Vista Product Key Expired.

[Modified!]

Hello,

My Windows Vista Home Premium product key recently expired. I'm running Vista through my Macbook's Bootcamp Partition, and here is my question. Can I re-install Vista without losing all of my data? I can't seem find a valid product key, so I want to re-install Vista but I don't want to lose all of my data. Any ideas?

 

[PinkyMacGodess]

Hello,

My Windows Vista Home Premium product key recently expired. I'm running Vista through my Macbook's Bootcamp Partition, and here is my question. Can I re-install Vista without losing all of my data? I can't seem find a valid product key, so I want to re-install Vista but I don't want to lose all of my data. Any ideas?

Buy a copy of Vista or Windows 7...

You *can* re-install Vista but not in the same VM and yes you will lose everything. You could back up the Vista information and do a restore but it might invalidate the EULA key again.

Windows 7 isn't that bad. For a primitive operating system...

 

[StruckANerve]

They expire? I just recently used a 4 year old XP product key to install Windows on my iMac.

 

[tofagerl]

They never expire if you BUY them, no...

 

[MacFanJeff]

They never expire if you BUY them, no...

Agreed. There is NO expiration date on any LEGIT copy/key of software. It can be old and no longer supported but it will ALWAYS install. Sounds fishy to me.

 

[Modified!]

It's not from a burned disk, I used a re-installation CD that came with my PC, but the product key won't work. Ugh! I guess that leads me to one choice: Install Vista again and try to backup everything. Bleh...