Locked out at Windows Product Activation screen

[PHiLiP]

Just came back from my holiday and I'm locked out of my Dell computer at
home.

I keep getting the Windows Product Activation screen. It asks me to
activate Windows XP to continue using it, to which I click the Yes
button, it then says I'm already activated and kicks me back to the
Product Activation screen again.

I can boot to Safe Mode without problems.

This old Dell Dimension 8200 comes bundled with the current installation
of Windows XP OEM when I bought it. I have updated it to SP1, but was
planning to update to SP2 after my holiday break.


What can I do to fix it? The Dell Tech Support guy I spoke to was no
help - he kept on telling me I shouldn't need to activate. I don't mind
activating it if only it would let me. I have already located the
Product Key sticker sitting at the back of the casing.

Thanks a million!

 

[Malke]

Just came back from my holiday and I'm locked out of my Dell computer
at home.

I keep getting the Windows Product Activation screen. It asks me to
activate Windows XP to continue using it, to which I click the Yes
button, it then says I'm already activated and kicks me back to the
Product Activation screen again.

I can boot to Safe Mode without problems.

This old Dell Dimension 8200 comes bundled with the current
installation
of Windows XP OEM when I bought it. I have updated it to SP1, but was
planning to update to SP2 after my holiday break.


What can I do to fix it? The Dell Tech Support guy I spoke to was no
help - he kept on telling me I shouldn't need to activate. I don't
mind
activating it if only it would let me. I have already located the
Product Key sticker sitting at the back of the casing.

Thanks a million!

Since you can get into Safe Mode, do so and:

Start>Run regsvr32 regwizc.dll [enter] and click OK.
Start>Run regsvr32 licdll.dll [enter] and click OK.

You should get a successful message for both and it should resolve the
error message. Reboot and see if all is well. If not, start in Safe
Mode again and:

Start>Run regedit [enter]

Expand the branches in the left pane by clicking the plus (+) signs to
reach these keys:

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Cryptography\Providers
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-20\Software\Microsoft\Cryptography\Providers

Click on the folder representing each key and delete them one at a time.
You may want to create a backup before doing so by clicking file/export
and saving a copy to the desktop. If there is a problem after deleting,
you can put the key back by double-clicking it. If there is no problem,
you can delete the key later. When finished, restart the system
normally after closing the registry editor.

Malke
(thanks to Rick Rogers for the fixes)

 

[Guest]

I am having the activation problem and I have tried the above mentioned fix
and it did not work for me. What else can I try?

Just came back from my holiday and I'm locked out of my Dell computer
at home.

I keep getting the Windows Product Activation screen. It asks me to
activate Windows XP to continue using it, to which I click the Yes
button, it then says I'm already activated and kicks me back to the
Product Activation screen again.

I can boot to Safe Mode without problems.

This old Dell Dimension 8200 comes bundled with the current
installation
of Windows XP OEM when I bought it. I have updated it to SP1, but was
planning to update to SP2 after my holiday break.


What can I do to fix it? The Dell Tech Support guy I spoke to was no
help - he kept on telling me I shouldn't need to activate. I don't
mind
activating it if only it would let me. I have already located the
Product Key sticker sitting at the back of the casing.

Thanks a million!

Since you can get into Safe Mode, do so and:

Start>Run regsvr32 regwizc.dll [enter] and click OK.
Start>Run regsvr32 licdll.dll [enter] and click OK.

You should get a successful message for both and it should resolve the
error message. Reboot and see if all is well. If not, start in Safe
Mode again and:

Start>Run regedit [enter]

Expand the branches in the left pane by clicking the plus (+) signs to
reach these keys:

HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Cryptography\Providers
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-20\Software\Microsoft\Cryptography\Providers

Click on the folder representing each key and delete them one at a time.
You may want to create a backup before doing so by clicking file/export
and saving a copy to the desktop. If there is a problem after deleting,
you can put the key back by double-clicking it. If there is no problem,
you can delete the key later. When finished, restart the system
normally after closing the registry editor.

Malke
(thanks to Rick Rogers for the fixes)
--
MS MVP - Windows Shell/User
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"

 

[kurttrail]

Just came back from my holiday and I'm locked out of my Dell computer
at home.

I keep getting the Windows Product Activation screen. It asks me to
activate Windows XP to continue using it, to which I click the Yes
button, it then says I'm already activated and kicks me back to the
Product Activation screen again.

I can boot to Safe Mode without problems.

This old Dell Dimension 8200 comes bundled with the current
installation of Windows XP OEM when I bought it. I have updated it
to SP1, but was planning to update to SP2 after my holiday break.


What can I do to fix it? The Dell Tech Support guy I spoke to was no
help - he kept on telling me I shouldn't need to activate. I don't
mind activating it if only it would let me. I have already located
the Product Key sticker sitting at the back of the casing.

Thanks a million!

Hopefuly what Malke suggests will work, but your are just another
example of a End User being thrown into a bad situation for absolutely
nothing

Product Activation NEVER helps any computer user, and can only screw up!

Thank Microsoft for adding this useless code into their OS that is of
absolutely no use to you!

--
Peace!
Kurt
Self-anointed Moderator
microscum.pubic.windowsexp.gonorrhea
http://microscum.com
"Trustworthy Computing" is only another example of an Oxymoron!
"Produkt-Aktivierung macht frei"