XP RE-ACTIVATION CAN BE A PAINFUL EXPERIENCE

  • Thread starter Thread starter Dave Ford
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Dave Ford

I love to tinker with my computer. As the prices go down,
I change almost every component every few months. A
couple of months ago, I added an 80G+80G RAID array (two
hard drives that appear to Windows XP as one 160G drive
that runs twice as fast).

I promise I am not exagerating this horror story:

I spent three hours on the phone with Microsoft being
interrogated skeptically by one person after another,
because I needed a new key too activate my LEGEL copy of
XP on my one and only computer. AFTER ALL THAT, THEY
WOULD NOT GIVE ME A KEY!!! Finally, after writing a
diplomatic but brutally honest letter, someone called me
the next day and gave me a new viable KEY. I'm a little
reluctant to admit that I am easily intimated. Therefore,
the whole experience was literally traumatic and one that
I do not want to relive.

This week, I am upgrading the hard disks to 10,000 rpm
SATA and will need to reload XP (and ACTIVATE IT AGAIN).
I'm tempted to either buy a new copy of XP and not be
tortured for hours, or have my attorney brother call and
ask to talk to a senior manager. Either way, I lose time
and become angry that I can't use my software. I just put
new higher-performance tires on my Lexus; and, I didn't
have to call Lexus to get a new KEY to start the car...
Yes I understand that Microsoft is protecting itself from
casual piracy. BUT, WHAT ABOUT THE PRICE THE HONEST
CUSTOMERS PAY?

Dear Microsoft: If you monitor this bulletin board, can
you help me? I have never made an illegal copy of XP. I
have never loaded it onto any machine other than the one
with which I tinker constantly. Making this "street rod"
faster and faster is a fun hobby - except for the worry
about re-activating XP.

Is there so less painful way to convince you good folks
that I am honest and that I only want to use the software
I paid for without having to be intimidated by
insinuating comments and questions about my need for a
new key?

Dear Fellow XP enthuasists: Do you know of a reasonably-
priced program I can buy to reload MY XP on MY computer
without the hassle? I DO NOT CONDONE NOR ENCOURAGE
ILLEGALLY COPYING XP - I ONLY WANT TO USE MY COPY ON MY
COMPUTER WITHOUT HAVING TO FORFEIT A TESTICLE.

THANKS!
Dave
 
re-activation is not painful at all. if you get a mesage saying that you
can't activate just follow the no-screen prompot and call microsoft. the
whole process takes less then 5min. after they give you a code just imput it
inyour computer and it will activate fine.
 
If you always reload your system, the best solution for you will be...

to buy a copy of Norton Ghost 2003, once you have everything loaded on your
system and activated, you just make a image of the disk. Then get new hard
drives or what ever, you just "ghost" your hard drive, and your done!, down
time is 10 - 15min and you have your system back, and you never need to
re-activate!

http://www.symantec.com/sabu/ghost/ghost_personal/


Travis
 
Dave Ford said:
I love to tinker with my computer. As the prices go down,
I change almost every component every few months. A
couple of months ago, I added an 80G+80G RAID array (two
hard drives that appear to Windows XP as one 160G drive
that runs twice as fast).

I promise I am not exagerating this horror story:

I spent three hours on the phone with Microsoft being
interrogated skeptically by one person after another,
because I needed a new key too activate my LEGEL copy of
XP on my one and only computer. AFTER ALL THAT, THEY
WOULD NOT GIVE ME A KEY!!! Finally, after writing a
diplomatic but brutally honest letter, someone called me
the next day and gave me a new viable KEY. I'm a little
reluctant to admit that I am easily intimated. Therefore,
the whole experience was literally traumatic and one that
I do not want to relive.

This week, I am upgrading the hard disks to 10,000 rpm
SATA and will need to reload XP (and ACTIVATE IT AGAIN).
I'm tempted to either buy a new copy of XP and not be
tortured for hours, or have my attorney brother call and
ask to talk to a senior manager. Either way, I lose time
and become angry that I can't use my software. I just put
new higher-performance tires on my Lexus; and, I didn't
have to call Lexus to get a new KEY to start the car...
Yes I understand that Microsoft is protecting itself from
casual piracy. BUT, WHAT ABOUT THE PRICE THE HONEST
CUSTOMERS PAY?

Dear Microsoft: If you monitor this bulletin board, can
you help me? I have never made an illegal copy of XP. I
have never loaded it onto any machine other than the one
with which I tinker constantly. Making this "street rod"
faster and faster is a fun hobby - except for the worry
about re-activating XP.

Is there so less painful way to convince you good folks
that I am honest and that I only want to use the software
I paid for without having to be intimidated by
insinuating comments and questions about my need for a
new key?

Dear Fellow XP enthuasists: Do you know of a reasonably-
priced program I can buy to reload MY XP on MY computer
without the hassle? I DO NOT CONDONE NOR ENCOURAGE
ILLEGALLY COPYING XP - I ONLY WANT TO USE MY COPY ON MY
COMPUTER WITHOUT HAVING TO FORFEIT A TESTICLE.

THANKS!
Dave
Click to expand...

Your main problem is that when you change the hard drives the
Activation data saved on the drive is wiped out and you therefore need
to reactivate.

If the hard drives are the only hardware change then creating a disk
image backup and restoring that to the new drive(s) could alleviate
the problem.

However hardware changes for Activation are cumulative and it is
possible that the hard drive change is the "culminating incident"
which when taken together with other recent hardware changes will
trigger the need to reactivate.

See MVP Alex Nichol's article on Product Activation at
http://aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.htm for a more detailed explanation on how
the process works, what triggers the need to reactivate, and some tips
on how you might reduce the possibility of being required to
reactivate.

Good luck


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

"The reason computer chips are so small is computers don't eat much."
 
Dave said:
I love to tinker with my computer. As the prices go down,
I change almost every component every few months. A
couple of months ago, I added an 80G+80G RAID array (two
hard drives that appear to Windows XP as one 160G drive
that runs twice as fast).

I promise I am not exagerating this horror story:

I spent three hours on the phone with Microsoft being
interrogated skeptically by one person after another,
because I needed a new key too activate my LEGEL copy of
XP on my one and only computer. AFTER ALL THAT, THEY
WOULD NOT GIVE ME A KEY!!! Finally, after writing a
diplomatic but brutally honest letter, someone called me
the next day and gave me a new viable KEY. I'm a little
reluctant to admit that I am easily intimated. Therefore,
the whole experience was literally traumatic and one that
I do not want to relive.

This week, I am upgrading the hard disks to 10,000 rpm
SATA and will need to reload XP (and ACTIVATE IT AGAIN).
I'm tempted to either buy a new copy of XP and not be
tortured for hours, or have my attorney brother call and
ask to talk to a senior manager. Either way, I lose time
and become angry that I can't use my software. I just put
new higher-performance tires on my Lexus; and, I didn't
have to call Lexus to get a new KEY to start the car...
Yes I understand that Microsoft is protecting itself from
casual piracy. BUT, WHAT ABOUT THE PRICE THE HONEST
CUSTOMERS PAY?

Dear Microsoft: If you monitor this bulletin board, can
you help me? I have never made an illegal copy of XP. I
have never loaded it onto any machine other than the one
with which I tinker constantly. Making this "street rod"
faster and faster is a fun hobby - except for the worry
about re-activating XP.

Is there so less painful way to convince you good folks
that I am honest and that I only want to use the software
I paid for without having to be intimidated by
insinuating comments and questions about my need for a
new key?

Dear Fellow XP enthuasists: Do you know of a reasonably-
priced program I can buy to reload MY XP on MY computer
without the hassle? I DO NOT CONDONE NOR ENCOURAGE
ILLEGALLY COPYING XP - I ONLY WANT TO USE MY COPY ON MY
COMPUTER WITHOUT HAVING TO FORFEIT A TESTICLE.

THANKS!
Dave
Click to expand...

Dave,
Next time you need to phone in to activate, say you made hardware upgrades
in complience with the EULA. No other information needs to be supplied.
Click on the link below, or copy and paste the link into the address box
More info on XP activation.
http://aumha.org/a/wpa.htm

--

Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
(e-mail address removed)
http://michaelstevenstech.com
For a better newsgroup experience. Setup a newsreader.
http://michaelstevenstech.com/outlookexpressnewreader.htm
 
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