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54 Comments
- Lorian, on 10/12/2007, -1/+28Which is quite an inconvienience...
- john608, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15My question is why couldn't Microsoft build this into windows? Like export your activation to a floppy or flash drive. I so tired of reading off those silly numbers when I reinstall one of my machines.
- obtix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14If this works that is great! We rebuild computers daily and it gets to be a pain. Now to make my life even better (so I can stop calling MS), how do you do this with office?
- pumacub, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13Because some people feel silly about burning a 1k file to a CD. There are also a lot of computer users (like my mom) who still see burning CDs as some sort of voodoo magic.
- fanblade, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11Legit copies of Windows are NOT always simple to reactivate. I reinstalled Windows XP Home on my girlfriend's Dell desktop PC recently and it didn't accept the code from the sticker that was right on her box. For whatever reason I was forced to spend 20 minutes on the phone with MS before I was given a code to allow activation. I'm never going to go through that again.
- Darth_tater, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6it gets to be a pain when you have to do it several times a day, especailly when teh internet activation wnt work... you have to use the phone meathod and that is a pain in the ass.
i assume that this also works to keep wga off your back? - crilen007, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Actually no, because the hardware has to be the same.
- sfly510, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Not true. Any significant change in hardware and you have to call microsoft to get reactivated. If you don't want to do that, you have to wait 120 days after your last activation to be able to reactivate without calling them. It's a pain in the ass.
- KMehthas, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8All things considered, the phone service isn't all that difficult... as a tech I do this about 2-3 times a day. I know the whole procedure:
...
"ENGLISH"
"YES"
"YES"
- TIP: use the keypad, it goes 5 times faster
Opt: First six digits? Me:
Op: Is this the first time you have activated?" Me: "No"
Op: Is this installed on any other machines" Me: "No, just this one"
Op: Did this copy come preinstalled? Me: "Yes, preinstalled"
Op: Reason? Me: "Bad hardware, reinstalling Windows" - BobbyOnions, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7> Why ... are people still using floppy drives?!!
It's called "compatibility" or "lowest common denominator".
> for ***** sake, why can't companies start using newer tech
Tell Microsoft then. Their ASR wizard on Server 2003, hardly an old product, requires a floppy, as does the ASR restore.
Installing non-native drivers during Windows NT-based installation requires floppies.
Floppies are easy to address within the confines of a minimal boot image - they don't need USB host-specific drivers and they're readily available. Just because you don't like using them doesn't mean they're not valid. - chubbymidget, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Actually reactivation is a pain because once done so many times even on the same equipment MS will flag your key and make you call in each time.
MS system works off a point system. Every piece of hardware is assigned a point. For example CPU is 1 point chipset is another, Graphics and NIC are points. Hard Drives and partiition setup, etc. Some things are worth more than 1 point.
Everytime Windows boots it checks the system and compares the point total between the last check. if enough things have changed and your points are too different, you have to reactivate.
Also backing up these files works BUT your hardware config has to be exactly the same.
If you've not installed your graphics drivers yet and windows sees your card as a generic that can cause a problem. If you have multiple NICs and don't have drivers installed for those, sound card drivers, etc.
Alochol 120% creates a fack SCSI interface and that's seen as a point. - estvir, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6For all of those complaining about a quick call (yes, it is quick) think about this, you're browsing digg, commenting and so on, in the time you've done all of that you could be reactivated.
;) - badfrog, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I'm thankful for my corporate key! I've never had to activate XP.
I fear the mess Vista is going to create. - DarcyG, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I've tried this several times when reinstalling XP, but it's never worked for me. The only result I've observed is that instead of giving me 30 days to activate, XP suddenly wants me to activate immediately. I always end up having to go through the normal activation process.
- jsaya, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4"This should work if you want to avoid activating XP after a reinstall or restore on the same or very similar hardware. It will not work if the hardware is significantly different from that in place when the Windows Product Activation database files were created. This is not a hack to avoid activating installations." - ;)
- WolfwoodX, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I get the same problem. This trick has been around for a while, but I gave up on it long ago because it never worked. Other than some random person who I have never met, it doesn't work for anyone else either. It has never worked on any version of XP (Home, Pro, MCE) on any computer I try.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3In my previous company we had about 600-700 machines running XP SP1 or SP2. Many machines were routinely upgraded or reinstalled and XP would require reactivation, which would fail often. We would often be put on hold or given the runaround or connected to some character in India who wouldn't understand us or would be incomprehensible. After battling this nonsense for a while, I used to see our techs routinely reach into that old shoebox for their *special* XP install CD with no activation, nothing. It saved them, and us, a LOT of time and effort, not to mention the frustration we no longer have to face.
The harder they make it for legit users, the more they drive people to illegit means. The same goes for Adobe. We used have people call us from some airport somewhere saying that their photoshop-cs was asking to be activated, like right NOW, when they were in the middle of a job shooting something for a client. - RegisteredUser, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Forget it. Just use the various activation killers that are available on the net. They work just fine.
- user, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Same here! Luckily I've never had any problems activating--only takes a couple of seconds.
- dotcomlarry, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Hmm. Every time I reinstall windows, I never have problems with the reactivation. Just click, and it's activated.
- joshwehatetech, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Zoltak if you are doing whole labs get the volume media from your vendor and use that instead. You can legally use volume media in situations like that (even if the machines were purchased with OEM license just like 99% of companies/education purchase)
- Zoltak, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2That is true, but this will save me some time while reinstalling a whole computer lab full of PCs.
- trussrules, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2It used to work for me, but now it doesn't. I wonder if Microsoft disabled this when they forced WGA on all of us.
- termal, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"Legit copies of Windows are NOT always simple to reactivate. I reinstalled Windows XP Home on my girlfriend's Dell desktop PC recently and it didn't accept the code from the sticker that was right on her box."
This is why: http://www.betanews.com/article/Microsoft_Closes_Activation_Loophole/1109293194?do=reply&reply_to=54739 - Hurricane, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2RockXp3
- DarthTurducken, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2My mom still uses my old Zip drive :P
- oreo2123, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2if you are loading a whole lab of pc's by hand, you need to learn about ghost...or ris if you are on a domain...come on now.
- thenativeraver, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2
Get RockXP it allows you to:
- To retrieve and change your XP Key
- To retrieve all Microsoft Products keys
- To save your XP activation file
- To retrieve your lost XP system passwords
- To retrieve your lost RAS (Remote Access Settings) passwords
- And to generate new passwords
http://www.majorgeeks.com/download4138.html - johnthedebs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Or you could just save yourself the time.
Besides, last time I had to reactivate Windows because of a reinstall, after going through the automated verification, which I knew was going to deny me and send me to a rep anyway, the rep told me that they were "down for maintenance, call back in half an hour." Plus for all the reclusive geeks out there, that's one less human you have to deal with! - Frinkahedron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Haven't people ever heard of Ghost? Why do 600 full installs with XP CDs?
- NismoDrift, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3well screw Microsoft just search torrents for anti wpa small dll file and works great i mean i have a legit copy of windows and now i have to do that every time since i installed my new graphics card but screw them I'm not wasting 20 minutes calling in when i could be playing a good round of multiplayer on a game.
- cal01, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Dude. That's FUD right there. Any systems tech will point out to you that you do activation/reactivation after all the drivers and setups are done. Anyone who does it before they install drivers probably doesn't know what they're doing.
- DangerMouse9, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4@neoform:
Give several alternatives to floppies that work on a consistent basis at the level that floppies work.
Until then, stfu. - FluffyArmada, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I tried this a few days ago, and for some reason it didn't work. :- I had to call some dude from India and read off numbers for two hours to use windows...
[that's a joke about telephone activation] - ohearn, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2@Bluering: I understand what you are talking about. If the copy of windows you are trying to reactivate came with a Dell computer then it is Dell's responsibility. I say this having worked tech support for both companies before. A lot of Dell techs are bad about this. You will probably have to talk to a supervisor (and I do not mean the 2nd tier tech they will throw at you the first time you request a supervisor) to get the issue resolved.
If I remembered my log in to Dell's network I would be tempted to try to fix it for you. - Slashriffs, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I don't know about reinstalling with new hardware,
but on my Dell laptop all i have to do is hold ctrl + f11 at start up.
and go through the wizard to restore my computer to what it was when i first got it.
best thing is i don't have any keys to enter :) - FuzzyLumpkins76, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I tried this with my version of MCE 2005 (purchased as an OEM copy) and I didn't have any luck getting it to work either. I of course had to activate my product over the phone and deal with the ever so exciting automated voice woman. I'm surprised though that she was able to activate me. Previous times I've had to talk to "Mark" and "Ruth" about activating my product. What an aweful job for those people.
- thenativeraver, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1It's malware because it shows you your registration code and more.
Which can be bad in the wrong hands, do some research. - cal01, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2@toomuchgreentea: If you seriously can't sit by the phone for about 15-20 minutes, then you'll need all the help you can get when your system is really booched.
- KMehthas, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4^^ got cut off...
The point being that the phone service isn't that bad, it only takes about 15 minutes on a toll-free number. Just be patient, and make sure your "restore discs" haven't auto-entered the wrong key... - starfire039, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Good article. Beats the other guy that couldn't afford more than a 26.6k connection to download Word Perfect so he couldn't read word documents.
- grimreaperx22, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0well, i know for a fact that most people say the copying of the wpa file works, which it might, but some people when they reinstall they have to delete there old partition or format there harddrive because of viruses or something else they couldn't get off there system otherwise. so that trick doesn't work for them. i know. what i'd like to know is that if you activate windows, and make a set of recovery cd's using nero. mine has that option. would you still have to reactivate after you use those to reinstall your OS. if that works better then you should just do that.
- unitedstatians, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1thats why you need two files wpa.dbl and wpa.bak
- bluering, on 10/12/2007, -4/+4I am afraid that is not exactly true. I am in a loop of finger pointing right now where we can't get a license reactivated because MS and dell point fingers at each other. It is a valid license, but migrated from different hardware that is no longer in service. All the machine does is file serve 4-5 other clients. My suggestion is going to be pi$$ on it and install FreeNAS instead.
- burtonbe, on 10/12/2007, -9/+8I agree with you that this is a huge convenience. What is sad, however, is that is may be against US law according to the DCMA. If you do this, technically you are bypassing a copy protection feature of Windows XP. Even this article could be seen as illegal for showing people how to it.
- DoodlesMcPooh, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2Surely if required e.g. in the event of motherboard failure you could edit the serial numbers in the files. That way you could reinstall without reactivating on different hardware.
Could someone with windows clarify if these files can be edited in notepad or would they require recompiling? - toomuchgreentea, on 10/12/2007, -4/+3It isn't bad because you're getting paid doing it. That 15 mins is your coffee break. If you do that 2-3 times a day, then you're getting an hour worth of free time.
When I buy my next PC, windows may comes with it, but hell will have to freeze over before I'll consider to keep windows as the OS. - niamh, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0@ Zoltak n Darth
I was under the impression we were talking about a single system here (quote chad3405: as long as you have a legit copy... singular, not whole labs full of em...)
If a 5 min phone call is a pain, what does that make the 25+ mins of install of the OS? - quizme, on 10/12/2007, -2/+0Beware RockXP Malware Link, like you didn't know already
- adml_shake, on 10/12/2007, -9/+6because you retard some of us need to keep something like a word document with important info on it backed up and secure somewhere. So why the hell would I want to burn a CD every week for a damn word document.
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