Windows Activation ..

Admiral Huddy · 7 Apr 2009 at 11:55

Why is it, that sometimes Windows Activation gives you 30 days and other times it requires instant activation? Pain in the**** becuase I now have to make the phone call when nothing on the system has changed.

Problem is, to activate over the net assumes you have the LAN drivers loaded which isn't always the case, as you can't login to load them.

Can anyone shed light on this inconsistency?

Clairvoyant · 7 Apr 2009 at 13:04

I would love to know this aswell.

I thought you only had to ring if something has changed in your system.

I had to reinstall vista as I was getting some problems. must be only a week or 2 between the installs and gotta ring them again. its a pain in the butt.

and the SMS way never seems to work.

Liquidfox · 7 Apr 2009 at 14:33

60 days is a new SP
30 days seems to be new installs/repairs
3 days is hardware

Admiral Huddy · 7 Apr 2009 at 14:53

So why have I got an instant activation upon completing windows install?

Liquidfox · 7 Apr 2009 at 15:08

Ah, if it's a brand new install, not a repair of any kind, i'm not too sure :confused:

PinkPig · 7 Apr 2009 at 18:06

Admiral Huddy said:
So why have I got an instant activation upon completing windows install?

Are you installing an OEM version that came with a prebuilt system or something? I've never come across a retail version demanding instant activation and I can't see why it would. (Not that I would be that suprised to hear of an odd bug in some configurations!)

Dano · 7 Apr 2009 at 18:50

Only time I've ever seen it was with an OEM version after three installs in the space of a few days.

Admiral Huddy · 7 Apr 2009 at 20:45

It's an oem with an oem disk.. ??? It says to call with an ID but doesn't give me an ID?

All i'm doing is reinstalling

Any ideas?

Burnsy2023 · 7 Apr 2009 at 20:51

Right, can you access anything on the computer (any grace period left) or is it demanding to be activated?

Secondly did you format and repartition before reinstalling?

Admiral Huddy · 7 Apr 2009 at 20:57

Yes it's demanding .. the problem is I've no network drivers so it fails.. It then proceeds to generate the ID but it doesn't give me one.. So calling the auto activation is pointless.

Yes, fresh install with full format.

The only thing I can think of is I'm using a OEM disk with SP2.. the key maybe pre SP2.. I don't know. Is there any other number I can ring.. I've done this so many times without any problems.

Burnsy2023 · 7 Apr 2009 at 21:08

Without an activation ID they can't activate it.

Try reinstalling it again and see if it does the same thing.

AWPC · 7 Apr 2009 at 21:15

I've had this sometimes with drivers from Windows update causing it. Other times it seems to be at random but I have noticed Vista will always look to be activated right away if you have no LAN connection so guess its an MS safeguard against piracy.

Admiral Huddy · 7 Apr 2009 at 21:48

Burnsy2023 said:
Without an activation ID they can't activate it.

Try reinstalling it again and see if it does the same thing.

Yes same thing?????

Burnsy2023 · 7 Apr 2009 at 22:02

Got different media?

There are ways around this but they're time consuming. Such as imaging the HDD with a generic image and NIC drivers.

Admiral Huddy · 8 Apr 2009 at 09:32

Ok, I called the chap who owns the PC to searce for his disk and he brought it round last night. On inspection, the disk was identical to the one I have with SP2.

The install worked and I was able to get into windows with a 30 activation period.

WT..

The only thing I did notice about the first disk I used, is that when it got to the Activation Wizrd, it produced a white empty window which froooze. On forcing a restart, the Activation came up as normal but without the ID code.

Anyway, it appears to be sorted but I was under the impression that you could use a single OEM install disk for builds with an OEM license. I've never had this before so maybe the install disk is faulty.

Weird.

Anyway, thanks for the help Burnsey