grrr - I hate Windows XP activation!!

[joshwa]

I've changed some hardware in someone's pc I've upgraded - It says I have to activate windows with microsoft before I can use the computer - great - I'll just activate it over the internet, it'll be dead easy !! ah but wait - i haven't installed the network drivers yet - so I can't GGRRR - why won't it let me go in, sort out all the hardware first, eg network drivers etc, THEN let me activate the software!! how stupid !!! Now I'll have to phone MS and give them ten million numbers, then get ten millions numbers back from them... man I hate that!!! Stupid XP!!

oh well, time to phone em...

[Skii]

Ahem.. * keep it off the forums please * ..ahem

thanks josh (edit by josh)

[Trash Man]

Pain in the bum ain't it. I had to activate my copy again after I updated the blooming Nforce drivers :/

[Skii]

Sorry m8

wrong I know, but I couldnt resist it

[Howard]

That's the price you pay for buying XP Home
Edit - So to speak. Lol.

[joshwa]

It's XP Pro - that's the annoying thing

[Howard]

Since when have you had to activate XP Pro everytime there's a major hardware change?

Or is it something to do with my..."fruity" completely legal, paid for in full, 100% licensed above-board version?

[joshwa]

Originally posted by Howard
Since when have you had to activate XP Pro everytime there's a major hardware change?

Or is it something to do with my..."fruity" completely legal, paid for in full, 100% licensed above-board version?

don't know - i replaced the motherboard both times i had to re-activate it, so i suppose it probably thinks it's in a different pc...

[Howard]

Replacing the mobo usually causes you to need to reformat, so I guess you're lucky there, lol.

[joshwa]

Originally posted by Howard
Replacing the mobo usually causes you to need to reformat, so I guess you're lucky there, lol.

luckily all the boards had VIA chipsets so it didn't freak out

[directhex]

it's 42 digits, and i had to reformat 2 boxes in the last 2 days - and 2K3 has a 1-activation limit, so I had to phone over that. my old XP Pro cd also hit its limit ages ago, have a shiny new xp sp1 pro cd tho.

doesn't it give you a grace period? when i was messing about & changed a hard disk, windows said i had 3 days to reactivate...

[Twigman]

I hope you had a go at the poor telephone monkey you spoke o about how stupid the whole system is.

[joshwa]

Originally posted by directhex
it's 42 digits, and i had to reformat 2 boxes in the last 2 days - and 2K3 has a 1-activation limit, so I had to phone over that. my old XP Pro cd also hit its limit ages ago, have a shiny new xp sp1 pro cd tho.

doesn't it give you a grace period? when i was messing about & changed a hard disk, windows said i had 3 days to reactivate...

yeah it did say i had 3 days, then i think i rebooted, and then it was insisting that i did it now :/ weird !

[matt31]

crazy system, if you ask me.
Interesting to see what they do with Longhorn, in this regard.

[Zak33]

The only time I have installed SP1 off a disk, it refused to update online

Never gonna do that again....would rather install SP1 off the web even if its that big.

[dpm]

Originally posted by www.josh.org.uk
yeah it did say i had 3 days, then i think i rebooted, and then it was insisting that i did it now :/ weird !

The 3 day grace period thing is a good idea, but with my old k7s5a and its damn CMOS problem, it'd lose the date and i'd have to register right now after a reboot!

Still, phoning up their automated phone system isn't the biggest pain in the world. It only takes a couple of minutes.