I have exactly the same problem. My serial number is 17 digits which I downloaded from roxio's website. The roxio vista update installs then when you go to use a program it needs to 'activate'. This fails with the error 'Invalid Product Key'. In the knowledge base it instructs you to go through the manual activation method which unfortuately needs a 25 digit key. DUH.
Support told me to clean install using the procedure given.
HALF A DAY OF WASTING MY TIME LATER, it still wants a 25digit number. The patch is f'd which is clear but clearly the roxio team seem to believe that 17 and 25 are a match. The software is buggy and a disgrace to the programming staff, the QA department that released it and to the support team who clearly cannot get their heads around the fact that the software is broken.

I guess I spent my money and got screwed. Lets blame vista for roxio's problems.
That'll sort it.

Did you actually READ the pinned post at the start here??????

http://forums.support.roxio.com/index.php?showtopic=12074

The manual activation key that you get from the instructions is 25 digits

The CD key is 17 digits

CD Keys and Activation codes are NOT the same thing

I tried the manual activation but the problem is

5) In the Offline Product Activation window, copy the product 25 Digit product key listed in orange. Do not close this window.

this step. There is no 25 digit product key in orange to copy!!!

Support has told me to yet again clean install and activate without the 'so called patch'. So the patch is clearly faulty by their own admission.

Below is supports response.

[Are you just activating Easy Media Creator 9 without the update ? If not then please do so. If the Clean Install was carried out correctly there will be no update installed and no need to enter a 25 digit key. Just the 17 digit CD Key as before.]

How can it be 2008 and software installs and patches be this poorly done. If this was mission critical software for business, it would be thrown out !!!

There are people here who have done that 5 or 6 times before they got it to work.

I agree that it's a real pain - but the problem is that EMC9 is the ONLY program that needed it. The relevant codec was third party and they insisted on the 'activation' - it's just the one part of the program that needs it (in the video side)

If you search the board here for 'activation' you'll see where that has happened a lot of times (the activation was dropped in 10)

gmayes did you get this to work? I am in a real jam. I am at the tail end of a project for my son's first grade class and all of a sudden the software won't work. First it gave me the message about the codec activation MPEG 2, then it says "trial period has ended" and I own the full version of the software.

Two days of live chats later and a major ulcer I still can't get a clean re-install or good activation code.

Any suggestions?

I hate to pay for the tech support when it seems to be clearly a software issue as opposed to "operator error".

Thanks!

Your problem with the 'trial version' has been well covered in the forum - do a search for 'trial version' and you will find what caused it (over-enthusiastic registry cleaners) and also the solution

Can't get it through their thick heads, that we are not given an "Orange" 25 digit activation code when offline ,etc. Only a space to place them. I've turned on and off my internet like a yo yo trying desperately to follow these generic instructions.
You would think after Roxio verifies you own the darn software (registered in Jan 2006) they could email a #$^@ activation code so we wouldn't all suffer through this mess!
Maybe you should outsource your support to India or Bangledesh...

Try the fact that the codecs are NOT from Roxio but from an outside source who INSISTED on activation

Also, try posting your problem in simple terms - not a rant

Did you ever consider the frustration that we're going through?
Not so much a rant as a way to vent.....
Not much choice left..

I can feel your pain, but we aren't Roxio. If we were, we would fire ourselves for being so stupid to provide such an idiotic mechanism to activate the software.

The activation requirement is from the 3rd party. The mechanism of that activation is the total failure of the Roxio folks.

I can clearly see that Roxio depends 100% on you folks because their support help is completely useless. They don't have the foggiest idea what's happening.
I have ordered the upgrade to 10.0. It should be in in two days.

Tell me I won't have the same problem with the new version or I'll cancel my order immediately! I just can't waste my time any longer with this..

We are not in a perfect world. EMC is a complex set of programs under going installations to all most unlimited number of PC hardware and software configurations. Installing EMC on a clean platform usually but not always goes well. But, that is not the real world. So we end up with installations and operations that are not perfect. I am not defending Roxio's quality control measures but only offer an explanation of why sometimes not everything works to perfection. Roxio makes choices on product make up and we as consumers have to live with the end results. Some we like and some we don't.

You should follow the Clean Install procedures to the letter or you will have all sorts of problems! – Here

Where in the heck is this offline activation window?

I've spend two hours just looking for it.

Juan

Pinned Post at the top and Daithi even provided a link to take you there!

Follow the instructions.

I have Media Creator 10. Where is it?

Just did another clean install. I am frustrated. Continue to have same issue: Need to activate MPEG-2 decode.

Help.

You're in the wrong forum - this is for EMC9 which has a problem with activating a codec

EMC10 does NOT require that it be activated. If you can't get it to work, you may have a faulty installation

I have the same problem with EMC9. Run Offline Product Activation and
no product key is displayed after "be prepared to enter the following product key:"

Repeat: No product key is displayed! The space where the product key should be displayed is blank.

I have accomplish several clean install exactly per the directions and I've tried the emc9rmx.exe utility several times. I'm not going to do another clean install unless I can bill my time to Roxio.

How do I get the product key that is supposed to be populated in that space so I can input it in the activateme website and get the activation key so I can input that back into the Offline Product Activation window?
Why doesn't the Roxio webite simply make these product codes available in my online account without the customer having to run through this for every component?

activation keys are tied to the particular hardware and there is no way for Roxio to know what you have.

Check that you have any pop-up blockers turned off before trying for the key