Windows XP Activation is really pissing me off!!!

[Siginet]

I am really getting sick of this XP Activation crap! It seems to be getting worse and worse. Almost everytime I reinstall a customers computer nowadays I have to call microsoft activation on the phone.

They ask me a million and one questions.

1. Is this the only computer this is installed on?
Answer: You tell me... You should have all the answers by now!
2. Was this purchased at a store or was it preloaded on the computer.
Answer: Hmmm... It's an oem licence. What does that mean again?
3. What is the make and model of this system?
Answer: It's a computer and its rectangle shaped. Does it really matter?
4. What is the XP Serial #?
Answer: WTF?!? I don't feel comfortable giving it out. You might steal it and I'll have more bull$h!t to go through next time I install the system!
5. How large is your penis?
Answer: ??? Nine inches!
Then they take another 5 minutes to tell you to place your cursor in the box and type. This really gets annoying when you have to go through this crap like 4 times a day.

And to make matters worse... I just called... went through all this crap and the person told me their system was down... to call back in 15 mins! WTF??! I bet he has to call and get his OS activated!

[RyanVM]

...and all activation does is annoy honest users.

[Siginet]

Exactly!

[MrNxDmX]

4. What is the XP Serial #?
Answer: WTF?!? I don't feel comfortable giving it out. You might steal it and I'll have more bull$h!t to go through next time I install the system!

yea,microsoft might steal, yea, nice one

[keytotime]

That is why I am so happy I have a VLK from my old Job.

[Xable]

I am a genuine user and have never activated. One dll is all that`s needed to prevent that. I wont go into it here though.

Intrestingly according to MS you can only get a refund if you havn`t activated.. guess what i`ll be doing if i ever decide to move to vista. Provided of course that appearing to be activated doesn`t record you to have actualy activated.

[RyanVM]

Once I can afford a laptop, I'm going to order it by phone so I can hopefully get it with no OS preinstalled (and save a few bucks while I'm at it).

[RogueSpear]

In my experience, ordering a computer without an OS can be a bit of a hassle. It's still worth it, but I usually get the old "you won't be eligable for tech support" routine. Big woop. I'm about 10x more knowledgable than any tech support person I've ever talked to. So I ask them if the warranty is still valid on the hardware, and of course it always is.

With my clients, I always stress the bennies of getting a VLK. You'd be surprised what creativity can do to that end as well. One of my client's owns a truck dealership. He has like 30 computers. Now he has this deal where whenever he orders a computer or server, he goes through Dell and uses truck manufacturer's Dell account to get the chisel price. So it dawned on me, the main company could get a VLK to cover all the dealerships and the dealerships would all pony up to the manufacturer for their share.

Here's another example. A doctor's office. Most areas have some sort of group that all doctors belong to (the same would apply other types of "businesses"). Get the group to all pitch in and get a VLK. So whether it's a small outfit that is autonomous, yet in some way reports to a larger main entity, or an independant place that belongs to an organization of the like minded, you might be able to fenagle a VLK into the deal. Oh and don't forget about the charitable orgs and non-profits. Same applies. It may take a little leg work in the beginning, but it sure makes like easier in the end.

Side topic - I grew sick and tired of trying to "sell" people of Microsoft Office. Once you show them the $$ involved, they give you the thousand mile stare. Well nobody I've ever known has used any of that collaboration BS, so now they all use Open Office. I'm even converting everyone at my main job to OO. I've really had it with Microsoft's highway robbery.

[RyanVM]

How much do you save by ordering it without the OS?

[RogueSpear]

When I get a desktop from a local shop (they're a certified MS partner and they're also on NYS contract), they take off a flat $100 per unit to leave out XP Pro. May not sound like much, but when I order a dozen desktops, it's $1,200.

Interestingly, I order my laptops through Dell, and they won't sell anything without an OS. This is even though I bought my 150 seat VLK through them.

[dumpydooby]

I used to get laptops from Dell when they had those $750 off $1500 deals. But now their deals aren't anything spectacular. Dell SB is usually about $100 off retail, but retail often offers free or reduced shipping. I hated dealing with Dell at my old job.

Personally, though, I really like their laptops and LCDs. Samsung gives Dell the cream of the crop LCDs, which is great.

I've had the luck of never having to call MS regarding a legit CD key. A few of my co-workers had to, though. It seems like a real hassle, but MS is pretty good about remedying the situation, right?

[tbone2]

As I stated in the IM I sent....I have bought to many to count, windows xp pro... and ta call MS every time I have to format and reinstall ...being a beta tester for many companies and sales of my systems...its a load of crap that it taking time from my company because of a few bad apples....and this board wonders why someone would use a crack for wga....its not that they are stealing anything....oh shit who am I kidding no one at Microsoft gives a shit about the small businessman....OK done venting sorry....Blame it on Siginet, he got me started...

[RyanVM]

Like I said in the past, I personally have no problem with people using a cracked WGA. I just have a problem with them discussing it on this board since it is a circumvention mechanism and this is a public site.

[RogueSpear]

Normally, one could only hope that Microsoft would get tired of having to field so many calls. That is having to pay a staff of telephone operators to take care of this day in and day out. But then my realistic thinking took over. They've probably got a call center set up in India where each call taker is getting paid somewhere around a buck a day. Plus they probably figure the more calls the better. It just proves the value (to them) of product activation.

Like I stated in an earlier thread, I honestly think the day is coming when your computer will have to perform a WGA check (silently without your knowledge or permission of course) within the first hour of booting up. If this doesn't happen, the computer will go into some sort of "limited functionality" mode. Look at the new technology "InfoCard" and how it's going to hook up with Windows Live Identity (formerly Passport). Throw in TPM on the firmware of hard drives and this is pretty much what you get:

[5eraph]

Well spoken, RogueSpear.

[ozzy214]

Its easy enough.After install and activation via phone...go onto your windows directory. Copy the wpa.dbl file onto floppy. Next time you reinstall just boot into safe mode and put the wpa.dbl file back in there. As long as there isnt sufficient hardware change since last activation you will be fine and it will be activated. I recommend safe mode, but I have done it in normal use and rebooted for the effect to take place. And this isnt a crack...its well known common knowledge. And I do this on the cusatomers computers I work on. Save it before wiping and reinstall and replace the file.:>

[RogueSpear]

You know I always forget about that little trick. I might even add something to my unattended scripts that copies the file to the root of the system drive. That way I'll see it and won't forget about it and can put it to floppy or something.

[keytotime]

or you can add it to dosnet and txt and have them copy it.

[Daemonforce]

Damn this TCPA crap!

D00D......I relate to this too much. I always urge my customers to go VLK. Even if they have like 15 computers and none of them are running virtual machines. It's just so much easier to get work done when you don't have an annoyance hanging over your head to activate the OS. This annoyance was the first step towards creating a corporate installation environment. It didn't take me long to get wise as to what was going on here. It's not exactly a Microsoft problem, but it's like the EPA sneaking around an old oil rig still working. The TCPA was the start of these problems because it somehow became a standard for the majority of their partners. Now it's 5 years later down the line and Microsoft has yet to release an updated operating system for end users. 3 years if you're running a server OS. The Vista betas are really making Microsoft's future look dim. IBM of all people doesn't like the way Vista is going to deploy and function so they're already talking about switching their servers over to Redhat.

As for Apple, the last thing I want to see is Apple taking over the computer market(but it's still on the list). Without competition, we're all screwed. OSX isn't what I can actually call an OS. Xsan almost fits the bill. Speaking of such, is there any of that TCPA crap present in OSX? Why not? What are corporate customers saying about it? You can see where I'm going with this one and why I already don't like it.

The next TCPA annoyance to deal with was updates. SP1(Server 03) had several updates before the service pack and now I need to waste precious bandwidth on a 100MB+ file that I can run and slipstream into Server 03 distributions! Squee!

After slipstreaming, some keys are rejected when doing an in-place upgrade. Why this happens, I have no idea. It happens to me even though my key really is valid. I don't deal with this because this problem doesn't exist in PE.

The final and most horrible TCPA annoyance now is getting to updates. There are customers that have and use valid keys, then BAM! 3 or 4 out of 10 fail the WGA check when going to Microsoft Update. WTF?! I am sick and tired of dealing with this. I know going to Microsoft Update isn't necessary to grab updates, but my clients want and several of them actually need that option. This is the reason I use a cracked WGA in my installs from this point. I'm just sick and tired of worrying about a problem that shouldn't exist in the first place.

By 2008, TCPA problems will outweigh annoying DirectX-based popup ads. o_O

...and all activation does is annoy honest users.

Urge to destroy world....Rising. >.<'

That is why I am so happy I have a VLK from my old Job.

Why hello there smart and tired OS deployment buddy! I think we'll be seeing a lot more VLKs used in the future. So far they seem to be the only key types used to deploy Vista. They don't work like volume keys should though.

Once I can afford a laptop, I'm going to order it by phone so I can hopefully get it with no OS preinstalled (and save a few bucks while I'm at it).

This makes me wonder...What OS will you see preinstalled on a tablet in the near future?

In my experience, ordering a computer without an OS can be a bit of a hassle. It's still worth it, but I usually get the old "you won't be eligable for tech support" routine. Big woop. I'm about 10x more knowledgable than any tech support person I've ever talked to. So I ask them if the warranty is still valid on the hardware, and of course it always is.

Hardware warranty > Software warranty
Always.

With my clients, I always stress the bennies of getting a VLK. You'd be surprised what creativity can do to that end as well. One of my client's owns a truck dealership. He has like 30 computers. Now he has this deal where whenever he orders a computer or server, he goes through Dell and uses truck manufacturer's Dell account to get the chisel price. So it dawned on me, the main company could get a VLK to cover all the dealerships and the dealerships would all pony up to the manufacturer for their share.

I like these classic deployment routines. How does volume licensing come into play when the majority of your computers are virtual machines?

I grew sick and tired of trying to "sell" people of Microsoft Office. Once you show them the $$ involved, they give you the thousand mile stare. Well nobody I've ever known has used any of that collaboration BS, so now they all use Open Office. I'm even converting everyone at my main job to OO. I've really had it with Microsoft's highway robbery.

I still use Microsoft Office because old versions of Open Office have been responsible for eating a lot of group work when I was still in high school. Needless to say, I'll never trust it. o_O
I currently use Office 03 Professional.

How much do you save by ordering it without the OS?

Depends on the OS and instances of it needed(number of machines). Last I checked the minimal pricings were...
Windows NT Server: $40
Windows XP Home: $90
Windows XP Pro: $180
Windows 2000 Pro: $110 (FINALLY!)
Windows 2000 Server: $350
Windows Server 2003: $440

Of course you can mess with the licensing modes on everything made before XP, but I won't get into that since that's sort of a gray area.

As I stated in the IM I sent....I have bought to many to count, windows xp pro... and ta call MS every time I have to format and reinstall ...being a beta tester for many companies and sales of my systems...its a load of crap that it taking time from my company because of a few bad apples....

This is why it's a good idea to prepare images for deployment.

I still have a Windows .NET Enterprise Server candidate around here somewhere and I can still activate with the same key(even though I install in volume license mode).

Betas are weird.

Its easy enough.After install and activation via phone...go onto your windows directory. Copy the wpa.dbl file onto floppy. Next time you reinstall just boot into safe mode and put the wpa.dbl file back in there. As long as there isnt sufficient hardware change since last activation you will be fine and it will be activated. I recommend safe mode, but I have done it in normal use and rebooted for the effect to take place. And this isnt a crack...its well known common knowledge. And I do this on the cusatomers computers I work on. Save it before wiping and reinstall and replace the file.:>

Does this work on all machines or just the computers with identical hardware?

[DisabledTrucker]

How much do you save by ordering it without the OS?

Depending upon the manufacturor, I've seen price descrepencies of between $100-250 for Windows XP to be installed on systems. Most of the decent manufacturors will give you the option when ordering if you want to have the OS installed, such as with Cyberpowerpc, IBuyPower, my favorite Falcon-NW, and AOpen has a decent one you can build yourself if you'd like, even Alienware will allow you to leave off the Operating System when ordering. You just have to check with the company. (If you need links to the ones I'm talking about, just add www and com before and after the names above and it will bring you to their sites.) If you order the O/S with Cyberpowerpc and Falcon-NW, they usually include the full CD's with their systems, unlike other companies, such as HP and Dell, who don't ship media with their systems. Falcon-NW gives you the retail version of the software on CD when you purchase their systems. There are others, those are just the ones I could think of off the top of my head.

@Siginet, I feel your pain, I have to go through that about 20x a day when I'm constantly installing my Operating System over and over when beta testing new builds, it's a royal pain the frakkin arse if you ask me. I'm sooo glad I don't have to go through all that with my Mac, hell I've even installed the same operating system on multiple Macs and never once worried about if they would run or not on them, even though I've only purchased one copy of the O/S. Oh well, it won't be too much longer and Apple will make the breakthrough that will put them the top O/S for a change and we'll no longer have to worry about M$'s whining again...

[Ghostrider]

4. What is the XP Serial #?
Answer: WTF?!? I don't feel comfortable giving it out. You might steal it and I'll have more bull$h!t to go through next time I install the system!

yea,microsoft might steal, yea, nice one

Actually, your talking to a call centre in India, how secure do you think that is...?

[Ghostrider]

That is why I am so happy I have a VLK from my old Job.

Old Job..?? isn't that illegal...?

[Ghostrider]

Its easy enough.After install and activation via phone...go onto your windows directory. Copy the wpa.dbl file onto floppy. Next time you reinstall just boot into safe mode and put the wpa.dbl file back in there. As long as there isnt sufficient hardware change since last activation you will be fine and it will be activated. I recommend safe mode, but I have done it in normal use and rebooted for the effect to take place. And this isnt a crack...its well known common knowledge. And I do this on the cusatomers computers I work on. Save it before wiping and reinstall and replace the file.:>

I always format my system hard drives and sometimes kill the bios before re-install, just in case anything nasty resides there, and the wpa.dbl trick wont work as the serail number on the HDD changed

[RogueSpear]

I honestly think the day is coming when your computer will have to perform a WGA check (silently without your knowledge or permission of course) within the first hour of booting up. If this doesn't happen, the computer will go into some sort of "limited functionality" mode.

We're now a little bit further down this slippery slope. "Slimy slope" is more like it:

http://news.com.com/2100-1016_3-6060700.html

[ViVa]

@Siginet, try Windows XP Professional Corp.

[n7Epsilon]

Next thing they'll do is hard code the WGA check right into the kernel ! and do the check while booting (not even within the 1st hour...) and if that fails, Windows formats your hard drive for you and next thing you know are M$ goons with guns pointed at your head !

[RogueSpear]

Next thing they'll do is hard code the WGA check right into the kernel

I think that's the idea behind TPM.

[Siginet]

@Siginet, try Windows XP Professional Corp.

Not sure Microsoft would like me installing that on my customer computers.

[RogueSpear]

I didn't realize that my prediction would be racing toward fruition. There's only one step left in this slow motion kick in the balls - disabling the OS.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/After-Wi ... 2060.shtml

I'm not quite sure what it will take to get me seriously thinking about a move to Linux (or Mac), but Microsoft seems pretty damn determined to show me. After shelling out over $60,000 in the last 8 years, putting up with one inexcusable security vulnerability after the next, directory services that work half assed at best, and getting RIPPED OFF by the Software Assurance program because they can't get a single god damned product out the door on time, this is the thanks my employer gets.

[Siginet]

Grrr... it is getting worse. I just called and went though all of the bull$h!t of saying my installation code and then waited on hold when a message came on saying that I called at a time that microsoft was closed!!!?! So I hung up and called back 10 mins later. I was so pissed that when they started asking me all of the questions I told them "I gave you my installation code... I don't have time to answer all of your bullsh!t questions! Just give me my code and let me get back to work. I have a valid license... I shouldn't have to give you the license over the phone. I don't feel comfortable giving it to you." She paused for a second and said "I now have your installation ID..."

So the moral of the story... from here on out everyone needs to refuse to give any information except for the installation ID.

I want to find out the easiest way to bypass activation... (as legal as possible) and I will make a tool to make it as simple as possible for people to do.

I thought I found a way to do it at this url:
http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?sho ... hl=oembios

I got the oembios* files from a dell cd and I got the product key from a dell oem cd... but I was still asked to activate.

If anyone has some files/info on how to do this... and some info about where I am going wrong please contact me in PM. I promise I will make a tool to help others accomplish this.

[RogueSpear]

If you read through his post, somewhere in the middle are some scripts that manage to jimmy the files into your install. It indeed works, but at the moment the process is a little bit rough at best.

I've been working on smooth routine to add into the ScriptPack for making a multivendor install source. The problem is testing. Usually when I have a real physical computer in my hands, I'm under a deadline to get it out of my hands.

[Siginet]

OK... I got it to work. I accidentally grabbed the oembios.* files from a dell xp home oem disk and the serial number I grabbed was from a dell xp pro oem disk. Now it works.

I am gonna start collecting royalty oem product keys and oembios files so I can lessen the chance I'll be having to call microsoft.

I've got a lot of the oembios files from multiple manufacturers but I don't have any royaly oem product keys except the dell versions. So I guess I'm on the hunt now.

[mr_smartepants]

I am gonna start collecting royalty oem product keys and oembios files so I can lessen the chance I'll be having to call microsoft.

When I get back from the desert, I'll send you the relevant files from my Gateway CD for analysis.
100F, 92% humidity. Ugghh.

[Siginet]

I am gonna start collecting royalty oem product keys and oembios files so I can lessen the chance I'll be having to call microsoft.

When I get back from the desert, I'll send you the relevant files from my Gateway CD for analysis.
100F, 92% humidity. Ugghh.

Thanks mr_smartepants. They will come in handy.

[Zacam]

Any other things you want to collect? IM or PM, eh?

[Aussie]

When I get back from the desert, 100F, 92% humidity. Ugghh.

Sounds like you could do with a ice cold beer or two over there... find some aussie troops, they'll have some stashed away somewhere.

[Xable]

This might help, not sure.

Stumbled accross this link the other day, if i understand it right it gives you a product key to use when you re-install an OEM pc which allows you to avoide re-activation.

Preserving OEM Pre-Activation when Re-installing Windows XP

[Siginet]

Yeah I saw that... but there isn't one for home edition. Also I haven't tested it either.

[mr_smartepants]

When I get back from the desert, 100F, 92% humidity. Ugghh.

Sounds like you could do with a ice cold beer or two over there... find some aussie troops, they'll have some stashed away somewhere.

Mmmmm.....beer!
Cheers mate.

Siginet, PM me in Nov to remind me or I'll forget.

I know back at work in the 'real world' we have stacks of OEM disks just laying around unused from Dell, Micron, HP, etc. But they're all XP Pro.
I'll dig around here to see if I can find any other Home discs.

[The Creator]

Hey Siginet,

I have a little self activator i can give you called wpakill. I use it cause i am legit and i am pissed at all the questions too. OEM royalty is too much hastle to set up too. Now if you are installing all this on the same computer in your %systemdrive%\windows\System32\ you should find a wpa.dbl file. Use the basic $OEM$ copy method to put it into your system32 folder automatically and presto. Though this only works on the computer u took the file from. I just get it to launch wpakill.exe during the setup which is much easier. It also shows up legit with microsoft. If you want wpakill.exe then pm me and i will put it on rapidshare or somthing for you I hope you find this useful.

The Creator

[Siginet]

Hey Siginet,

I have a little self activator i can give you called wpakill. I use it cause i am legit and i am pissed at all the questions too. OEM royalty is too much hastle to set up too. Now if you are installing all this on the same computer in your %systemdrive%\windows\System32\ you should find a wpa.dbl file. Use the basic $OEM$ copy method to put it into your system32 folder automatically and presto. Though this only works on the computer u took the file from. I just get it to launch wpakill.exe during the setup which is much easier. It also shows up legit with microsoft. If you want wpakill.exe then pm me and i will put it on rapidshare or somthing for you I hope you find this useful.

The Creator

No I don't want anything like that. I install many client computers and I would rather not "hack" wga to stop working. But thanks anyways.

[The Creator]

yeah that thing does give you a valid activation code, but if you are putting it on client's computers i would not recomend it.

[Siginet]

yeah that thing does give you a valid activation code, but if you are putting it on client's computers i would not recomend it.

It is valid to use the oembios method on a clients computer. That is the reason they have the royalty oem license. If you use the recovery disk that is provided by the computer it does the same thing.

[RogueSpear]

If you take all of the royalty OEMs together, that's about 90% or more of the home and small office computer you'll ever run into. Unfortunately I think this little trick will die a quiet death with Vista.

[Xable]

Yeah I saw that... but there isn't one for home edition. Also I haven't tested it either.

Ah that`s no good then :/

This is what i use (you probly know about it )

It`s a single dll that you register and it removes the need to activate. Works on everything including vista. Grab "Antiwpa-V3.4.6 for X64 and X86.zip" from here extract antiwpa.dll for you platform to you system32 folder and register it. I add it to my update pack (personal one) and it`s worked perfect for over a year.

[RogueSpear]

[ricktendo64]

LMAO

[techtype]

I guess that you read this part of the Microsoft advice link posted above:

Note: Instead of implementing any of the solutions outlined below, Volume License customers can use Volume License media to install the same operating system that was licensed from an OEM without acquiring a volume license for a PC being re-imaged. More information about this option is available here under “Re-Imaging Rights”: http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/reso ... brief.mspx. Because Volume License agreements do not provide a full operating system license, Windows licenses should be acquired as part of the PC purchase from the PC manufacturer.

Looks like you can install a VLK version (legit of course) and be legal because they have an OEM key/license.

[Xable]

@RogueSpear, LOL... Never fear, antiwpa.dll will deal with that.

[Siginet]

I guess that you read this part of the Microsoft advice link posted above:

Note: Instead of implementing any of the solutions outlined below, Volume License customers can use Volume License media to install the same operating system that was licensed from an OEM without acquiring a volume license for a PC being re-imaged. More information about this option is available here under “Re-Imaging Rights”: http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/reso ... brief.mspx. Because Volume License agreements do not provide a full operating system license, Windows licenses should be acquired as part of the PC purchase from the PC manufacturer.

Looks like you can install a VLK version (legit of course) and be legal because they have an OEM key/license.

That would be pretty expensive to do.