I just love being punished for being honest.

I purchased one of the original runs of Windows XP (OEM) along with the
hardware for a new computer. Over the years there have been a few upgrades,
faulty hardware's been replaced, and there have been several re-installs of
XP along the way. But all in all it's been the same computer, in the same
case that I affixed the OEM CD key to oh those many years ago. Before you
start suggesting it's not the same computer, I'll say if this were a Car
there would be no question about it being the same.

Two revent events, however have really turned me against activation.

The first was about 3 months ago... My motherboard is an Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe
and has two different network jacks on the board. A 10/100 based on a
Nnvida's chip, and a 10/100/1000 based on a Marvell Yukon chip. I was having
some network problems, so I decided to try the other network jack. In
NETWORK CONNECTIONS, I disabled the NVIDIA NIC, and enabled the Marvel NIC.
Everything was working great until I rebooted and immediately Windows
required me to activate. Not only that, it wouldn't do it online, I had to
do it by phone. THIS WASN'T EVEN A HARDWARE CHANGE!

The other was yesterday. I've been putting off a complete re-install since
before the incident above. But haivng a 3 day weekend, and new years
resolutions and all I figured now it's time.

Normally when I reinstall, I take the opportunity to swap out a larger hard
drive, then format the old once everything's up and running. (and I'm at the
point where I'm 99.98% sure I've got everything important...but I always
forget *something*)

This time, all the hardware is EXACTLY the same as what I was running prior
to the reinstall!

Yet, when I got to the activation window, NOT ONLY did I have to use the
telephone... I had to wait until somebody in India got on the line to ask me
WHY I was reinstalling, and where I got my OS.

So my question is WHY is there no De-activation tool so that the next time
I'm planning on a re-install, this honest user can avoid the third degree?

When you reformatted your drive or made hardware changes,
you did "de-activate". OEM versions of Windows XP are
more restrictive that conventional "Retail Versions". That
is why a "Retail Version" is more appropriate if you wish
to make hardware changes.

Windows Product Activation (WPA) on Windows XP
http://aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.htm

--
Carey Frisch
Microsoft MVP
Windows - Shell/User
Microsoft Community Newsgroups
news://msnews.microsoft.com/

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Nicholas J. Fiorello Jr." wrote:

| I just love being punished for being honest.
|
| I purchased one of the original runs of Windows XP (OEM) along with the
| hardware for a new computer. Over the years there have been a few upgrades,
| faulty hardware's been replaced, and there have been several re-installs of
| XP along the way. But all in all it's been the same computer, in the same
| case that I affixed the OEM CD key to oh those many years ago. Before you
| start suggesting it's not the same computer, I'll say if this were a Car
| there would be no question about it being the same.
|
| Two revent events, however have really turned me against activation.
|
| The first was about 3 months ago... My motherboard is an Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe
| and has two different network jacks on the board. A 10/100 based on a
| Nnvida's chip, and a 10/100/1000 based on a Marvell Yukon chip. I was having
| some network problems, so I decided to try the other network jack. In
| NETWORK CONNECTIONS, I disabled the NVIDIA NIC, and enabled the Marvel NIC.
| Everything was working great until I rebooted and immediately Windows
| required me to activate. Not only that, it wouldn't do it online, I had to
| do it by phone. THIS WASN'T EVEN A HARDWARE CHANGE!
|
| The other was yesterday. I've been putting off a complete re-install since
| before the incident above. But haivng a 3 day weekend, and new years
| resolutions and all I figured now it's time.
|
| Normally when I reinstall, I take the opportunity to swap out a larger hard
| drive, then format the old once everything's up and running. (and I'm at the
| point where I'm 99.98% sure I've got everything important...but I always
| forget *something*)
|
| This time, all the hardware is EXACTLY the same as what I was running prior
| to the reinstall!
|
| Yet, when I got to the activation window, NOT ONLY did I have to use the
| telephone... I had to wait until somebody in India got on the line to ask me
| WHY I was reinstalling, and where I got my OS.
|
| So my question is WHY is there no De-activation tool so that the next time
| I'm planning on a re-install, this honest user can avoid the third degree?

=?Utf-8?B?TmljaG9sYXMgSi4gRmlvcmVsbG8gSnIu?= <Nicholas J. Fiorello
Jr.@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
news:A6E7EA8E-DFDA-44B0-8A1A-0E3BD22BA7D1@microsoft.com:

> So my question is WHY is there no De-activation tool so that the
> next time I'm planning on a re-install, this honest user can avoid
> the third degree?

Probably because some enterprising young lad would reverse engineer the
program to allow unauthorized activation. Example: you run a monitor
which captures all changes during the deactivation process. You then
rollback the changes to an earlier snapshot and your computer becomes
activated again. Now you can activate the second copy of Windows XP
without paying for it.

If you want to remain honest, you have to deal with the nuances of
product activation.

Adam

Well, if there were any hardware changes in the two instances I mentioned,
I'd be more inclined to agree with you.

Still I think there should be a way for me to inform the 'activation system'
that I'm about to re-install and maybe find out before hand if there will be
a problem.

I guess in reality it's a moot point as I've about reached the limit of
upgradability in this system. If this install holds as long as the
previous...it will no doubt be the last.


"Carey Frisch [MVP]" wrote:

> When you reformatted your drive or made hardware changes,
> you did "de-activate". OEM versions of Windows XP are
> more restrictive that conventional "Retail Versions". That
> is why a "Retail Version" is more appropriate if you wish
> to make hardware changes.
>
> Windows Product Activation (WPA) on Windows XP
> http://aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.htm
>
> --
> Carey Frisch
> Microsoft MVP
> Windows - Shell/User
> Microsoft Community Newsgroups
> news://msnews.microsoft.com/
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> "Nicholas J. Fiorello Jr." wrote:
>
> | I just love being punished for being honest.
> |
> | I purchased one of the original runs of Windows XP (OEM) along with the
> | hardware for a new computer. Over the years there have been a few upgrades,
> | faulty hardware's been replaced, and there have been several re-installs of
> | XP along the way. But all in all it's been the same computer, in the same
> | case that I affixed the OEM CD key to oh those many years ago. Before you
> | start suggesting it's not the same computer, I'll say if this were a Car
> | there would be no question about it being the same.
> |
> | Two revent events, however have really turned me against activation.
> |
> | The first was about 3 months ago... My motherboard is an Asus A7N8X-E Deluxe
> | and has two different network jacks on the board. A 10/100 based on a
> | Nnvida's chip, and a 10/100/1000 based on a Marvell Yukon chip. I was having
> | some network problems, so I decided to try the other network jack. In
> | NETWORK CONNECTIONS, I disabled the NVIDIA NIC, and enabled the Marvel NIC.
> | Everything was working great until I rebooted and immediately Windows
> | required me to activate. Not only that, it wouldn't do it online, I had to
> | do it by phone. THIS WASN'T EVEN A HARDWARE CHANGE!
> |
> | The other was yesterday. I've been putting off a complete re-install since
> | before the incident above. But haivng a 3 day weekend, and new years
> | resolutions and all I figured now it's time.
> |
> | Normally when I reinstall, I take the opportunity to swap out a larger hard
> | drive, then format the old once everything's up and running. (and I'm at the
> | point where I'm 99.98% sure I've got everything important...but I always
> | forget *something*)
> |
> | This time, all the hardware is EXACTLY the same as what I was running prior
> | to the reinstall!
> |
> | Yet, when I got to the activation window, NOT ONLY did I have to use the
> | telephone... I had to wait until somebody in India got on the line to ask me
> | WHY I was reinstalling, and where I got my OS.
> |
> | So my question is WHY is there no De-activation tool so that the next time
> | I'm planning on a re-install, this honest user can avoid the third degree?
>
>

I'd be thinking that the de-activation would work something like...

1. Send current hardware config to MS

2. MS compares against stored values in activation db

3. user is notified of discrepancies, can maybe even pre-validate changes
like 'new hard drive'

4. activation db is flagged as 'being reinstalled'

5. local os is deactivated and shut down

But both the old activation and the new would still be tied to the same
hardware. I'd be pretty tough to get around that way...and those that can
are already getting around activation completely...it just makes the life of
the honest guy easier



"Adam Leinss" wrote:

> =?Utf-8?B?TmljaG9sYXMgSi4gRmlvcmVsbG8gSnIu?= <Nicholas J. Fiorello
> Jr.@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
> news:A6E7EA8E-DFDA-44B0-8A1A-0E3BD22BA7D1@microsoft.com:
>
> > So my question is WHY is there no De-activation tool so that the
> > next time I'm planning on a re-install, this honest user can avoid
> > the third degree?
>
> Probably because some enterprising young lad would reverse engineer the
> program to allow unauthorized activation. Example: you run a monitor
> which captures all changes during the deactivation process. You then
> rollback the changes to an earlier snapshot and your computer becomes
> activated again. Now you can activate the second copy of Windows XP
> without paying for it.
>
> If you want to remain honest, you have to deal with the nuances of
> product activation.
>
> Adam
>

My ten cents' worth:

I believe the changes to OEM activation are to counter problems with serials
being written-down from machines in computer-stores and then used to activate
pirate copies.

However, I have had to phone Microsoft several times recently when
activating brand-new systems with genuine OEM serials. This was a frustrating
and timewasting experience, and when it's several machines it adds-up to a
fair amount of costly techsupport-time on the phone.

For small sites wanting one or two computers at a time, a volume-licence
isn't entirely practical, and prebuilt machines are invariably preinstalled
with foistware like AOL or Norton. So even if you buy prebuilt you still have
to format the things anyway, and.. well go figure.

Let's just say that there are workarounds. WPA has gone from being a minor
issue to a highly-unsatisfactory situation, though, and it now hits the
honest user much harder than it hits the pirates.

Not only that, but there is the question of whether an OEM copy with
preinstalled foistware - especially trial copies or demos - meets or fails to
meet the Windows licensing requirements, in that such a preinstall cannot be
truthfully described as genuine Microsoft Windows. To use the car analogy, a
vehicle with 10,000 miles on the clock could not legally be descibed as 'New'
- so is it truthful or honest to describe a foistware-loaded computer as
being new? Both could be made to look new, by winding back the speedo or
uninstalling the foistware, but as we know that would just be furthering the
deception, neither would truthfully be a new, unused product.

"Nicholas J. Fiorello Jr." <Nicholas J. Fiorello
Jr.@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:A6E7EA8E-DFDA-44B0-8A1A-0E3BD22BA7D1@microsoft.com...
>I just love being punished for being honest.
>
> The first was about 3 months ago... My motherboard is an Asus A7N8X-E
> Deluxe
> and has two different network jacks on the board. A 10/100 based on a
> Nnvida's chip, and a 10/100/1000 based on a Marvell Yukon chip. I was
> having
> some network problems, so I decided to try the other network jack. In
> NETWORK CONNECTIONS, I disabled the NVIDIA NIC, and enabled the Marvel
> NIC.
> Everything was working great until I rebooted and immediately Windows
> required me to activate. Not only that, it wouldn't do it online, I had
> to
> do it by phone. THIS WASN'T EVEN A HARDWARE CHANGE!
>


This "was" a hardware change as far as the operating system is concerned.
You were using one NIC, you disabled it and began to use the second NIC. The
operating system can NOT see what you do not present to it. If you had left
both the NIC's activated when you installed the O/S, you could change back
and forth between them at will.

But you didn't!

Actually both were active when I installed, since that much is necessary to
get the drivers loaded to begin with... but there was never a connection made
to the Marvel NIC... In that respect you are correct.


"Richard Urban" wrote:

> "Nicholas J. Fiorello Jr." <Nicholas J. Fiorello
> Jr.@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:A6E7EA8E-DFDA-44B0-8A1A-0E3BD22BA7D1@microsoft.com...
> >I just love being punished for being honest.
> >
> > The first was about 3 months ago... My motherboard is an Asus A7N8X-E
> > Deluxe
> > and has two different network jacks on the board. A 10/100 based on a
> > Nnvida's chip, and a 10/100/1000 based on a Marvell Yukon chip. I was
> > having
> > some network problems, so I decided to try the other network jack. In
> > NETWORK CONNECTIONS, I disabled the NVIDIA NIC, and enabled the Marvel
> > NIC.
> > Everything was working great until I rebooted and immediately Windows
> > required me to activate. Not only that, it wouldn't do it online, I had
> > to
> > do it by phone. THIS WASN'T EVEN A HARDWARE CHANGE!
> >
>
>
> This "was" a hardware change as far as the operating system is concerned.
> You were using one NIC, you disabled it and began to use the second NIC. The
> operating system can NOT see what you do not present to it. If you had left
> both the NIC's activated when you installed the O/S, you could change back
> and forth between them at will.
>
> But you didn't!
>
>
>