Windows suddenly reports "This copy of Windows is not genuine"

Recently, my Acer Aspire 5050 that came with a copy of Vista, went through a series of Automatic Upgrades. Now, in the bottom of the desktop, I get "This copy of Windows is not genuine". Apparently, because of this, I cannot open "Properties" on Computer, or open the Control Panel, etc. This makes gathering information (like the Service Pack) difficult at best.

I've gone through several steps to prove/disprove that this is correct. I've verified the product key by following the instructions on MyDigitalLife.info. I did the steps with slmgr.vbs -ipk AND slmgr.vbs -ato. This told me that my product was successfully activated. To me, this would imply that this is a Genuine product.

I've also called the US Activation number, which gave me a response, which was successful. Never on the phone was I given any information suggesting that the Activation code generated was invalid (I have been given the suggestion on an improper install of XP).

However, when I downloaded MGADiag, it tells me that I have an Invalid License. The product key it lists matches what I show on the bottom of the machine. The install media was requested directly from Acer, since they didn't provide any disks initially.

Looking at the disk they sent, however, it looks like what they sent me was a Windows Anytime Upgrade disk.

Is this the correct disk? If not, will I need to reinstall to fix the problem? If so, does anyone know where I can get an OEM 32bit Vista ISO?

Answer

Acer will not be able to help you with fixing a failed WGA check, you'll have to to contact Microsoft to rectify the problem (they're the guys with the finger on the killswitch after all), the problem is quite common and MS representatives are rather helpful when dealing with the matter.

you can always install the OS from scratch, even with a Windows Anytime Upgrade disk.

here is a tutorial How to Do a Clean Install with a Upgrade Version of Vista

once you have your Vista installation properly activated again, i recommend to backup your Vista activation files:

How to backup your OEM Vista activation