Arvil said:
My hard drive started acting up, I installed a new hard
drive and when I re-installed my windows XP software it
prompted me for an Activation Key I threw away the
product box after my first installation and the system is
telling me that I cannot us ethe already registered
activation key again. can anyone help me?
Do you mean the Product key (25 characters) that you need to do the
installation at all? That is on a yellow sticker on the back of the
folder with the CD, marked in large letters 'Do Not Lose this number'.
If you can still boot the old drive you can get the key from it by
getting the free Aida 32, enterprise edition from
http://www.aida32.hu/aida32-download.php
which is an excellent general System Info tool, and its Software -
Licenses page will tell you the one used for Windows and ones for
several other items.
Note that if the machine came with XP installed, this will probably give
a key used in producing an original image, then cloned to all machines
they make. So it is not the one for a reinstall. But then the key will
be on a label on the case of the machine
If this is later, once installed, and wanting to activate, then the
activation system is seeing so many changes in hardware that it does not
look like the same machine (ie has been used more than once). In that
case, you go to
Start - All Programs - Accessories - System Tools - Activate Windows
and take the option To do it by phone: call a toll-free number that
will be given, to explain and swap one long number for another to check
back as you type it in
