OK thanks - I looked for the backup registration keys and they are not in user/documents. They are in the main FS9 folder. But, I'm still missing the PHNL one. All the other (as I said earlier) are in there. I was wrong saying they'd be backed up in the FSDT folder.
You have some backup registry files, because older versions of the Addon Manager used to backup there. More recent version use your HOME FOLDER, which is more compliant with Vista, since it's normally not allowed to write into something that is installed into C:\Program Files, which is the default for Flight sim.
The Home folder is in C:\Users\YOURNAME
Registry backup files that has been created with a fairly recent version of the Addon Manager, are in your HOME folder. Registry keys made with older version, are in the FS root folder.
Note that, they are created AFTER a successfully activation, but you can also command their creation by using the "Backup RegKey" option on the Addon Manager.
Note that, those files don't do anything special: their absence or presence doesn't have anything to do with the activation, which is NOT dependend by those files, and is stored only in the registry. The one and only purpose of those files, is to save you to manually type your Serial Number. If you lose them all, the only thing that will happen in that case, is that you need to select "Register Serial" and type the Serial Number manuallly.
What I don't understand is why I intermittently am asked to "activate" the FSDT scenery.
As I've said, it's not normal, unless something in your hardware changes.
It always works because the keys are found, but the last incident (only with PHNL and after AES was updated to 2.6 so the gates would work - I used AES credits and a scenery data-base was built afer installing the newest AES) said I needed to manually do it becuase "my configuration" was not correst (or words to that effect).
There's no way AES would have triggered a lost activation. It must have been something else, with AES installation just being a coincidence.
I then had to go the the virtually site where the activation key was automatically entered. I then copied and pasted it to activate the scenery and had the option to email it to myself.
You mean the Esellerate website. Are you refering to the MANUAL ACTIVATION web page (
http://activate.esellerate.net ), or the normal page that is used to email a SERIAL number, if you lost your receipt (
http://store.esellerate.net/support ) ?
Because, if it was the Manual Activation page, that's an entirely different issue, and it happens only if your internet connection doesn't work during the activation.
This problem seems to happen after a re-boot or power failure which sometimes forces me into the BIOS where I have to set up all over again (why this happens I don't know) in order to get Vista running again.
This MIGHT be a problem, if resetting the BIOS option changes the hardware ID, it can trigger a reactivation request. However, it's probably seen as a minor hardware change so, it asks for a confirmation, but it doesn't consume activations, because the hardware hasn't really changed.
I also have no "registry cleaner" tools in this PC....I just don't get it.
I said that registry cleaners might be a problem, only because you haven't said from the start you had to go to the BIOS after a power failure, and then notice a reactivation request. I don't think the issue is registry cleaners, but most probably the BIOS.
If I go to Windows7, I will lose all activation rights from virtuali - is that correct?
Who said that ? You have 6 AUTOMATIC activations, in case you have any problem and exceed this number, we'll gladly reactivate it manually. Nowhere we say you lose activation rights, just by reinstalling the OS.