Windows Activation

[Peter Stahl]

I turned on my PC today and got a screen I never got before. It asks if i want to Activate my Windows software. PC is my daughters old computer and she has no idea where the disk is. How can I find out what the numbers are for the registration? I've been using this PC for years and this is the first time this popped up. Just used it yesterday and it didn't do this. Is this something Microsoft just started. Any help is appreciated.

thanks, Pete

[Steven DeMars]

Don't do anything until you here from one the "pros" on here . . . This site is packed with IT Pros in their day job . . . . . . I did something similar years ago and it was actually an ad ware . . . .

Steve

[Robert Parrish]

Well Microsoft is having major problem with their Zune because of the New Year maybe they are have problems with Windows also!

[Peter Stahl]

Well Microsoft is having major problem with their Zune because of the New Year maybe they are have problems with Windows also!

Could be, it worked yesterday.

[David DeCristoforo]

Just "click" yes, you want to activate. If activation fails, call MS support and tell them. They will reactivate for you. Activation is not the same thing as having the "installation key" which you need to even install the OS. Activation involves allowing your computer to communicate with MS servers to verify that you are not attempting to install a copy of the OS on two different machines. Usually you only have to do this once within 30 days of the initial install. But every now and then it can get effed up.

[Peter Stahl]

Just "click" yes, you want to activate. If activation fails, call MS support and tell them. They will reactivate for you. Activation is not the same thing as having the "installation key" which you need to even install the OS. Activation involves allowing your computer to communicate with MS servers to verify that you are not attempting to install a copy of the OS on two different machines. Usually you only have to do this once within 30 days of the initial install. But every now and then it can get effed up.

Well I had to call Microsoft and after going through 3 people I finally got it going again. Was hoping for a easy solution but it only took about 25 minutes. Thanks everyone for your help.

[Phil Thien]

Was hoping for a easy solution but it only took about 25 minutes. Thanks everyone for your help.

With Microsoft, 25 minutes is the easy solution. :rolleyes:

[David DeCristoforo]

"With Microsoft, 25 minutes is the easy solution"

Amen!

[Steve Schlumpf]

So, what was the corrective action?

[Peter Stahl]

So, what was the corrective action?

I called the 800 number, they asked what my problem was, transferred me to another person who then transferred me to the person who was able to change the activation number and then the product key. Not sure why it worked for so long then all of the sudden wouldn't activate. May have been a windows update, not sure.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Thanks Peter! Was wondering if they walked you through some code or something. Glad you were able to get things back up and running!

[Matt Meiser]

I think you have 30 days to activate, so if your daughter gave you the computer since then and reloaded the OS, it may have just caught up with you. When the activation scheme first came out, there was talk that new hardware could force a reactivation. I've never seen that. Or it could have been a glitch. I'm surprised it took so long. The keys that Microsoft gives out to Certified Partners have been activated so many times that most of them will not activate of the internet. When I call the number to activate one of those products it probably doesn't take 5 minutes.

[Chris Lindell]

Changing hardware can cause it, but you have to change 3 or 4 different components before it gets mad and wants to reactivate.

Chris

[Peter Stahl]

Must have been something they initiated on 1/1/09 because it's been a long time since any hardware changes. Unless one of the auto updates did something I have no idea what it could have been. She gave me this PC a couple years ago.

[Peter Stahl]

Thanks Peter! Was wondering if they walked you through some code or something. Glad you were able to get things back up and running!

The last person I talked to did everything. Had me save the registry, delete a entry, then had me enter a new activation number then He had me put in a new key. Used the magic jelly bean program and the new Key shows up. Help line guy also told me to put a label on the tower case with the new Key number. Procedure would have went a little faster if my hearing was a little better and his accent wasn't a little hard to understand at times. He was very friendly and patient with me though. It's amazing how good the phone connection is between here and India.

[Neal Clayton]

I think you have 30 days to activate, so if your daughter gave you the computer since then and reloaded the OS, it may have just caught up with you. When the activation scheme first came out, there was talk that new hardware could force a reactivation. I've never seen that. Or it could have been a glitch. I'm surprised it took so long. The keys that Microsoft gives out to Certified Partners have been activated so many times that most of them will not activate of the internet. When I call the number to activate one of those products it probably doesn't take 5 minutes.


new hardware does in fact re-trigger activation.

every time i've replaced motherboards, and sometimes even video cards or memory (if from a different manufacturer than the original) it has wanted to reactivate.

in fairness to microsoft their activation process is one thing they do well, it's never taken me more than 10-15 minutes even if i had to call.

[David DeCristoforo]

"...every time i've replaced motherboards..."

If you look at the your hardware profile, you will see that as much as half of the devices listed are "imbedded" on the mainboard (chipsets, drive controllers, USB headers, etc.). So replacing the MB will almost always result in a significantly different hardware profile. Adding RAM or a video card by themselves should not cause an issue but either one can and both done at the same time probably will. The activation information is stored in the registry and anyone even slightly familiar with windoze can tell you how fragile that can be!

[Chuck Wintle]

The activation information is stored in the registry and anyone even slightly familiar with windoze can tell you how fragile that can be!

The Windows registry.....the great achilles tendon of MS. How simple life would be if Windows were more like apple software.

[Neal Clayton]

i don't think the registry is a bad idea but again, poor documentation and control in the hands of the user is the culprit. so many third party developers abuse the intent of the registry to attempt to hide settings from users. if there were a persistent and automatic log of registry changes associated with the program that made them that would solve alot of the complaints about the registry itself.

and OSX also has a registry, it just isn't called that.

if we all wanted the ultimate in software management we'd use the FreeBSD ports system. but i'm not holding my breath on that, even though the TCP/IP stack from BSD Unix was good enough for microsoft to use in the NT kernel ;).