Prior the commercial availability of Windows Vista, the Redmond Company announced the Family Discount, an offer that enabled buyers of the top end variant of the operating system to additionally acquire two Home Premium versions of the product at a considerable discount. Users with a full license or an upgrade to Windows Vista Ultimate were able to get two copies of Vista Home Premium for as low as $49.99, down from $239.

However, the users that jumped at the chance got a little less than what they had bargained for. Namely, Windows Vista Home Premium keys that were invalid. The faulty registration keys resulted in the consumers not being able to deploy the copies of the operating system acquired under the Family Discount plan.

The Redmond Company has confirmed that there are indeed problems with the Vista product keys made available through the Family Discount plan, but failed to offer additional details. Microsoft only stated that it is working and that the issue will be resolved as soon as possible.

Microsoft claims that only a small group of consumers have been impacted by the invalid keys. The affected users have two options, either wait for Microsoft to deliver valid product keys or cancel their initial order and receive a full refund.

According to Microsoft, valid keys for Windows Vista Home Premium licenses acquired through Family Discount have began shipping since yesterday afternoon. The Redmond Company added that it has taken extensive efforts in order to further prevent such issues.