Windows Vista Installation on New Intel Mac

I bought a full version of Vista about two years ago. I removed it from the Intel Mac I had originally installed it on. Indeed, I've replaced the HD it was on, but for reasons other than removal of Vista.
I installed Vista successfully on a new Intel Mac, but it won't accept my Product Key.
I followed the instructions and tried the online activation. After entering a very long string of numbers, I received a curt, automated, "We do not recognize your registration number. Please call back at another time." The line then disconnected.
Various searches online have produced no result. The Microsoft help page has an article on registration, but all searches from it for my issue lead me back to that same page.
I assume that the fact that the OS was registered on the other machine has caused a problem, but I note that the license lets me install the OS on one machine. This, I am doing. As the OS was sickeningly expensive, I'd like to reinstall to get some use out of it.
Any ideas?

That's sort of what I feared.
Considering that almost no one buys a "full license" to Windows other than factory installed on a machine or as an upgrade, I figured the problem I had would generally be unusual, except for people who installed it new on an Intel Mac, which is why I posted the question here.
I've not been able to find on Microsoft's help page a phone number to call Microsoft about this issue, and, as I said, all purported web-based solutions send me right back to the very same web page about product registration. If they weren't a monopoly, they wouldn't be able to get away with this.

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