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| Thread ID: 64995 | 2006-01-04 02:25:00 | Windows Product Activation | aidanmaz (7180) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 1357626 | 2006-01-08 00:49:00 | Does anybody know where on my system I can find the activation codes for XP and Office?I'm not certain if this will help, but when I run Belarc Advisor (a free utility) it pulls up two serial codes each for both XP and Office. The one is the installation key, and the second comes in the form of: 12345-123-1234567-12345. So I'm not sure if this is the activation serial or not, but might be worth a look. In Belarc it comes under the heading Software Licences | Greg (193) | ||
| 1357627 | 2006-01-08 01:01:00 | I was just reading up about activation, it seems that Mr Gates regularly gets messages from a PC just checking if it is running legal software, but at this time, no way can Bill Gates back track to find pirated software, (he could do an automatic OS critical update enabling him to back track) recently Mr Gates disabled automatic activation of XP preinstalled as OEM software, . What are you on about? Getting messages from a PC checking if its legal.... The only new thing is automatic updates - previously there was no check done of your product key - now there is and if its on the pirated list the updates are refused. OEM XPs have always needed to be activated. And its no big deal either. I've done it by the online method - a painless 1 second connect via broadband. I've done it via the phone too - you don't speak to anyone - just type in your number and the automated voice reads you off theirs. And thats on reinstalls too. I can't see you'd really want to use it in 10 years time - that would be like using Win95a on a PC now. Why? |
pctek (84) | ||
| 1357628 | 2006-01-08 01:17:00 | I can't see you'd really want to use it in 10 years time Because it's the world's best operating system? :p | Greg (193) | ||
| 1357629 | 2006-01-08 01:26:00 | If you look in your System32 folder you will see a file called LegitCheckControl.dll.This is the one that lets you have (or not have)updates if you are genuine.Removing it wont help.It will only ask you to run the validation check again if you go to the update site. | Pancake (6359) | ||
| 1357630 | 2006-01-08 01:35:00 | What are you on about? Getting messages from a PC checking if its legal.... The only new thing is automatic updates - previously there was no check done of your product key - now there is and if its on the pirated list the updates are refused. OEM XPs have always needed to be activated. And its no big deal either. I've done it by the online method - a painless 1 second connect via broadband. I've done it via the phone too - you don't speak to anyone - just type in your number and the automated voice reads you off theirs. And thats on reinstalls too. I can't see you'd really want to use it in 10 years time - that would be like using Win95a on a PC now. Why? Not so much checking it is legal, but comparing its activation code with Bill Gates data base, (he stores the whole lot) and if it finds it is ilegal, it tells Bill Gates that, no names or id, just so Bill can increase his count by one, and i would say that his lawyers are looking into what happens if he one day decides to disable pirated copies, ie, could he be held responsble for losses of data, or lives? (I bet pirated XP is used in mission critical PCs everywhere.) OEM XP preinstalled with Back-up (rather than a CD) on a HDD partition includes the activation code which does make it easier for newbies and is locked into the same HDD, you can not move it to another HDD, but a OEM supplied CD does not. I wont be buying this method again. Hank. And since I am useing a OEM version, it is not as easy to activate as I have to provide info about my OEM version, usely I have a holgram sticker on the CPU box to identify and match with what MS suggests. (i have done PCs for others too) Some people today use Win 3.1, I only go back as far as Win95a which has problems with USB, it really depends on what your interests are, pctek, why are you only interested in XP? Lateral Thinker |
Lateral Thinker (17185) | ||
| 1357631 | 2006-01-08 01:37:00 | You may find this article from "About" (netsecurity.about.com) interesting to read. I have never tried it yet, but looks helpful. thanks, just what I needed. :) Lateral Thinker |
Lateral Thinker (17185) | ||
| 1357632 | 2006-01-08 01:40:00 | Because it's the world's best operating system? :p for now! :) |
Lateral Thinker (17185) | ||
| 1357633 | 2006-01-08 03:13:00 | OEM XPs have always needed to be activated. And its no big deal either. I've done it by the online method - a painless 1 second connect via broadband. I've done it via the phone too - you don't speak to anyone - just type in your number and the automated voice reads you off theirs. And thats on reinstalls too. clearly your activation experience was very different to mine. at the completion of my degree, I was given the computer I was working on along with the origional OEM pack that had never been touched. I did a clean install of XP home (there is no way I'd use the compaq restore CD) using the serial on the case sticker, went to activate it online, and it failed - it didn't even tell me why it failed. Since activating it online didn't work, I decided to activate it via phone. I input all the numbers, then waited. After 10 minutes silence (I'm not exagerating - I checked the time) it told me it couldn't activate it. Once again it didn't tell me why activation failed. I ended up having to talk to someone with an accent that was really hard to understand. They gave me the activation code, but couldn't offer any explination as to why the automatic system didn't work. They said that after the first time a copy of windows is activated, you can't use the automatic system, but my copy of XP had never been activated before & if it had, the automatic system would have gave me the error message "the product has already been activated". |
Greven (91) | ||
| 1357634 | 2006-01-08 10:00:00 | clearly your activation experience was very different to mine. at the completion of my degree, I was given the computer I was working on along with the origional OEM pack that had never been touched. I did a clean install of XP home (there is no way I'd use the compaq restore CD) using the serial on the case sticker, went to activate it online, and it failed - it didn't even tell me why it failed. I just finished the whole deal, I did not even need to use the activation file that I had backed up, and to ensure XP did not activate without my knowledge, I had my router turned off, I used my SP1 CD then my PC World SP2 CD, then booted up the router, went to Windows update, and unlike last year when Bill Gates got tough on OEM reactivation, I had no run around at all, and I am updated as of this minute. My PC is from HP, XP install files are on a partition with the activation code already there from when HP built the PC, I dont belive now that I had to reactivate at all after putting in the 2 new cards last year. I have had this PC for 3 years, and reinstalled twice a year, never once asked to activate, yet I begin with the origanal set up each time, all my files, settings and other software gone. I wonder if HP fixed it so new activation codes are saved to the restore partition. Anyway, the pain is over for another 6 months, I have a clean PC again, running flat out. You should have used the Compaq restore CD as it is supplied to make it easy for beginners, you would have had no trouble with activation. Lateral thinker |
Lateral Thinker (17185) | ||
| 1357635 | 2006-01-08 10:12:00 | You may find this article from "About" (netsecurity.about.com) interesting to read. I have never tried it yet, but looks helpful. Thanks, even though I did not need it in the end, your link still gave me some new information about XP and where to go next time for answers. Lateral Thinker, (knocking off for the night.):confused: |
Lateral Thinker (17185) | ||
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