i never used Windows XP Home edition before, in these days i have no way to use it on my work pc, have no profissional edition and i don't want to buy one, in fact i hate windows at all, i use linux and it's so good and enough to me, but i must use it noway.
after i installed it, it asked me to activate it, i went into the activation process, finally it told me to call any microsoft products reseller or something like that to provide me with a new product number as they say in that message:

QUOTE

According to our records, the number of times you can activate Windows with this product key has been exceeded. Please enter a diffirent product key, and then click Retry. The 25-digit product key can be found on the Certificate of Authenticity (COA) label attached to your computer or Windows documentation.

and they are talking BLA BLA about talking to provider here by phone and they don't respond to phone, i think they closed here after 2 years od no sales or something simillar.
Do anyone have idea about how to get rid of this ugly 2 keys in the tray??

Linux Rocks

Wow, that's strange. Reinstalled and activated my windows plenty of times : |

I reckon you used an illegal code then, and I'm afraid I can't help you with that. Or anyone else, according to astahost code of conduct.

QUOTE(Alegis @ Jun 17 2006, 08:35 PM)

Wow, that's strange. Reinstalled and activated my windows plenty of times : |

I reckon you used an illegal code then, and I'm afraid I can't help you with that. Or anyone else, according to astahost code of conduct.

HEY! I never used an illegal code or an illegal software, it's my master copy of windows which i have the master code, and i didn't even give the code to anyone else, that's microsoft, they used to kill our dreams of a stable system. :S

Never had problems re-activating Windows XP Home Edition here either. Did it for many years now since I reinstall Windows yearly.

What I think must have happened is that there were some major hardware changes or you are using this Windows XP Home CD on a different computer than it was on before. Since you said you never used it before, check and make sure the CD is an authentic Windows CD. It will have that rainbow/silver color effect on the cover when you tilt the CD. Does it come with the authentic Windows sticker?

You can call up Microsoft or contact them via other methods at:

http://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.a...219&gprid=37013

If I remember correctly, Microsoft might charge you a small fee for giving you a new key code. Beats buying another copy of it at full retail price though.

You are allowed to activate your key 3 on only 3 seperate computers within a 6 month period.

The activation key is generated by your hardware configuration on your hardware basically.

So if you have 4 computers to install XP on within 6 months it will only work for the first 3.

They do this to keep people from installing the same key on multiple computers, but they give you the courtesy 3 times in case you change major system components ( like your motherboard basically ) 3 times within 6 months.

You can install windows on the same computer a billion times within 6 months because everytime it will use the same key and when you install it and "activate key", your key will already by active but if you change your parts and it doesn't match the active key then thats what counts on your courtesy 3.


I know this is confusing, but my Computer Science teacher explained this to us in a much better way. I wish he had given us a written description that I could type up for you but thats all I can pull from my memory.

Can I clarify a few things?

1) You are installing XP Home as your business machine. This is a personal business and you are not working in a corporate environment.
2) This is a new key that has never been used.

They first thing that popped into my head was that you got this license from your IT department but after rereading a few times I didn’t get that feeling any more. I have myself had a few problems in this situation. The IT person has bought lets say 20 keys in bulk. They keys go onto several computers, hardware gets changed, reinstalled, who knows what else and before you know it you are getting nasty messages for Microsoft even though you are 100% legal. I don’t know if this applies to you but you can call Microsoft and usually get this straightened out.

I also have to ask how you got the key. If you opened the shrink wrapped package and are still having these problems then I would find a Microsoft person and yell at them until they sent me a new key. (I sometimes enjoy yelling at tech support people when they are clearly in the wrong and I have been ripped off. It releases the frustration of the problem and is somewhat of a therapy. If yelling does not work just ask for their supervisor. If that person is still a moron then ask for his supervisor.)

If you got the key second hand then you might be out of luck. You never know what happened to the key before you got it. The previous owner may have given it to 10 of his closest friends and you were number 11. If this is the case you might have to bite the bullet and buy a new copy.

look this problem
Windows Problems \"new Series\"- Xp Home Edition Activation Issue

I've installed Windows xp home edition service pack 2 into my computer and it immediately asked me activation key

Then every time when I start my pc it asks me

-question by Alison