windows 7 activation

I installed my copy of 7 ultimate in a virtual machine, been running that way since January 7 of this year. I forgot about it, and installed it on my laptop. After updating it, it now says I have XX number of days to activate, I chose to activate now and it says that the number is not good. I went back to the machine I forgot about and checked that and that shows it is activated. My question is what do I need to do legally to activate the copy on my laptop and deactivate the one on the virtual machine?

Thanks

As mentioned , Microsoft is very cooperative and will work with you.:)

Remove from virtual machine.
Phone MS.

Activate Windows 7 by Phone

Thanks for the replies, I think I had to do this with a previous version of Windows and it was a nightmare, hope it has improved. This was an OEM so do I give them the long number or the one that shows in System Properties (00426-OEM-XXXXXXX-XXXXX)
Thanks again

You may have not unchecked activate automatically during your install
Oh Well, Live and Learn

I got too used to Linux installs where I put the disk in and let it go with little intervention. I live - I learn. Thanks

windowsfree said:

Thanks for the replies, I think I had to do this with a previous version of Windows and it was a nightmare, hope it has improved. This was an OEM so do I give them the long number or the one that shows in System Properties (00426-OEM-XXXXXXX-XXXXX)
Thanks again

Have a read:

Activate Windows 7 by Phone