Windows Activation (1 Viewer)

Geon106

Portal Pro
June 23, 2006
164
0
35
Kent, England
Home Country
United Kingdom United Kingdom
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

MP Donator
  • Premium Supporter
  • March 24, 2005
    424
    57
    60
    USA
    Home Country
    United States of America United States of America
    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

    Portal Pro
    May 14, 2006
    361
    0
    Franklin, WI (Milwaukee)
    Home Country
    United States of America United States of America
    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

    Retired Team Member
  • Premium Supporter
  • August 4, 2005
    755
    13
    Copenhagen
    Home Country
    Denmark Denmark
    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

    Portal Pro
    May 14, 2006
    361
    0
    Franklin, WI (Milwaukee)
    Home Country
    United States of America United States of America
    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.
    .

    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

    Retired Team Member
  • Premium Supporter
  • August 4, 2005
    755
    13
    Copenhagen
    Home Country
    Denmark Denmark
    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

    Portal Member
    October 6, 2006
    35
    0
    Home Country
    Canada Canada
    ^Indeed it was designed that way, otherwise the VLKs in corporate XP would have been VLK 2.0 in XP.
     

    Geon106

    Portal Pro
    June 23, 2006
    164
    0
    35
    Kent, England
    Home Country
    United Kingdom United Kingdom
    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.
     

    Users who are viewing this thread

    Top Bottom