No longer need to activate Vista Beta!

first enable the "Run" button in the start menu in the "Taskbar Properties"



here's a work around to Activate Vista Build 5219, 5231, 5270, 5308, (or earlier) and later maybe...



Start > Run > msconfig > Permit Folder "Services"



uncheck the "Software Licensing Service"

uncheck the "SL UI Notification Service"



Apply Close Restart Your machine will then tell you, this machine is unlicensed!



Enjoy!

 

You can also right click the My Computer Icon /choose manage and scroll to services and set these items to disabled. Or type services.msc in the run box, or any address bar for that matter.

but has anyone tried this and how does Vista function after doing so?

 

I've tried this, and Vista still runs - but windows explorer takes ages to display anything afterwards.



I then turned it all back on, and Vista works perfect again.

 

Interesting twist here. Being a TechNet subscriber I thought I might try my 5231 key in 5308 and magic happened! It activated Vista and marked it Licensed Genuine. So if you have a legit old beta Key try it. You may get a pleasent suprise.

Maybe they issue a key to each subscriber to work with each Beta release until it is gold.

 

Ya they use the same key for all CTP beta builds. It is though that they do it in order to prevent it being hacked before the release of vista.