Has Microsoft changed the way Win XP Home is activated?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dave
  • Start date Start date
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Dave

In the past, whenever I had to reinstall Win XP I always activated
windows online, directly through a server and it only took about a
minute at the most.

In the past month and a half however, because of a number of massive
file corruption events, I've had to reinstall my operating system 10
times and I always get the message that I've exceeded the number of
installations I'm allowed. Now I have to go through a long process of
dialing a toll-free number, reading a long series of numbers to a
computer voice, which then tells me it can't activate my OS, then
connects me to a person (whom I can hardly understand) and going
through the whole process again before I can active my
installation.This is very frustrating.

I thought that as long as none of the hardware had changed on my
computer, there was no limit to the number of times I could reinstall
my OS.

System:
Dell Dimention 8100
Win XP Home (upgrade - purchased retail)

Thanks for any input.

Dave
 
You need to solve the file corruption issue first or you will never get out
of the registration loop every time you re-install XP.

JS
 
Dave said:
In the past, whenever I had to reinstall Win XP I always activated
windows online, directly through a server and it only took about a
minute at the most.

In the past month and a half however, because of a number of massive
file corruption events, I've had to reinstall my operating system 10
times and I always get the message that I've exceeded the number of
installations I'm allowed. Now I have to go through a long process of
dialing a toll-free number, reading a long series of numbers to a
computer voice, which then tells me it can't activate my OS, then
connects me to a person (whom I can hardly understand) and going
through the whole process again before I can active my
installation.This is very frustrating.

I thought that as long as none of the hardware had changed on my
computer, there was no limit to the number of times I could reinstall
my OS.

System:
Dell Dimention 8100
Win XP Home (upgrade - purchased retail)

Thanks for any input.

Dave
Click to expand...

Your PID number is probably out on the Net. Next time, get a generic OEM
where the chance of someone copying the PID number off the case and
selling it is a lot less. I keep my PID numbers in a safe place, nowhere
near my computers. Generic OEMs are cheaper, too. They won't do
upgrades, though. And, legally, you can't move it to another machine.

Just curious, after phone activation do you pass WGA/N?

Alias
 
Dave said:
In the past, whenever I had to reinstall Win XP I always activated
windows online, directly through a server and it only took about a
minute at the most.

In the past month and a half however, because of a number of massive
file corruption events, I've had to reinstall my operating system 10
times and I always get the message that I've exceeded the number of
installations I'm allowed. Now I have to go through a long process
of dialing a toll-free number, reading a long series of numbers to a
computer voice, which then tells me it can't activate my OS, then
connects me to a person (whom I can hardly understand) and going
through the whole process again before I can active my
installation.This is very frustrating.

I thought that as long as none of the hardware had changed on my
computer, there was no limit to the number of times I could
reinstall my OS.

System:
Dell Dimention 8100
Win XP Home (upgrade - purchased retail)

Thanks for any input.
Click to expand...

Nope.
Has not changed in years.

You obviously activated in the last 120 days online. Many of the times when
you do this, after a day or so - you cannot activate that license online
again for 120 days.

The message is badly worded - but just means you have to make the phone call
instead of activating online.

My suggestion to you.. Start using an imaging application to backup your
system.
 
--Alias-- said:
Your PID number is probably out on the Net. Next time, get a generic OEM
where the chance of someone copying the PID number off the case and
selling it is a lot less. I keep my PID numbers in a safe place, nowhere
near my computers. Generic OEMs are cheaper, too. They won't do
upgrades, though. And, legally, you can't move it to another machine.

Just curious, after phone activation do you pass WGA/N?

Alias
Click to expand...

It is not the PID number that is causing the problem but the
OEM PK number. The OEM PK number is exposed almost all of the
time, either on the computer in which the OEM version has been
installed or on the visible COA itself in the shrink-wrapped
packaging from the generic OEM versions. (Many of the branded
OEM PK's appears to be now bios-locked.) To get the retail box
PK number, one has to break the seal on the box and get at the
contents to copy the 25-character alphanumeric PK.

So much for the easy part. One of our statisticians performed a
little exercise on the use of the PK and the way WGA(N) seems to
utilize it in evaluating PID's. (Sometimes, MSFT's moderators in
the forum gives too much information.) It seema that a single,
WGA-valid PID can be linked to around 120 different PK's. So much
for the value of MS's Windows Product Activation.
 
--Alias-- said:
Your PID number is probably out on the Net. Next time, get a generic OEM
where the chance of someone copying the PID number off the case and
selling it is a lot less. I keep my PID numbers in a safe place, nowhere
near my computers. Generic OEMs are cheaper, too. They won't do
upgrades, though. And, legally, you can't move it to another machine.

Just curious, after phone activation do you pass WGA/N?

Alias
Click to expand...


What is a PID number?

I purchased my Dell in 2000 and it came with an OEM version of Win ME.
I purchased Win XP upgrade at Costco when Win XP first came out. This
is a home computer and I live in a very rural area so I seldom get
visitors other than immediate family and friends.

Once I've talked to a person and they give me a number to put into the
activation window that's on my screen, my OS always activates.

At this point, I have installed the SP-2 update but have not turned on
automatic updates. This may be why WGA doesn't kick in because I
haven't installed the WGA software. Since the OS seems to be crashing
randomly it seems to be a waste of time until I can figure out what is
wrong.

However, before this series of events started, I was current with my
updates. It was only when I had to reinstall my OS the first time and
from then on, I had to go through the procedure I described above.

Dave
 
Shenan said:
Nope.
Has not changed in years.

You obviously activated in the last 120 days online. Many of the times when
you do this, after a day or so - you cannot activate that license online
again for 120 days.

The message is badly worded - but just means you have to make the phone call
instead of activating online.

My suggestion to you.. Start using an imaging application to backup your
system.
Click to expand...


Thanks Shenan.

I'm in the process of looking around for a new computer and the
company I'm looking at also includes a CD image of the original OS
install. (They don't use OEM versions.) Definitely a plus.

Although I could be wrong, it seemed to me a few years ago I had to
reinstall my OS several times within a month and I didn't have to go
through this process.

What I don't understand is that during installation I have to enter
the Product Code before the reinstallation will continue. Then when I
try to activate Win XP, it connects to the server and when it cannot
activate the OS it again asks me for the product code, checks the
server again and still tells me that it cannot activate my OS. At
that point, the window gives me a number to call.

I know my Product Code is valid because I've used it before and it was
purchased from Costco back when Win XP first came out.

Dave
 
Dave said:
--Alias-- wrote:





What is a PID number?

I purchased my Dell in 2000 and it came with an OEM version of Win ME.
I purchased Win XP upgrade at Costco when Win XP first came out. This
is a home computer and I live in a very rural area so I seldom get
visitors other than immediate family and friends.

Once I've talked to a person and they give me a number to put into the
activation window that's on my screen, my OS always activates.

At this point, I have installed the SP-2 update but have not turned on
automatic updates. This may be why WGA doesn't kick in because I
haven't installed the WGA software. Since the OS seems to be crashing
randomly it seems to be a waste of time until I can figure out what is
wrong.

However, before this series of events started, I was current with my
updates. It was only when I had to reinstall my OS the first time and
from then on, I had to go through the procedure I described above.

Dave
Click to expand...

There should have been a Windows XP Product Key (PK) that
is provided with the Windows XP Upgrade; it is on a orange
(or yellow) label. The PID is generated with setup, using
the PK in the algorithm. It turns out that by the way the
PID is interpreted, there are only so many valid PID's that
can be generated from all of the possible combinations that
are the Product Keys. And it is easy to reject an invalid
PK when a specific block of numbers in the PID turn up wrong.

It appears that Microsoft also relies on a frequency table and
if the validating elements of the PID turns up too many times,
rejection of activation and human intervention occur. Microsoft
has to live up to its promise of unlimited activations for all
of its genuine products that need it.

In 2005, Microsoft announced that it would be initiating what
is known as WGA. WGA is supposed to read the PID and validate
it. Presumably, validation involves the same elements in the
PID that determines XP activation. WGA needs to be installed
but not WGA-Notification for updates (other than those related
to security). But WGA cannot be perfect under such imperfect
conditions.
 
Ghostrider said:
It appears that Microsoft also relies on a frequency table and
if the validating elements of the PID turns up too many times,
rejection of activation and human intervention occur. Microsoft
has to live up to its promise of unlimited activations for all
of its genuine products that need it.
Click to expand...

Its a combination of PID AND License key NOT just PID. So that is a unique
number no matter how many times the PID shows up.
 
Ghostrider said:
There should have been a Windows XP Product Key (PK) that
is provided with the Windows XP Upgrade
Click to expand...

There was. This was PK number I inserted early on during
reinstallation so that I could continue.

What mystifies me is that what when I went to activate my newly
installed OS, the Microsoft server was unable to activate it and
brought up another window asking for the PK number again, which I
input, and it was still unable to activate my computer, giving me a
number to call instead.

Even after dialing the number and reading the series of numbers in the
window on my screen to a computerized voice, it still couldn't
activate my computer. The server then connected me with a person.
The PID is generated with setup, using
the PK in the algorithm. It turns out that by the way the
PID is interpreted, there are only so many valid PID's that
can be generated from all of the possible combinations that
are the Product Keys. And it is easy to reject an invalid
PK when a specific block of numbers in the PID turn up wrong.
Click to expand...

This may be the reason I'm now having to contact a person over the
phone.
It appears that Microsoft also relies on a frequency table and
if the validating elements of the PID turns up too many times,
rejection of activation and human intervention occur.
Click to expand...

Oddly, the people I talk to never grill me as to my setup nor about
the OS I'm trying to activate. After I tell them that my computer
keeps crashing and I'm reinstalling Win XP again, they give me a
confirmation number, which I plug into a series of input boxes at the
bottom of the screen and I'm ready to go.
Microsoft
has to live up to its promise of unlimited activations for all
of its genuine products that need it.
Click to expand...

That would be nice, and without the hassle of having to phone, which
takes me about 10 minutes -- longer if I can't understand the person
I'm talking to, or while I'm waiting to talk to someone the connection
goes dead as it did this morning.
In 2005, Microsoft announced that it would be initiating what
is known as WGA. WGA is supposed to read the PID and validate
it. Presumably, validation involves the same elements in the
PID that determines XP activation. WGA needs to be installed
but not WGA-Notification for updates (other than those related
to security).
Click to expand...

If I have to do this again, I may just download the WGA files and
install them, then try to activate and see if that helps -- if that's
possible.
But WGA cannot be perfect under such imperfect
conditions.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the insight.

Dave
 
If you don't mind buying another hard drive, here is one thing you can
do.

Install the OS on one drive and go through the activation process.
Then use Ghost or Drive Copy to "clone" that system drive to another
drive. Use the clone for normal operation. Then if and when you
experience another "massive file corruption event", you can re-clone
the original system drive to the clone drive without having to
re-activate.

That will at least save you from having to go through all this
re-activation nonsense, while you go about the process of figuring out
why you are getting all these massive file corruption events.
 
Dave said:
Thanks Shenan.

I'm in the process of looking around for a new computer and the
company I'm looking at also includes a CD image of the original OS
install. (They don't use OEM versions.) Definitely a plus.

Although I could be wrong, it seemed to me a few years ago I had to
reinstall my OS several times within a month and I didn't have to go
through this process.

What I don't understand is that during installation I have to enter
the Product Code before the reinstallation will continue. Then when I
try to activate Win XP, it connects to the server and when it cannot
activate the OS it again asks me for the product code, checks the
server again and still tells me that it cannot activate my OS. At
that point, the window gives me a number to call.

I know my Product Code is valid because I've used it before and it was
purchased from Costco back when Win XP first came out.

Dave
Click to expand...

One does have 30 days to activate. I would make sure that the boxen
is working before activation. Otherwise the drill will be the same for
each reinstall.
 
C. J. Clegg said:
If you don't mind buying another hard drive, here is one thing you can
do.

Install the OS on one drive and go through the activation process.
Then use Ghost or Drive Copy to "clone" that system drive to another
drive. Use the clone for normal operation. Then if and when you
experience another "massive file corruption event", you can re-clone
the original system drive to the clone drive without having to
re-activate.

That will at least save you from having to go through all this
re-activation nonsense, while you go about the process of figuring out
why you are getting all these massive file corruption events.
Click to expand...

Actually I'm in the process of looking at a new computer with two HD's
for this exact reason.

This "event" I'm talking about is something I've never encountered
before -- the computer suddenly goes into an extended period of
reading and writing files, which I discovered by setting Taskmanager
set to I/O Read Bytes & I/O Write Bytes, and afterwards most of my
programs will not boot up. It seems that an error sets off this
"event." I suspect a hardware problem. Since my computer is really
slow anyway, it's a time for an upgrade.

I appreciate everyone's help. Thanks.

Dave
 
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