Microsoft KB Archive/197536

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Article ID: Q197536

The information in this article applies to:
 * Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0
 * Microsoft Visual C++, 32-bit Editions, version 6.0
 * Microsoft Visual Basic Learning, Professional, and Enterprise Editions for Windows, version 6.0
 * Microsoft Visual InterDev, version 6.0
 * Microsoft Visual J++, version 6.0
 * Microsoft Visual FoxPro for Windows, version 6.0

SYMPTOMS
After completing all the required fields on the product registration page that is on the Microsoft.com Web site, including the product ID field, the registration page rejects this information with the following message:

The value entered is not a valid product ID.

CAUSE
Here are three possible reasons for the error:

 The customer is trying to register at the wrong page. -or- The customer is entering an invalid product ID (PID). -or- There is a problem with the registration page.

RESOLUTION
The following steps assist you in resolving this issue:

1. Get the PID from the customer. Finding the PID can be confusing. The Visual

Studio products listed at the beginning of this article have the PID in the Help About dialog box. The following indicates how each product's Help About dialog box identifies the PID:

Visual C++        Product ID

Visual FoxPro     Product ID

Visual Basic      Serial Number

Visual InterDev   Not identified, follows product name in a list box labeled "Installed Products"

Visual J++        Not identified, follows product name in a list box labeled "Installed Products"

If the customer installed any of the preceding tools as part of Visual Studio, the PID is the same for all products installed through Visual Studio.

Another point of confusion can be that the PID is not the same as the CD key, which typically appears on a label stuck to the CD case. The CD key is used during the installation process to generate a PID, but does not work as a PID itself. 2. Find out which registration page the customer was using. Most pages indicate a specific product and/or version. 3. Verify that the customer is attempting to register the product at the correct page as follows:

MSDN Universal Customers:

Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) Universal customers should register the copy of Visual Studio Enterprise Edition that came with their subscription at  the Visual Studio registration page:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/register/vs6.asp

Use the PID from the Help About dialog box in any of the Visual Tools installed through Visual Studio. See the Visual Studio section that follows for more details.

Visual Studio Customers:

When customers have installed a tool such as Visual Basic as part of the Visual Studio 6.0 product suite, it will have a Visual Studio PID not a  Visual Basic PID. They need to register using the Visual Studio page, not the individual product page. For example, if someone purchased Visual Studio 6.0 and installed Visual C++ 6.0, their PID will be for Visual Studio 6.0 and they need to register at the Visual Studio page located at:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/register/vs6.asp

If they installed Visual C++ 6.0 as a standalone product, they must register at the Visual C++ page. By registering using the Visual Studio page they have access to all of the on-line information, just as if they had registered each product individually.

Standalone Product Customers:

Customers who have installed a tool such as Visual Basic that was purchased as  a standalone product must register at the individual page for that product. The pages for the standalone products listed in this article are:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vbasic/register/

http://msdn.microsoft.com/visualc/register/

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vfoxpro/register/

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vinterdev/register/

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/register/vj6.asp 4. If it appears that the customer is attempting to register on the correct page, using the correct PID, and registration still fails, escalate the issue to the same queue you would use for an issue regarding the installation of  the product.

Additional query words: online Keywords         : kbsetup kbVBp kbVBp600 kbVC600 kbVFp kbVFp600 kbVisID600 kbVJ600 kbVS600 Version          : WINDOWS:6.0; winnt:6.0 Platform         : WINDOWS winnt Issue type       : kbprb
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