XP Pro activation - false positive

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I work in a computer repair shop where it is all-too-frequently necessary to
slave a customer's hard drive onto my XP Pro SP2 workstation to pull the data
off, scan for viruses, etc. I've done this quite a number of times without
issue. Recently, I connected a user's USB hard drive to my workstation while
it was powered off so that I could copy salvaged data onto it.

Shortly after logging on, I was informed that I needed to activate my copy
of XP because my machine configuration had "changed significantly" or
something to that effect. After deciding that this was just about the most
idiotic thing I had seen lately (and I see quite a few), I went ahead and
activated it.

All was well for a while, until I connected another IDE hard drive to the
secondary channel (replacing the CD drive) and now I got a msg saying that
because my machine configuration had "changed significantly" I now have to
activate my copy of Office XP, so now, something even more idiotic has
occurred...

Can anyone shed any light on what is going on? I am still booting off of the
same hard drive I've been using all along. These have been slave/auxilliary
drives. Why the hell should XP or Office care about adding another hard drive
to the system? Absolutely nothing else hardware-wise has changed on this
machine.

The only thing I can think of is that the retarded activation detection
doesn't like it when I go back and forth between a hard drive and CD drive on
the secondary channel, 'x' number of times.

Any of you MVPs care to shed some light on this?
 
Please use the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of Microsoft Download Center
pages to request assistance directly from Microsoft:
http://support.microsoft.com/gp/ContactDownloads

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User
Microsoft Newsgroups

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

:

| I work in a computer repair shop where it is all-too-frequently necessary to
| slave a customer's hard drive onto my XP Pro SP2 workstation to pull the data
| off, scan for viruses, etc. I've done this quite a number of times without
| issue. Recently, I connected a user's USB hard drive to my workstation while
| it was powered off so that I could copy salvaged data onto it.
|
| Shortly after logging on, I was informed that I needed to activate my copy
| of XP because my machine configuration had "changed significantly" or
| something to that effect. After deciding that this was just about the most
| idiotic thing I had seen lately (and I see quite a few), I went ahead and
| activated it.
|
| All was well for a while, until I connected another IDE hard drive to the
| secondary channel (replacing the CD drive) and now I got a msg saying that
| because my machine configuration had "changed significantly" I now have to
| activate my copy of Office XP, so now, something even more idiotic has
| occurred...
|
| Can anyone shed any light on what is going on? I am still booting off of the
| same hard drive I've been using all along. These have been slave/auxilliary
| drives. Why the hell should XP or Office care about adding another hard drive
| to the system? Absolutely nothing else hardware-wise has changed on this
| machine.
|
| The only thing I can think of is that the retarded activation detection
| doesn't like it when I go back and forth between a hard drive and CD drive on
| the secondary channel, 'x' number of times.
|
| Any of you MVPs care to shed some light on this?
 
It's not only hardware, I've actually uninstalled applications that have
triggered an activation. My understanding of WPA is that the hardware
hash is examined at every boot to make sure XP is running on the same
platform. Documentation on Product Activation lists the devices that
make up the hash (votes). However, I've not seen anything on the boot
time computation of it. Perhaps it's not only existing hardware but new
items in the vote tally that factor in. Also, it's the change "Count" that
causes WPA to roll-over, so maybe a change one day figures into a
different change say 14 days later. Probably need a mathematician to
explain how it really works.
 
R. McCarty said:
It's not only hardware, I've actually uninstalled applications that have
triggered an activation. My understanding of WPA is that the hardware
hash is examined at every boot to make sure XP is running on the same
platform. Documentation on Product Activation lists the devices that
make up the hash (votes). However, I've not seen anything on the boot
time computation of it. Perhaps it's not only existing hardware but new
items in the vote tally that factor in. Also, it's the change "Count" that
causes WPA to roll-over, so maybe a change one day figures into a
different change say 14 days later. Probably need a mathematician to
explain how it really works.
Click to expand...

Not really. It works badly and it doesn't take a mathematician to figure out
that it ONLY inconveniences paying customers and does nothing to stop
piracy.

Alias
 
|>I work in a computer repair shop where it is all-too-frequently necessary to
|>slave a customer's hard drive onto my XP Pro SP2 workstation to pull the data
|>off, scan for viruses, etc. I've done this quite a number of times without
|>issue. Recently, I connected a user's USB hard drive to my workstation while
|>it was powered off so that I could copy salvaged data onto it.
|>
|>Shortly after logging on, I was informed that I needed to activate my copy
|>of XP because my machine configuration had "changed significantly" or
|>something to that effect. After deciding that this was just about the most
|>idiotic thing I had seen lately (and I see quite a few), I went ahead and
|>activated it.

Read http://www.licenturion.com/xp/fully-licensed-wpa.txt
it will explain what your up against.



|>All was well for a while, until I connected another IDE hard drive to the
|>secondary channel (replacing the CD drive) and now I got a msg saying that
|>because my machine configuration had "changed significantly" I now have to
|>activate my copy of Office XP, so now, something even more idiotic has
|>occurred...
|>
|>Can anyone shed any light on what is going on? I am still booting off of the
|>same hard drive I've been using all along. These have been slave/auxilliary
|>drives. Why the hell should XP or Office care about adding another hard drive
|>to the system? Absolutely nothing else hardware-wise has changed on this
|>machine.
|>
|>The only thing I can think of is that the retarded activation detection
|>doesn't like it when I go back and forth between a hard drive and CD drive on
|>the secondary channel, 'x' number of times.
 
Haven't seen him around quite recently, think his gone Linux already? Or
lost his block with MS cause for no reason his WinXP has prompted him to
activate Windows out of the blue? Like the OP's situation.

- Winux P
 
In lieu of any better guess, I'm thinking that it was some kind of count that
got me. I don't remember if it was "one hard drive later" when the Office XP
Activation Widiot kicked in, but if not, it was close to it. Why the XP
Activation Widiot would care about a slave drive is the open question. Why
Office XP would care is an even more open question. Based on my years of
doing software QA, it sure smells like a bug.
 
Carey Frisch said:
Please use the "Contact Us" link at the bottom of Microsoft Download Center
pages to request assistance directly from Microsoft:
http://support.microsoft.com/gp/ContactDownloads

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows XP - Shell/User
Microsoft Newsgroups
Click to expand...


??? I reactivated both XP and Office XP without a problem, so not sure why
you are directing me to contact Microsoft, unless they can tell me how to
prevent the Activation Widiot from triggering when adding a slave hard drive.
 
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