In my case I initially used a a Windows retail disk. As my network card was fine but other devices were not I downloaded a oem version which installed no problem.
Regards, Kieron. I know that this is an old thread but it appears to still be active. After the download you should boot into Safe Mode and install the SP3. When the installation is complete just reboot the computer and activate Windows XP via Internet or Telephone — whatever works for you.
You will definetly get the installation ID. The reason I ask is because I to was going to do the same thing only difference is I was going to use my OEM system builder version of XP Home so I can reformat my dell laptop and use the product key from my laptop the laptop came with XP home. Would this work? Been seeing mixed answers when searching the topic. I used an old security hole in XP to bypass the activation system long enough to install my drivers.
That seems to be when the probems began. She called me and asked what to do; I told her to go ahead and tell it to activate. When she did, it told her that she was already activated, then all seemed well.
Until I had to reboot her computer just before Christmas. After the reboot, the same message about activating Windows appears. I told it to activate, and it told me that things were already activated. But then, it logged out of the boot process. Still no luck.
I agree with J. I removed the hard drive and installed it in the new system that I decided to build. Any suggestions would be received thankfully. Hi Leo, about the missing installation ID. After reading your story, it pop up in my mind why the number is missing. Since you had no Network card installed. Something was missing to finalise the equation that creates the installation ID number.
The Installation ID Number is in fact the sum of all the hardware of the PC, which giving it a unique finger print for the activation combine with the Prod Key.
That was originaly to prevent transfert of license number. And that way a Prod Key can not be used on two different PC. A friend ask me to solve the same problem today! I need to activate my wondows Xp but the numbers for the South Africa call centre does not work. Who do I call now? Thank you for posting your adventure. I ran into exactly the same situation today. I followed your steps by installing drivers via Safe Mode, then activated over the Internet. I do not know why this happened.
I am quite sure that I have the correct media. Running into a similar issue. Have resolved this issue, but activation is still not completing. Oh the joys of repeated reboots! Thanks for the well written story. I am having the same exact problem. I am trying your advice now but not sure exactly what network drivers i need to find and install. I have Dell Inspirion E with windows xp pro media edition. Just had the same problem: completetly out of the blue screen of death with a 4year old XP installation WGA OK etc and no harware changes for 24 months.
Just sorted myself out and so can type this. Phone folks were really clueless, after an hour of onward referrals I was back at the start. So the end result is that the genuine customer gets the pain and the pirates get the pleasure. Maybe I need a MAC. My problem — Dell again — I have had XP pro working happily for several years on a Dell Inspirion , but suddenly IE became corrupt and hung the machine. I had a similar issue with XP Pro. I ended up calling Microsoft, we changed the product key, and it still was blank.
After a reboot, I was able to get into Windows and activate like normal. Not a regular retail disk. It typically will error and tell you the product key is wrong. I am having a nearly identical issue with a couple of exceptions. After a bit of trouble, I was able to activate it yesterday just fine I had to manually change the activation key that the system originally tried to enter with my new OEM key.
I downloaded 82 updates and re-started the system, I received the cannot login without activating. Since I had completed the activation process less than 24 hours previous I was a bit annoyed.
The entire first half of the article mimics my experience until the phone call. I am at the 40 minute mark and talking with my 3rd person as well, same as above. He instantly went straight into the new product key and placed on hold.
When he returned, we went into the register product and suddenly without changin keys I had an activation number displayed, but no phone numbers to call.
The fields were there but they were blank. We agreed to just activate with the given numbers. After I typed in the numbers from the rep, it stated we were good! Not so. When I clicked OK, I was sent to the login screen with a nifty logo in the bottom right corner displaying the XP was not activate. I log in and immediately get the notice that the product is not active, would you like to activate now. I click on yes, a new window pops up stating the software is already active. I click OK and it returns me to the login screen.
I am now in a loop. Safe mode will no longer bypass this I tried. On 3rd attempt to repair, my own fault. Hit the wrong option. I was given a prompt for the product key and used the one provided by the help tech, not the one I purchased.
It accepted it and continued with the install. Back in windows, cannot activate it, cannot even see activation window. IE has limited functions, cannot use address, only search and links. Cannot download any files. In the lower right hand corner is a list of reasone and links to why validation failed.
The beta program fixed the problem. Now i am dealing with a known issue with IE7 as that was the dafualt browser installed and blocking me from most internet issues. After about 10 minutes the autoupdate feature kicked in and is installing security updates even though I was blocked from doing it manually. Currently on the phone for 2 hours and 29 minutes. Looks like this will get fixed. Go straight to SP3 and other security updates firt. Even the tech I talked to was not familiar with this new Beta site.
But it worked! Attempts to hand update via the microsoft site are blocked because I have an incomplete update and need to restart. GB worth of files in the temporary directory. No other program that requires the use of Windows install will proceed. Any suggestions welcomed. I checked for the porduct key underneath the laptop,entered it. This is thee kind of msg i get, yet iam able to connect and browse the internet with the same laptop, what connection do in need to do?
Finally resolved my problem after hours with MS Support and EasyAssist — just delete a registry entry. Easy Assist is installed using the installer — or in my case, not installed. This is a fundamental error in logic. A support system designed to repair a faulty system that relies on the system working before it can be used.
I was considering putting the back in, but I solved the issue by just activating over the phone, which worked for me this time. My computer hard drive had to be replaced. And after the tech guy returned my computer.
It worked wonderfully. Till I started receiving that ominous notice that I had so many days to register windows. When I tried, it said my copy was illegal and that I had to buy a legal copy of xp. I paid by visa the price, and tried to load it, and it failed. Microsoft tech support and other depts tried and tried to help me for around 2 hours.
Then they said, they did not recognize my copy of windows I bought from them. So I canceled the transaction. Now I am down to only 3 days till time to activate, or my computer dies.
I guess. I am so angry, I feel like just letting it time out. The man who installed this copy promises to fix it, but has never showed. About to loose my computer. I have refurbished hundreds of PCs in the last few years and this is the first time I have experienced this exact same problem. I always install XP followed by SP3, then the drivers and then activation.
I tried the suggestions put forward. Stuck in a WLAN card I had lying around on the bench, did a fresh install with exactly the same result- a message indicating that activation was required before getting in to Windows but no installation id could be generated. I then did an update to SP3 while in safe mode and on rebooting all was well.
Installed the drivers and a few programs and activated by phone without any problems. Looks like this problem is a bug in XP which is fixed by updating to SP3. There are a few different solutions and a number might need to be tried before success.
SO i rebooted my computer, and now when i log on. Excellent, so easy but still so hard to figure out. I did a repair and added a new key and hoped it would add the NIC driver… then I did safe boot on first restart and it messed up startup files. Did another repair and then let the restart boot normally and then go into safe mode and add the driver from a USB stick and then it activated..
Hi, an minute ago I was playing a game and it froze. So, i reset my pc and it seemed to work fine until I got this message to activate my windows. So I clicked yes and it give me three options. I chose the one to activate over the internet. But it gave an error message that I had connectivity problems to log in the internet. One thing, i dont use a internet cable. I use a wireless USB to connect to to my modem. I tried reconnecting it or reseting the modem but the problem was still there.
I did what you said, go in safe mode because the windows wont ask u for an activation. But I still couldnt access the internet from there either.
The usb was suppose to read upon starting up and now it cant. I couldnt update the drivers for it. I can get into safe mode without networking, and I have checked to make sure the drivers are present. Any help or clues would be greatly appreciated…. Great tip. This window had a link to the MS website that, if you clicked, brought up IE.
I just had this issue with a HP Netbook. I Actually had to resort to running a well known pirate crack on the software to be able get to the desktop, install all the drivers, let all the service packs install, let WGA tell me it was a pirate verison, THEN I was able to set the product key and activate it properly. Its a sad state when you have to resort to the dark side to do things that are perfectly legimate. Glad I found your fix, I had the exact same scenario with a Dell Inspirion a neighbor brought me and asked me to finish off the XP install that had him stumped at the activation screen.
I had exactly this problem and used the post to help resolve it. I was trying to reinstall windows on a newly acquired Samsung N no internal optical drive from a bootable usb stick and it would not activate, giving blanks where the activation id was supposed to be. After installing the network drivers as advised in the article I was able to connect to the internet and it gave me the message that it had activated.
However, it then returned to the message that I needed to activate windows! At this point it did give me an activation id, which I used to activate windows over the telephone. All seemed to be going ok but when I tried to log on to an account owner or administrator were the defaults presented it told me again that I needed to activate windows!
However, this time, when I clicked yes to activate, it came back with the message that windows was already activated. It then presented me with the default accounts again to log on! I tried this a few times but got no further and gave up as it would clearly have gone on indefinitely. On suggestion from a colleague who is very switched on regarding IT, I went back into safe mode and then installed SP3. This cleared all of the problems and I now have a fully functioning netbook. When I start the computer, windows xp boots just fine, but when I click on my icon or any icon in the welcome window, I get the message that a problem has occurred that prevents Microsoft from correctly validating windows xp, do I want to activate windows now?
When I click yes or no it goes to my desk top picture, but without the start button or any icons and just stays there. There was no warning that this was going to happen.
The computer was working fine the day before. The first message I got when I first had the problem said something about major hardware changes having taken place since the original activation at least 2 years ago.
I guess I can take it back to where I bought it and let them sort it out, but I would really like to be able to complain to Microsoft and sort the problem myself. So I guess what I need to know is how do I contact Microsoft? I have a similar case — your article unquestionably helped with it a bit.
Windows XP SP3. Legal licensed installation, on a Toshiba. The Toshiba dies. For the reasonas, undoubtedly, you have detailed. Drivers for individual hardware incl. Thanks again. And 3 days for activation seems new. The hoops I had to jump through just to get XP reinstalled after a boot sector virus were unbelievable and then the activation problem.
Thanks for going the extra mile and relying on you instincts to get to the root of the problem. I bought a new PC and exactly the same happened. I thought that I was finished. Then I found your article. Amazingly — It worked!! You should pay a visit to help desk center if you have a chance. Typically filled with fresh graduates, and how they cope with the job is by looking at a manual on their help desk. Very often, they are just spouting answers from their manual.
Dig deeper, and they will be lost. Thank you. My Ethernet driver was installed, but not the wireless. After installing the wireless driver it worked right away. Thanks for that tip. So that he helped me figure out my code. So that is just an FYI if it helps someone else.
Here is where it is weird. My disc worked fine on a Dell desktop, but my eMachine DT has this issue. The computer that worked also had no available drivers for hooking to the internet like me, but it liked her so it worked better. Thanks for sharing your experience. It is a big help. I wonder if there is a link there. Got into XP wireless started working and figured might as well do this now, so an internet search for the procedures tuned up two quick ways, Start — All Programs — Accessories -System Tools then click activate The problem is there was no icon for activate, so back to the Internet and came up with right click My Computer and click on activate, again no option to activate.
It goes like this so for other readers to know. To have the machine ID. You should have a driver installed on a specific device specially the NIC. Juan Castano. Main Areas of Contribution:. Track Progress. Earn Credits. Step 2: Run Explorer from the Command prompt to start Windows. Once the Command prompt loads, type in "explorer" to start Windows within Safe mode. Step 3: Run "Rundll Step 4: Modify the wpaevents folder in the Registry.
Step 5: Modify the C: drives permissions. Step 6: Run Windows activation. Now Windows activation will run and the PC will become usable again. References Toms hardware topic on Windows Activation. Had to do the exact same only last week. Nice to have it documented here. Lawrence Oct 18, at am. This is an awesome solution. Thanks very much for sharing.. I'm new at Spiceworx. So Far Awesome. Flint Madziya Dec 26, at pm. BB Mar 25, at am. I was so hopeful, because this post added the permissions steps, but when I do as described, the login after saying "yes" to activation just shows the wallpaper forever [Update] I left the PC on the wallpaper, no Explorer, no icons all night long and discovered the PC must've logged-off or rebooted during the night.
Thanks for any further suggestions. Thank you so much! I'm also new here in spicework. So far, so good! Ashley Jun 13, at am. Show 1 more comment. Active Oldest Votes. I found two solutions, both of them work offline, so you don't have to connect the WinXP system to a network although I have to use WinXP I try to minimize security risks : A Activating over the phone Calling the current MS activation number for a product still in support e.
Improve this answer. GeoffAtkins yay? Good answer, this worked for me a couple of weeks ago when a VM I have suddenly wanted to be re-activated. I was really surprised the phone system still worked. GeoffAtkins technically correct, although there was an out of band update this year, and also for Window Server When the Navy stops using it, then it dies. My machine had already expired so I could only get into safe mode, which wouldn't let me run the OOBE tool.
I had to reset the clock using rundll Update, it doesn't seem to be permanent. Show 6 more comments. BruceHill BruceHill 1 1 gold badge 3 3 silver badges 9 9 bronze badges. Please be cautious!!! Whatever this does, this might be illegal software even maleware I haven't tried yet. You should describe in detail what the link does.
I find it strange, if there is something wrong with this activation link, that it was posted on the Microsoft forum almost a year ago without any moderators issuing any warning about it. I just used this method and the activation code that was generated activated my copy of Windows XP. This is a legit link. If you call the activation number found in your product, they'll offer to text you a shortlink: m. This works fine to activate Windows XP via the 'telephone' method as of April Add a comment.
Regarding failure of online activation, did you check the date on the system? I activated Windows XP on an old machine one week ago. This post does not answer the question. The OP is claiming that online activation does not work, he is assuming this is a server problem, but it's equally possible it's a client problem, especially as others are reporting succesful activations.
Additionally, updates may be required due to server-side encryption changes. I wonder if different installation images use different activation servers. I would like to try an image on the machine in question which has prooved to have a working online activation on a different machine. Doesn't work on my build installation. But why would it? It simply deletes a registry key. If it had been that simple I have used the very original installer iso and burned it to cd.
But I cannot understand, why deleting a registry key and changing product code as the above script would cause it to be activated. Show 2 more comments. Justin M. Justin 9 9 bronze badges.
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