How do i activate "hooky" xp pro ....?

SB118

SB118

SB118

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Friend of the wife had her laptop "looked at" and reinstalled by a 3rd party a few months ago.
It's now flagging up "you could be a victim of piracy", etc, etc on boot and near the clock.
It's an xp pro install, and the machine has an xp pro licence on the bottom, but after using magic jelly bean, the numbers don't match up, so it looks like the 3rd party used a devils own (or similar) type disc.

If i run oobe it tell me the install is already activated (but still failing validation), if i fiddle the reg to allow me to enter a new key (in theory wga should be happy once a legit number is in there), the install doesn't accept the legit serial from the base of the laptop as a usable serial.

Hmmm.

I've got an xp pro disc, so i thought i'd do a repair install over the top and just enter the genuine serial when i got the chance, but i don't get the repair option when booting from the cd.

Any ideas? (was hoping this would be a quick 30 minute job and i could get rid of it, but i'm never that lucky)
 
Could try this if you haven't already:

Run regedt32 and go to:

HKey_Local_Machine\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\Current Version\WPAEvents,
on the right double click on "oobetimer" and change at least one digit of

this value to deactivate windows.

Choose run from start menu and type in this command:

%systemroot%\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /a

to get the activation screen and go to the second option which is activate by phone

In the new screen choose the option to change product key, and type in the new key:

YOUR CD KEY

Close that window, reboot your system and do start -> run -> %systemroot%\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /a

for the second time to verify your activation, you should see "Windows is already activated".
 
SB118
How do i activate "hooky" xp pro ....?
Friend of the wife had her laptop "looked at" and reinstalled by a 3rd party a few months ago.
It's now flagging up "you could be a victim of piracy", etc, etc on boot and near the clock.
It's an xp pro install, and the machine has an xp pro licence on the bottom, but after using magic jelly bean, the numbers don't match up, so it looks like the 3rd party used a devils own (or similar) type disc.

If i run oobe it tell me the install is already activated (but still failing validation), if i fiddle the reg to allow me to enter a new key (in theory wga should be happy once a legit number is in there), the install doesn't accept the legit serial from the base of the laptop as a usable serial.

Hmmm.

I've got an xp pro disc, so i thought i'd do a repair install over the top and just enter the genuine serial when i got the chance, but i don't get the repair option when booting from the cd.

Any ideas? (was hoping this would be a quick 30 minute job and i could get rid of it, but i'm never that lucky)
Click to expand...

Hi, I have had that happen to me 3 times in the last 2 and a half weeks, where it comes up in the bottom right corner, telling me that i have to activate my copy of win 7. After going onto the MS web site and having it validated, then running my anti virus, it turned out I had a virus.;)
 
MrMacca said:
Could try this if you haven't already:

Run regedt32 and go to:....
Click to expand...
SB118 said:
If i run oobe it tell me the install is already activated (but still failing validation), if i fiddle the reg to allow me to enter a new key (in theory wga should be happy once a legit number is in there), the install doesn't accept the legit serial from the base of the laptop as a usable serial.
Click to expand...

Tried it, says the serial is invalid.

Meatball said:
I would backup and reinstall. God knows what kind of crack they used. You'll never know if the installation is kosher.
Click to expand...

Was hoping to avoid that, it's an old piece of junk with usb1 ports, so even dragging stuff off to a separate usb drive would take bloody ages!

robinbredin said:
Hi, I have had that happen to me 3 times in the last 2 and a half weeks, where it comes up in the bottom right corner, telling me that i have to activate my copy of win 7. After going onto the MS web site and having it validated, then running my anti virus, it turned out I had a virus.;)
Click to expand...

Gone through it with mbam and spybot and nothing flagged up, it's "clean", but "dirty" ;)

Would you believe it, MS have their own tool for changing the serial in windows installations (took a "bit" of googling), turned it from a VLK install to a legit oem install (even the media type used for the install is changed when i look with magic jelly bean.)

Hammered a load of updates on it and everything is running fine.

Jobs a goodun :)
 
Could be that whoever installed the dodgy copy installed a retail version of XP whereas the key on the sticker would likely be OEM

Try googling the currently used key and if you get results it's likely a dodgy key
 
Run a repair install over the top, it should replace any messed with files and then ask for your valid key at the same time.
 
DJDaz said:
Could be that whoever installed the dodgy copy installed a retail version of XP whereas the key on the sticker would likely be OEM

Try googling the currently used key and if you get results it's likely a dodgy key
Click to expand...

This - even if you have a legit OEM key the installed copy of XP is probably either a cracked retail version or a dodgy corporate version neither of which will activate with an OEM key.
 
Dano said:
Run a repair install over the top, it should replace any messed with files and then ask for your valid key at the same time.
Click to expand...
SB118 said:
I've got an xp pro disc, so i thought i'd do a repair install over the top and just enter the genuine serial when i got the chance, but i don't get the repair option when booting from the cd.
Click to expand...



Rroff said:
... even if you have a legit OEM key the installed copy of XP is probably either a cracked retail version or a dodgy corporate version neither of which will activate with an OEM key.
Click to expand...
SB118 said:
Would you believe it, MS have their own tool for changing the serial in windows installations (took a "bit" of googling), turned it from a VLK install to a legit oem install (even the media type used for the install is changed when i look with magic jelly bean.)

Hammered a load of updates on it and everything is running fine.

Jobs a goodun :)
Click to expand...

;)
 
meh, i'm still impressed there is a tool to "convert" all those dodgy VLK installs out there.
 
Is that made by MS? -is that what you linked to in post #6?

I know how to convert cd's from corp/oem/retail to other versions, but didn't know you could do live installs
 
bledd. said:
Is that made by MS? -is that what you linked to in post #6?

I know how to convert cd's from corp/oem/retail to other versions, but didn't know you could do live installs
Click to expand...

Yup, i would post the page it's from but somehow the history only has the DL link, not the page i got it from. :)
 
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