C
C. Mitchell
Greetings,
I am running OEM Windows 2000 Professional SP4 on an AMD 1.1GHz CPU
with 512MB RAM.
Recently, I tried to download the Windows MSI Installer 2.0 package,
but the download page
(http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=4B6140F9-
2D36-4977-8FA1-6F8A0F5DCA8F&displaylang=en) for the installer
executable download is marked as requiring WGA verification. Quoting
from the download page:
| System Requirements
| Supported Operating Systems: Windows 2000; Windows NT
|
| Windows Installer 2.0 Redistributable for Windows NT 4.0 and 2000
| supports Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 6 or later and Windows
| 2000. Windows XP contains Windows Installer 2.0 and therefore can't
| be installed or upgraded by this redistributable.
After going through the WGA validation process, I ended up at a page
that said:
| Validation Not Completed: Unsupported OS [0x80080200]
|
| Why did it not validate?
| It appears that you are using an operating system that is not currently
| supported by the validation process.
I have also contact Microsoft technical support and they directed me
through a manual install and check of the WGA validation ActiveX
control, and they also directed to call an automated toll-free number
to try validation and activation. Both those attempts and a repeated
attempt to use the web-based validation system met with failure. The
manual install and diagnostic tool both said my OS was unsupported as
well.
Reading up on the WGA initiative and FAQs, I also found the following
information on three different Microsoft web pages...
From http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;898588 :
| Products that are covered under WGA include all versions of Microsoft
| Windows XP and Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional. WGA does not
| include Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Windows Millennium
| Edition, or Microsoft Windows 98.
From http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/genuine-windows/faq.mspx :
| Q. Do all Windows users need to validate in order to obtain genuine
| Windows downloads, or is validation limited to particular
| versions of Windows?
|
| A. Validation is currently recommended, but not required. Should it
| become required in the future, only users of Windows XP and
| Windows 2000 customers (client, not server) will be required to
| validate. Genuine Windows downloads will continue to be
| available, without validation, to customers running Windows 98,
| Windows ME, Windows Server 2003, and Windows NT 4.0 with Service
| Pack 3. However, Genuine Windows downloads are not available for
| older versions of Windows (Windows 95, NT 4.0 with Service Pack 2
| and earlier), and non-Microsoft operating systems.
From
http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/downloads/FAQ.aspx?displaylang=en :
| Q: Do all Windows users need to validate, or is validation limited to
| particular versions of Windows?
|
| A: Validation is required for all genuine Windows downloads on
| Microsoft Download Center and the Windows Update service for
| users of Windows XP including Windows XP Home, Windows XP
| Professional and Windows XP Media Center Edition. Security
| updates are accessible to all users via Automatic Updates.
| Genuine Windows downloads are available, without validation, to
| customers running Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows
| Server 2003, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows Vista,
| and Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 3. Genuine Windows downloads
| are not available for older versions of Windows (Windows 95,
| Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 2 and earlier), and
| non-Microsoft operating systems.
It is readily apparent that:
1) The MSI package is protected by WGA validation;
2) The MSI package is for Windows 2000 or NT, *not* XP;
3) The WGA only seems to apply to XP (and maybe 2003) OS's, the
previous Windows versions (at least 2000, anyhow) fail validation as
unsupported;
4) The download is marked as WGA only (1), but WGA is unsupported for
2000/NT (3), which the download is supposed to be for (2), leaving a
situation/truth table which is not possible to satisfy;
5) One Microsoft source states that WGA applies to only Windows XP,
another Microsoft source states that it applies to XP and 2000,
contradicting each other;
6) I have repeatedly tried telling the tech support person these
facts, and have been repeatedly ignored and told I need to validate my
Windows installation;
7) After repeated attempts to validate and giving the tech support
person my license key and the diagnostics files from another Microsoft
download, the tech support person has now informed me that my license
key is invalid;
8) While e-mailing me to tell me my license key was invalid, they
copied the key back to me--but it was no where near the key I
originally e-mailed to them.
By now, it should be quite clear what my problem and frustration is...
Conflicting or false information, poor tech support, possibly
improperly flagged downloads, et cetera.
Is Windows 2000 supposed to require WGA validation or not? Is a
download that is explicitly marked *not* for XP supposed to be WGA
protected? What about my license key? The CoA and CD pass all the
tests--Holograms, security marks and measures, et cetera, but now I am
being told I have an invalid key. This implies I have an
invalid/illegal Windows installation, and my job requires every file
on my system to be 100% legitimate, so obviously I am very worried
about this as well. Yet the key the tech told me was invalid does not
match the key I originally showed them.
I also use this PC for school, and I am now two weeks behind on my
schoolwork because of these problems. If I do not get back on track
this week, I will automatically be withdrawn from my classes and lose
the tuition money I paid. Just one more factor that is really starting
to make me angry.
Can someone please tell me WTF is going on? What should I do at this
point? What *can* I do?
--
CCB Mitchell
<casRteeGle-AT-innEoce9nt-DOT-cNom>
=or=
<caEsteNele-AT-gm3aiGl-DOT-coEm>
(Replace AT and DOT, then remove all CAPS letters
and any numbers to email--Sorry, spammers suck!)
I am running OEM Windows 2000 Professional SP4 on an AMD 1.1GHz CPU
with 512MB RAM.
Recently, I tried to download the Windows MSI Installer 2.0 package,
but the download page
(http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=4B6140F9-
2D36-4977-8FA1-6F8A0F5DCA8F&displaylang=en) for the installer
executable download is marked as requiring WGA verification. Quoting
from the download page:
| System Requirements
| Supported Operating Systems: Windows 2000; Windows NT
|
| Windows Installer 2.0 Redistributable for Windows NT 4.0 and 2000
| supports Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 6 or later and Windows
| 2000. Windows XP contains Windows Installer 2.0 and therefore can't
| be installed or upgraded by this redistributable.
After going through the WGA validation process, I ended up at a page
that said:
| Validation Not Completed: Unsupported OS [0x80080200]
|
| Why did it not validate?
| It appears that you are using an operating system that is not currently
| supported by the validation process.
I have also contact Microsoft technical support and they directed me
through a manual install and check of the WGA validation ActiveX
control, and they also directed to call an automated toll-free number
to try validation and activation. Both those attempts and a repeated
attempt to use the web-based validation system met with failure. The
manual install and diagnostic tool both said my OS was unsupported as
well.
Reading up on the WGA initiative and FAQs, I also found the following
information on three different Microsoft web pages...
From http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;898588 :
| Products that are covered under WGA include all versions of Microsoft
| Windows XP and Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional. WGA does not
| include Microsoft Windows Server 2003, Microsoft Windows Millennium
| Edition, or Microsoft Windows 98.
From http://www.microsoft.com/smallbusiness/genuine-windows/faq.mspx :
| Q. Do all Windows users need to validate in order to obtain genuine
| Windows downloads, or is validation limited to particular
| versions of Windows?
|
| A. Validation is currently recommended, but not required. Should it
| become required in the future, only users of Windows XP and
| Windows 2000 customers (client, not server) will be required to
| validate. Genuine Windows downloads will continue to be
| available, without validation, to customers running Windows 98,
| Windows ME, Windows Server 2003, and Windows NT 4.0 with Service
| Pack 3. However, Genuine Windows downloads are not available for
| older versions of Windows (Windows 95, NT 4.0 with Service Pack 2
| and earlier), and non-Microsoft operating systems.
From
http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/downloads/FAQ.aspx?displaylang=en :
| Q: Do all Windows users need to validate, or is validation limited to
| particular versions of Windows?
|
| A: Validation is required for all genuine Windows downloads on
| Microsoft Download Center and the Windows Update service for
| users of Windows XP including Windows XP Home, Windows XP
| Professional and Windows XP Media Center Edition. Security
| updates are accessible to all users via Automatic Updates.
| Genuine Windows downloads are available, without validation, to
| customers running Windows 98, Windows ME, Windows 2000, Windows
| Server 2003, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, Windows Vista,
| and Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 3. Genuine Windows downloads
| are not available for older versions of Windows (Windows 95,
| Windows NT 4.0 with Service Pack 2 and earlier), and
| non-Microsoft operating systems.
It is readily apparent that:
1) The MSI package is protected by WGA validation;
2) The MSI package is for Windows 2000 or NT, *not* XP;
3) The WGA only seems to apply to XP (and maybe 2003) OS's, the
previous Windows versions (at least 2000, anyhow) fail validation as
unsupported;
4) The download is marked as WGA only (1), but WGA is unsupported for
2000/NT (3), which the download is supposed to be for (2), leaving a
situation/truth table which is not possible to satisfy;
5) One Microsoft source states that WGA applies to only Windows XP,
another Microsoft source states that it applies to XP and 2000,
contradicting each other;
6) I have repeatedly tried telling the tech support person these
facts, and have been repeatedly ignored and told I need to validate my
Windows installation;
7) After repeated attempts to validate and giving the tech support
person my license key and the diagnostics files from another Microsoft
download, the tech support person has now informed me that my license
key is invalid;
8) While e-mailing me to tell me my license key was invalid, they
copied the key back to me--but it was no where near the key I
originally e-mailed to them.
By now, it should be quite clear what my problem and frustration is...
Conflicting or false information, poor tech support, possibly
improperly flagged downloads, et cetera.
Is Windows 2000 supposed to require WGA validation or not? Is a
download that is explicitly marked *not* for XP supposed to be WGA
protected? What about my license key? The CoA and CD pass all the
tests--Holograms, security marks and measures, et cetera, but now I am
being told I have an invalid key. This implies I have an
invalid/illegal Windows installation, and my job requires every file
on my system to be 100% legitimate, so obviously I am very worried
about this as well. Yet the key the tech told me was invalid does not
match the key I originally showed them.
I also use this PC for school, and I am now two weeks behind on my
schoolwork because of these problems. If I do not get back on track
this week, I will automatically be withdrawn from my classes and lose
the tuition money I paid. Just one more factor that is really starting
to make me angry.
Can someone please tell me WTF is going on? What should I do at this
point? What *can* I do?
--
CCB Mitchell
<casRteeGle-AT-innEoce9nt-DOT-cNom>
=or=
<caEsteNele-AT-gm3aiGl-DOT-coEm>
(Replace AT and DOT, then remove all CAPS letters
and any numbers to email--Sorry, spammers suck!)