XP Activation and Licensing

[Ron]

Our office runs Windows 2000 Server on a network with
about 20 Windows workstations (98se, 2000 Pro, XP Pro).
Recently we had to fire out administrator because we
suspect he may have been selling the product keys for our
purchased copies of XP Professional. How can I tell if
the product keys I own have been activated, and on what
type of system.

Best Regards,
Ron

 

[R. McCarty]

Contact the Microsoft Piracy department and discuss the
issue with them http://www.microsoft.com/piracy/

 

[Bob S]

lol........as if MS will care.

 

[Fired admin]

What you have stated

"Recently we had to fire out administrator because we
suspect he may have been selling the product keys"

Seems you put the cart before the horse. You're here
asking a question that you might haved asked before you
fired him or her. I like to see that stand up in court,
hope they don't take you to court!

 

[Ron Martell]

Our office runs Windows 2000 Server on a network with
about 20 Windows workstations (98se, 2000 Pro, XP Pro).
Recently we had to fire out administrator because we
suspect he may have been selling the product keys for our
purchased copies of XP Professional. How can I tell if
the product keys I own have been activated, and on what
type of system.

If any of your machines that are running Windows XP have not been
activated then you will be getting regular popups reminding you that
you have only X days left to activate them.

You can download a free utility which will show you which product key
was used to on a specific machine from
http://www.webtree.ca/windowsxp/keyfinder.exe

If you want to test and see if the product key for one of your
existing machines has been used elsewhere you could force a
reactivation of that machine by deleting the wpa.dbl and wpa.bak files
from the hard drive of that machine. Be sure to back up these files
before deleting them. If you have to telephone Microsoft in order to
reactivate that computer then that indicates, but does not prove, the
possibility that the product key may have been used elsewhere.


Good luck


Ron Martell Duncan B.C. Canada
--
Microsoft MVP
On-Line Help Computer Service
http://onlinehelp.bc.ca

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."