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ABR is not meant to work with Retail versions, so you are seeing the expected behavior. As you have found, Trueimage is a good method to backup as whole Vista install without dealing with activation.

Thanks glentium. Also, there have been newer versions of ABR released since what is in the OP. Anyone who follows that link will get a file that contains nothing but a message that the link is out of date.

No, it only works with OEM editions that are pre-installed by the OEM. If you have a retail version, you should be able to activate online without having to make the phone call.

Glad to hear that it's working for you. I think you've put together something really cool.

I would guess that if you don't have network access at that point, then none of the proposed methods above would work, including if there was a way to tell activation_restore where to look for the files?

That's a good idea and i'll add it to the todo list, though I probably won't be able to add it soon. A good way to workaround this in your batch file could be: set OLDDIR=%CD% cd //server/activation/labpc01 activation_restore.exe --silent cd "%OLDDIR%" I'm not sure if you can 'cd' into a network path though. Otherwise you could make a temp dir and then copy the files into it.

You can back up each system by hand, then use the --silent option when doing the restore int the script. It's mentioned in the README. You'll need to make sure the correct license files are in the directory before restoring. This thread links to an out of date version of ABR. Get the the most recent version my (official) site: http://directedge.us/content/abr-activatio...kup-and-restore

I don't know of a reason it would not work, but I don't have any experience with versions other than the standard US/English version. You can run the backup, then check the 2 created files. If they have something in them, then it worked.

Not currently. I have an idea about it, but no time to implement ATM.

Office goes back to the CD because it has to get the original dll files and such when applying the patch. It doesn't check codes. There is nothing on the CD specific to your key code, because there's no way they could mass produce each CD with a different code on it.

Wow, I'm always amazed at the skill on this site . I removed Daemon Tools, rebooted, and everything worked fine. Then, as a control, I installed daemon tools again. Right after it installed SPTD, vssadmin started giving me trouble again. At least I know who to blame now. Thanks a lot cluberti

When I try to check the shadow storage usage on my system using "vssadmin list shadowstorage", I get an error returned: Error: The shadow copy provider had an unexpected error while trying to process the specified command. and in the event viewer I'm seeing the message: Volume Shadow Copy Service error: Error calling a routine on a Shadow Copy Provider {b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5}. Routine details IVssSnapshotProvider::QueryVolumesSupportedForSnapshots(ProviderId,-1,...) [hr = 0x8000ffff]. Operation: Query volumes supported by this provider Context: Provider ID: {b5946137-7b9f-4925-af80-51abd60b20d5} Snapshot Context: -1 Does anyone have an idea of what this means? Any way to fix it? I'm using Vista Ultimate 64 bit.

I guess your idea about what is simple differs from mine. To me, "1) unpack new laptop from the box, 2) boot for the first time to the pre-installed OS image, 3) run backup utility, 4) install fresh copy of vista, 5) run restore utility", is about as simple as you can get. You don't need to have any knowledge at all about unattended installs or how to use the "secret" $$ folders. IMO, as soon as you start getting into "put this in the $OEM$ folder, do that with the tokens.dat file, make xml file, mounting WIM images, etc..." you have gone beyond what typical users, and even many "tinkerers", are willing to do. Even burning your own Vista DVD that is bootable, while not exactly challenging, is another big step that many people will not be comfortable with. It's not the steps that are hard, it's finding the knowledge and navigating Microsoft's mazes to figure out *which* steps you need to perform, many of which are far from obvious. At that point, you might as well be using vLite anyway.

maxXPsoft: I see your point, but I think my scenario is different than yours, and is very common for a lot of people. I am coming from the perspective of a laptop that comes pre-installed with an image from the manufacturer. Many manufacturers do not include a specialized Vista reinstall disc, only a restore disc that includes all the junk software. There is no way to separate the two. In that case, if you want to do a clean install, you can use the backup and restore tools to extract the product key and activation certificate, then use those after doing a reinstall using the Anytime Upgrade DVD, which is a pure Vista install disk -- it has no drivers or activation specific to the OEM. I suppose you would characterize this method as doing an install using your OEM credentials on a retail version of the Vista disc. For myself and many buyers, this is the only option you have. My specific target for these tools are people who just barely know how to do a reinstall. Anyone who is capable, willing, or has the time (that's a big one) to create their own custom disc will probably find their own way to do it. I also wanted to avoid the step of "search google to find the certificate files", because to many people, that sounds scummy and like piracy. The idea that you can just back it up off your own computer is much more above-board.

Most people will not be burning their own custom versions of DVDs, and this works with unmodified Vista discs. This utility/process is aimed at a more general audience who is able to reinstall a system, but has not gotten into making custom discs and automated installs. That's a big difference in who's going to use it. Obtaining the xrm-ms files means finding them on a torrent or p2p somewhere, which is more or less piracy. This utility extracts the necessary information from a running, legitimate system, then allows you to restore it later. There is no need to locate xrm-ms files from a pirate web site, or wherever else you might try to get them. That approach also makes many more people likely to be comfortable with it. If it does not suit you, that's fine, but the utility of the process is certainly valuable to many people. I find it interesting that you characterize the process of mounting WIM images, creating directories, editing xml, reburning discs, and hoping it all worked correctly as a simple process, but then refer to the steps of: "run the backup tool" and "run the restore tool" as "all that" hassle. The rest of the steps listed are just the normal install process. PS. It's 2MB because it's written in Perl. I've thought of making it smaller, but is 2MB really *that* big, especially when the WIM tools are over 1GB?

I'm on my home network, using a typical Linksys router. When I'm at my desk I plug in the network cable, so I get better speeds. When I'm away from the desk, I use the wireless. What I would really like (and I think the macs do this), is to be able to unplug the network cable and have the system automatically switch over to using wireless, keeping all the connections alive (staying on the same IP address). I'm sure it could be done by doing some IP address/MAC address magic, and I'm wondering if anyone knows how to do it, or if there's a way to set this up? Thanks Using Vista Ultimate 64bit

For the legality, this is not a crack. What the program does is allow you to back up the activation certificate, then after you reinstall, it allows you to restore it. That's it.

I have other reports saying that this DOES work with the Business edition. However, ABR is only designed to work with OEM preinstalled version of Vista. If you are using another type of Vista, like a retail disc, it won't work. I don't have access to the other types of Vista to be able to develop for them.

I am the original author of the guide and "Activation Backup and Restore" which I call ABR. You can follow the whole thread and read the guide that I keep up to date here at notebook review.com. The screen shots were added by Dave at Dave's Computer Tips, but that guide is a little out of date now. I have also updated ABR since he made a copy of it on his site.

Here's the solution to the vista 64 bit issue. The registry is being virtualized, so you can't get at the key from your program, because it's a 32bit program. You need to tell RegOpenEx that you don't want the virtualization. I have now got it working in my program. You can find more information here: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa384129.aspx And do a search for registry virtualization to get the rest of the context.

Yeah, you can export it using regedit, and even the command line 'reg' command, but as of right now I can't figure out how to get my scripts to access it. The decoding procedure works fine, it's just getting the code out of the registry that's the problem.

I believe I have figured out part of the problem on Vista. It has to do with registry virtualization. So far, I haven't had any luck getting around it, but I'm using Perl. I bet if you're using C++ or something like that, there will be a better supported way around it. Right now, I can see the key and confirm that it will decode when I export it using the "reg" command. This is the "DigitalProductId" field. The ID4 has nothing to do with it. I hope this helps, and if anyone gets around it, please let us know!

OK, gave the manual decode a try, and no go. It does return something, but it's not the correct key. The ID4 field contains a lot more data than the regular ID field.

I can confirm that the typical method of decoding the key does not work on SOME version of Vista. It does work on 32 bit Home Premium and Business. It does not work on Ultimate 64 bit. There is another key, DigitalProductID4, under the same registry branch, that might contain the information. However, a search for that only turns up this thread and 1 or 2 others.

Can anyone post some MD5s of the Vista discs (iso images) (32bit, 64bit)? Please only if you got it directly from the disc. Thanks!