Windows Activation

[Geon106]

Hmm, i have quite a few custom built PC's and only once have i needed to activate windows. And yes, i have before used illegal copys of Windows which has no activation, but i've got all genuine copys now and i've only needed to activate once. on my lappy-top it doesn't need activating and thats a Genuine Windows XP Home. So must just be a problem your having. Sure you don't have a virus thats deactivating Windows?

[guytpetj]

Indeed, strange.

I've done a lot of hardware swapping between my HTPC's. CPU's, Ram, GPU's name it, and never had to re-activate a windows version.

Have you been hacked, and is your code available in the dark corners of the net?

[Paul S]

I have re-installed the same copy of WinXP several times, and also changed mobos and CPU. When it asks to be activated, if I also register and use the same name, e-mail etc. I have no problem.
If I say no to registration, activation fails saying it has already been activated.

Also, it is best to wait a few months between activations.

[ziphnor]

If I say no to registration, activation fails saying it has already been activated.

Interesting, however registration is not mandatory, so what you describe sounds like a bug or at least a very annoying way to handle activation.

Also, it is best to wait a few months between activations.

So in my case i should wait a few months between upgrading drivers?

So must just be a problem your having. Sure you don't have a virus thats deactivating Windows?

Problems with Windows activation are well known. Of course the problems dont occur for the majority of the users or they would never have dared using the activation system at all. When i phoned MS last, one of the questions in the survey was if i had actually changed my hardware, so perhaps this is a problem they are already aware of.

Have you been hacked, and is your code available in the dark corners of the net?

In that case i doubt phone activation is possible, and it worked fine for me when i activated by phone after having exactly the same problem as the OP.

[Paul S]

Originally Posted by ziphnor

Interesting, however registration is not mandatory, so what you describe sounds like a bug or at least a very annoying way to handle activation.
.

I seemed to me that if the same user that originally registered that copy of Windows, has to re-activate it, Microsoft seemed to be a little looser in allowing activation. The only way they know who is activating it is through registration.

And no, you should not need to re-activate Windows when you change drivers. I never had to.

[ziphnor]

Originally Posted by Paul S

And no, you should not need to re-activate Windows when you change drivers. I never had to.

Its not that surprising when you think about it, i don't think hardware has a unique identifier that Windows can read without a driver. If Windows depend on the driver to supply such identification, a new driver might for some reason supply a new ID thus causing windows to believe a hardware device have been changed.

In the case of the OPs video card driver, this change might have something todo with a big revision of the structure of the driver(maybe in connection with Vista), and in my case it might have something to do with getting a driver produced by a different company than the driver that was replaced.

Regardless, the conclusion is (as always) with these anti-piracy schemes that it hurts the legitimate customer

[cowpie]

^Indeed it was designed that way, otherwise the VLKs in corporate XP would have been VLK 2.0 in XP.

[Geon106]

I think the best thing for you to do is contact MS and tell them or maybe just get Vista or a old copy of XP? lol. Can get OEM XP for next to nothing these days.