XP Home Activation

[Guest]

Have just upgraded my computer, all new bits. Reinstalled XP Home and was
asked to activate. Going through the activation wizard, it tells me Windows
XP is already activated. Click OK, it goes away but then next time I restart
I am again told I have x number of days to activate. I keep going through the
activation wizard and it keeps telling me it is already activated but then
keeps asking me to activate again. I'm going round and round and now have
only 1 day left apparently. Any clues?

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi,

Try: http://rickrogers.org/fixes.htm#activation

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Guest]

Rick, thanks for the advise. Just before trying this, I got a message saying
my grace period for activation had expired. So I tried your first solution,
got messages saying both were successful. Restarted and my computer is now
caught in a loop - I get the welcome screen, click to log on, get a message
saying Windows XP is not activated, do I want to activate now, click Yes, get
the Windows Product Activation screen which says Windows is already
activated, click OK and get back to the Welcome screen and the whole thing
starts again. Stuck now, any other suggestions please?

Thanks,
Hazel

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi Hazel,

Boot to Safe mode. How to start in Safe mode:
http://www.rickrogers.org/fixes.htm#Safe mode

Then remove the keys from the registry as described in the previous link.
Restart normally.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Guest]

Hi Rick,
Thanks for replying so quickly. Sorry, should have said in my last message,
I tried this but in HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft, there is no
"Cryptography" and in HKEY_USERS, there is no "S-1-5-20" so couldn't do
either. In case it is of help, I am running Windows XP Home will all updates
apart from Service Pack 2 which I found more trouble than it was worth. I am
currently using another computer to pick up and leave messages here.

Thanks,
Hazel

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi Hazel,

Ok, so are you still able to access Safe mode?
If so, are you able to prompt for activation under start/all
programs/accessories/system tools?

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Guest]

Hi Rick,

Yes, I can still access Safe mode but under start/all
programs/accessories/system tools, "Activate Windows" does not appear on my
computer.

Thanks,
Hazel

 

[Guest]

In addition to my previous message, I have also just found out that there is
a command one can put into "Run" to activate Windows but if I try this, I get
a message saying it is not possible to activate Windows in Safe Mode and I
need to restart not in Safe Mode and then activate Windows but of course I
can't do that!

Hoping you can come up with a miracle,
Hazel

 

[Rick \Nutcase\ Rogers]

Hi Hazel,

We can try extracting new copies of some of the activation files from the XP
CD in Safe mode. Start/run msconfig, click on "expand file" (general tab)

File to expand: wpa.dbl
From: X:\I386
To: C:\Windows\system32

Where X is whatever letter is assigned your CD drive (you need your WinXP CD
for this), change it accordingly. This assumes a default installation to
C:\Windows. If your installation is in a different folder, such as C:\Winnt,
change the "To" path accordingly. Repeat this for wpa.bak, then reboot when
finished.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP

Associate Expert - WindowsXP Expert Zone

Windows help - www.rickrogers.org

 

[Guest]

Hi Rick,

OK, firstly my Win XP CD does not have a wpa.dbl file in the I386 directory
and if I just type in wpa.dbl, it says file not found. There is a wpa.db_
file in the I386 and it will let me expand this but then when I go to the
System32 directory to which it was expanded, there is nothing there and I
have checked that hidden files are showing and such like. Also my Win XP CD
also des not have a wpa.bak file in the I386, the only thing close is
wpaback.jp_.

Going quietly mad,
Hazel