the actual CCC =/

 

[ViRGE]

And hey, ATI has new drivers out for RC1. The built-in ones are somewhere between Cat 6.7 and 6.8, I'll let you know what the new ones are once I get those installed. Edit: This is build 431, so likely they're based on Cat 6.9.

Oh, and there's still no OpenGL support from ATI.

 

[NetGuySC]

This Vista is great,

 

[Bozo Galora]

Originally posted by: NetGuySC
This Vista is great,

tat seems to be the consensus
RC1 really flies

 

[demonx]

Anyone get a dell notebook using the 1350 wlan mini-pci card working? Seems to be based off a broadcom chip.
Vista picks the card up as a broadcom, and it will let you connect to the local network and browse it. It shows connected to the internet but won't actually go anywhere, it comes back with dns errors. I had the same problem on my ECS notebook until I found some drivers on Ralinks website that worked.

I have tried drivers off of dells site, and they all have the same problem with connecting to the internet, but the local network browsing, sharing, etc works fine.

 

[jmagg]

Use phone activation to activate. No key required.

 

[compwarez]

how do you use phone activate?

 

[jmagg]

Defer at the first prompt for password, you'll have the phone option later.

 

[Bozo Galora]

maybe someone here from MS can explain this to me..

MS has made PRE-RC1 beta's available for public download only twice that I know of.....
the public beta 1 that tens of millions downloaded and got a key by email, that I think lasted for 30 days. Then the 5552 beta which was first an house/technet only, then was publicy offered to first 100,000.downloaders. These lasted for 14 days with no ser entered, then nagged for activation. All other beta's in public hands were LEAKED.
According to folks on other forums, at first, if you used phone activation the phone rep would give you a working key, however this policy has now stopped AFAIK.
Supposedly, the initial beta legit (requested by user) email key works for all subsequent beta's.

So the questions are:
How long is the legit email key supposed to function? Jan 07? Indefinitely? 6 mo.?
Same question of length of viability for "phoned to MS rep" key?
Clealy, MS is blacklisting any key activated by one person and used by another, so why are they so agressively protecting a not-paid-for beta???

 

[ViRGE]

They last until the last RC expires, probably in June 07. It's not the key that determines the length, it's the built-in timebomb in the OS.

 

[stash]

the public beta 1 that tens of millions downloaded and got a key by email, that I think lasted for 30 days.

That was beta2, not beta1.

Then the 5552 beta which was first an house/technet only, then was publicy offered to first 100,000.downloaders

That was 5536, not 5552.

How long is the legit email key supposed to function? Jan 07? Indefinitely? 6 mo.?

I'm pretty sure they all expire on 5/31/2007, doesn't matter when you installed (what ViRGE said ). All keys will be reset before RTM obviously, so any key you have now will not work with RTM.

Same question of length of viability for "phoned to MS rep" key?

I would imagine so, although I have not heard of this.

Clealy, MS is blacklisting any key activated by one person and used by another

Eh? The current keys can be used on 10 different machines (I think, it might be 5), and the number of activations is unlimited. There's no way for Microsoft to know if a beta key is activated by one person and used by another.

so why are they so agressively protecting a not-paid-for beta???

I wouldn't call the ability to use one key on 10 machines agressive. However, maintaining the integrity of the beta program before builds are made available publicly is critical. There is a reason why beta testers have to sign an NDA. It is probably less critical now, but pre-beta2, leaking of builds could destroy any competitive advantage that Microsoft seeks, because previously unknown features have been made public.

 

[mb]

Vista is nice, but the support from third parties is lagging behind. I use Skype everyday to video chat across the world - and there are no drivers to make Logitech webcams with with Vista It looks like Logitech has been promising them for months (and 64bit drivers for YEARS), but has produced nada.

At least the Audigy drivers work without and problems that I can tell.