Temporarily Avoiding "Deactivation"

  • Thread starter Thread starter Abby
  • Start date Start date
A

Abby

Hi,

My 30 day period is about to end. The key I was given did not work. A new
one is ordered but might not get here before activation is required. Is
there some way of keeping my laptop going for a few days?

Thanks,
Gary
 
Abby said:
Hi,

My 30 day period is about to end. The key I was given did not work.
Click to expand...

Make and model of laptop, please. Did it come with Windows preinstalled?
Does it have a COA sticker on the bottom of it? If it did come with
Windows, which version and type? XP Home or XP Pro? OEM or Retail
license? (I'm pretty sure that if the laptop came with Windows, it has
an OEM license!) Who was it that gave you the key? Are you positive you
entered it correctly? (Certain letters can look like numbers, e.g., a
"B" can look like an "8".)
A new one is ordered but might not get here before activation is
required. Is there some way of keeping my laptop going for a few
days?
Click to expand...

Who did you order the new key from?
 
Please follow this simple troubleshooting procedure, courtesy of MS MVP
Carey Frisch:

1. Download and install the WGA Diagnostic Tool
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=56062

2. After running the WGA Diagnostic Tool, click on the "Windows" tab and
then click on "Copy to Clipboard".

3. Next, visit the following website and create a post in the "WGA
Validation Problems" forum and paste the results of the WGA Diagnostic Data
in a detailed post:
http://social.microsoft.com/forums/en-US/genuinewindowsxp/threads/

4. A WGA troubleshooting specialist will analyze the data and recommend an
appropriate solution.
 
Abby said:
Make and model of laptop, please. Did it come with Windows preinstalled?
Click to expand...

The XP Pro replaces the Vista Premium the laptop came with. MS does not
offer an "upgrade" path to XP from Vista Premium. (Vista Ultimate and
Business for a $10 media fee.) I am not about to pay for a full version so
I have been scrounging around for a cheapie. One given to me proved to be
already in use. I bought an OEM version off ebay ($53 total) that is in
shipment. I requested the seller to forward the key by e-mail but she
didn't get the message in time.

Unfortunately, it is now moot. I rebooted to fix a LAN problem and it now
insists on being activated. Just before rebooting it said there were TWO
DAYs to activate (sometimes MS deserves the bashing it gets). So, I think I
will catch up on my reading or maybe drag the old laptop out until the new
copy gets here.

Thanks for the suggestions,
Gary
 
Gary said:
The XP Pro replaces the Vista Premium the laptop came with. MS does
not offer an "upgrade" path to XP from Vista Premium. (Vista
Ultimate and Business for a $10 media fee.) I am not about to pay
for a full version so I have been scrounging around for a cheapie. One
given to me proved to be already in use. I bought an OEM version
off ebay ($53 total) that is in shipment. I requested the seller to
forward the key by e-mail but she didn't get the message in time.

Unfortunately, it is now moot. I rebooted to fix a LAN problem and
it now insists on being activated. Just before rebooting it said
there were TWO DAYs to activate (sometimes MS deserves the bashing it
gets). So, I think I will catch up on my reading or maybe drag the
old laptop out until the new copy gets here.

Thanks for the suggestions,
Gary
Click to expand...

That's funny. I thought I was talking to Abby...

You never did mention the make and model of the laptop. Have you decided
you definitely don't want to run Vista? If not, I would just reinstall
Vista. It's not as bad as you think. There is a Vista newsgroup you can
post to if you need to learn how to improve performance or to disable
some of its annoying features.

Regarding XP, it was a bad move to buy a copy from Ebay. I think you
were screwed. For $37 more, you could have purchased a genuine, brand
new installation CD from a reputable site like NewEgg.
 
Daave said:
That's funny. I thought I was talking to Abby...
Click to expand...

This is the account I use for my laptop until I can figure out how to use
both the same e-mail account for both the laptop and desktop.
You never did mention the make and model of the laptop. Have you decided
you definitely don't want to run Vista? If not, I would just reinstall
Vista. It's not as bad as you think. There is a Vista newsgroup you can
post to if you need to learn how to improve performance or to disable some
of its annoying features.
Click to expand...

It is a laptop, Compaq Presario F572US. I ran Vista for 1 1/2 years. It
was slow, overprotective, and performance counters were almost nonexistent,
A guy who had already done the conversion put together a package of drivers
(available in the internet) that made the switch fairly easy. XP is
installed on a new disk. Vista still exists on the original disk so it can
be swapped back in if needed. Windows 7 was considered but drivers were a
major issue.
Regarding XP, it was a bad move to buy a copy from Ebay. I think you were
screwed. For $37 more, you could have purchased a genuine, brand new
installation CD from a reputable site like NewEgg.
Click to expand...

Newegg lists a retail full version for $260 and OEM for $130. I checked the
sellers feedback before bidding.
 
Gary said:
The XP Pro replaces the Vista Premium the laptop came with. MS does not
offer an "upgrade" path to XP from Vista Premium. (Vista Ultimate and
Business for a $10 media fee.) I am not about to pay for a full version so
I have been scrounging around for a cheapie. One given to me proved to be
already in use. I bought an OEM version off ebay ($53 total) that is in
shipment. I requested the seller to forward the key by e-mail but she
didn't get the message in time.

Unfortunately, it is now moot. I rebooted to fix a LAN problem and it now
insists on being activated. Just before rebooting it said there were TWO
DAYs to activate (sometimes MS deserves the bashing it gets). So, I think I
will catch up on my reading or maybe drag the old laptop out until the new
copy gets here.

Thanks for the suggestions,
Gary
Click to expand...

So Abby has now become Gary? Yep, as can been by looking at the headers
in both posts. So, you had a sex change inside of the 6 hours since
your first post? Nymshifters are trolls.

You never explained WHY you had to *buy* a license key. Everyone else
just uses the activation wizard and if it fails then they call the
toll-free phone number shown by the wizard (you call, they give you a
new license key, nothing to buy). So, you wait a month before
activating. You buy something rather than using the license for the one
you already have. Your copy wasn't kosher, was it?

You still have to BUY a license of Windows Vista to then downgrade to
Windows XP. Somewhere in the upgrades/downgrades path you do need a
FULL version license of Windows (whether a retail or OEM version).
Microsoft does NOT provide you with the installation media for XP. You
find that wherever you want, even borrowing from a friend. You do NOT
use their license. You use the Vista license. You run through the
activation wizard and then call the phone number it gives you. You tell
the rep that you are downgrading from Vista to XP. You give them the
Vista license key. They give you an XP license key. Nothing to buy
(other than the requirement that you do buy a license for Vista in order
to do the downgrade).

Fishy story you have. Sounds like you were trying to cheat in seeing if
you could downgrade without ever buying a legit license. If you had
actually bought a license of Windows XP Pro, you wouldn't even be
considering doing a downgrade. You would have just done a fresh install
of XP. You didn't want to buy a legitimate license of Vista that
includes the downgrade rights to XP. Now you'll have to wait for the
OEM copy of XP to show up from the eBay seller and hope it installs and
hope they gave you a legitimate key.
 
Gary said:
This is the account I use for my laptop until I can figure out how to
use both the same e-mail account for both the laptop and desktop.


It is a laptop, Compaq Presario F572US. I ran Vista for 1 1/2 years.
It was slow, overprotective, and performance counters were almost
nonexistent
Click to expand...

You would be surprised how much you can improve its performance. There
are many knowledgeable people in the Vista newsgroup who would be happy
to help you with that. The F572US may not be a gaming PC, but it should
handle Vista well as long you max out the RAM (2GB) *and* don't use
memory-intensive programs (video or graphics editing, databases, virtual
PC, etc.). Also, it's important not to use memory-hungry security
programs. I would ditch Windows Defender and Norton or McAfee (I assume
it came with Norton or McAfee) and use better antimalware programs
(there are many high-quality programs that are free). As mentioned
earlier, there are settings in Vista that can be altered to dramatically
improve performance (and rid yourself of the overprotectiveness).

Or you can install XP. But you need a legit copy and product key!
A guy who had already done the conversion put together a
package of drivers (available in the internet) that made the switch
fairly easy. XP is installed on a new disk. Vista still exists on
the original disk so it can be swapped back in if needed. Windows 7
was considered but drivers were a major issue.

Newegg lists a retail full version for $260 and OEM for $130. I
checked the sellers feedback before bidding.
Click to expand...

The OEM for XP Home is $90.00:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16832116511

I doubt very much you need XP Pro since XP Home does almost everything
XP Pro does and tweaks exist for just about everything else. The Retail
version (I didn't even know that was offered anymore) is only useful if
you plan on moving it to another PC at some point in the future. But at
some point in the future, you would probably be purchasing another PC
that already comes with Windows 7. The OEM version of XP Home is
definitely the way to go (if you feel you must run XP)!
 
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