XP Activation - Fact or fiction?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Yabbadoo
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Yabbadoo

Current "ComputerActive" mag (UK, issue 185, 17th March, p13) article states
that as of end Feb, Microsoft no longer allow customers to activate XP
online. Instead, customers purchasing stand-alone XP OS's will have to call
MS and undergo the third degree to activate.
OEM's will have to pre-validate pre-installed XP systems.

That this (the date, anyway) is untrue, I know already, as I activated a new
XPPro installation last week. However, there's no smoke without fire - so,
what's the true story?
 
Current "ComputerActive" mag (UK, issue 185, 17th March, p13) article states
that as of end Feb, Microsoft no longer allow customers to activate XP
online. Instead, customers purchasing stand-alone XP OS's will have to call
MS and undergo the third degree to activate.
OEM's will have to pre-validate pre-installed XP systems.

That this (the date, anyway) is untrue, I know already, as I activated a new
XPPro installation last week. However, there's no smoke without fire - so,
what's the true story?
Click to expand...
The following is the truth as far as I know:
1) As of Feb. 28, 2005, Microsoft has disabled Activation via the
Internet for the top OEM-produced CDs, such as Dell and Gateway. From
now on, those who have OEM CDs must make a telephone call to Microsoft's
activation center and answer a series of questions which supposedly will
prove that one has a legal OEM CD. At first, this will only apply to
the top 20 or so OEM installed Operating Systems. Sooner or later, I'm
sure that Microsoft will extend the new program to all OEM CDs.

Supposedly, this shouldn't affect most home users much, since OEM
produced machines will have the OS activated at the factory. However,
those who need to reinstall their OS will have to call in to activate
it.

Microsoft's rationalization of their change to the OEM Eula is that the
new activation policy is intended to stop software piracy such as
happens when COA's are pulled from machines which have the OS installed
at the factory and sold as legal OEM licenses.

2) This diabling of OEM CDs does not apply to Retail copies of XP. That
this is so was proved to me when I installed XP Pro using a Retail
Upgrade CD after Feb. 28, and successfully activated it via the
Internet.

--
Donald L McDaniel
Please post reply to original
Newsgroup, so that threads may
be kept intact.
=====================================================
 
False.

Retail editions are not affected at all.

Donald is essentially correct concerning OEM edtions, except that there is
no information to indicate that OEM cd's provided with built-to-order
computers by small computer outlets will be affected at any point in the
future.
 
The following is the truth as far as I know:
1) As of Feb. 28, 2005, Microsoft has disabled Activation via the
Internet for the top OEM-produced CDs, such as Dell and Gateway. From
now on, those who have OEM CDs must make a telephone call to Microsoft's
activation center and answer a series of questions which supposedly will
prove that one has a legal OEM CD. At first, this will only apply to
the top 20 or so OEM installed Operating Systems. Sooner or later, I'm
sure that Microsoft will extend the new program to all OEM CDs.

Supposedly, this shouldn't affect most home users much, since OEM
produced machines will have the OS activated at the factory. However,
those who need to reinstall their OS will have to call in to activate
it.
Click to expand...

Not quite correct. This change applies to those OEM's whose CDs are
"BIOS locked" and which will therefore install without activation on a
system with the correct BIOS from that specific manufacturer.

The need for manual activation will occur if:
1. The motherboard is replaced by one that is not from the original
manufacturer of the computer.
2. The motherboard BIOS is updated with an update that is not from
the computer manufacturer - e.g. using a generic AMI/Award BIOS update
rather than one from the computer manufacturer's web site.

In these circumstances the owner will be pretty much out of luck
unless they purchase a new copy of Windows XP.

Microsoft's rationalization of their change to the OEM Eula is that the
new activation policy is intended to stop software piracy such as
happens when COA's are pulled from machines which have the OS installed
at the factory and sold as legal OEM licenses.
Click to expand...

That is correct.
2) This diabling of OEM CDs does not apply to Retail copies of XP. That
this is so was proved to me when I installed XP Pro using a Retail
Upgrade CD after Feb. 28, and successfully activated it via the
Internet.
Click to expand...

That is also correct.

Just to emphasize. This change only applies to major brand OEM
versions of Windows that are BIOS locked. These will have a "system
recovery" disk or partition; or perhaps a Windows install CD with the
computer manufacturer's name and logo on it. The BIOS locked
versions of Windows can be identified by the fact that the "Activate
Windows" item is not present in the Accessories - System Tools menu.

Persons with these versions of Windows should not repeat not consider
upgrading these machines to a new motherboard, unless they purchase
that motherboard from the manufacturer of their computer.

Hope this clarifies the situation.

Good luck


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

In memory of a dear friend Alex Nichol MVP
http://aumha.org/alex.htm
 
Donald said:
The following is the truth as far as I know:
1) As of Feb. 28, 2005, Microsoft has disabled Activation via the
Internet for the top OEM-produced CDs, such as Dell and Gateway. From
now on, those who have OEM CDs must make a telephone call to
Microsoft's activation center and answer a series of questions which
supposedly will prove that one has a legal OEM CD. At first, this
will only apply to the top 20 or so OEM installed Operating Systems.
Sooner or later, I'm sure that Microsoft will extend the new program
to all OEM CDs.

Supposedly, this shouldn't affect most home users much, since OEM
produced machines will have the OS activated at the factory. However,
those who need to reinstall their OS will have to call in to activate
it.

Microsoft's rationalization of their change to the OEM Eula is that
the new activation policy is intended to stop software piracy such as
happens when COA's are pulled from machines which have the OS
installed at the factory and sold as legal OEM licenses.

2) This diabling of OEM CDs does not apply to Retail copies of XP.
That this is so was proved to me when I installed XP Pro using a
Retail Upgrade CD after Feb. 28, and successfully activated it via the
Internet.
Click to expand...

As did I to my parents' system not ten days ago. I didn't even know anything
about this until now.
 
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