Windows XP licence issues

[thecritter99]

Hi there,

I'm solving a problem for a friend at the moment as she had a major virus attack on her PC. It was that bad, that we have had to wipe the HDD completely using Darik's Boot & Nuke. It was previously running XP and as far as I know, she has an XP retail disc that was installed on it before the wipe. We are now trying to install the XP CD from scratch, which is fine, but we are now getting notifications of WGA issues. The CD is legit, but I couldn't uninstall what was previously on the computer/deactivate the licence as we couldn't boot into Windows full stop. What are the fixes for this - she doesn't want to buy a new CD and obviously, she owns the licence.

Thanks

[killerb255]

Are you using her product key?  If not, that's why.

If you are using her product key, is it an OEM product key (i.e.: a sticker on her computer)?  If so, are you using OEM media?  If not, that's why.  OEM installs require OEM source files/media.  Retail installs require retail source files/media.  Volume license installs require volume license files/media.  Period.

If so, then you'll need to contact Microsoft and explain what happened so they can do their thing to correct it. 

The only other thing you can do is to restore from a previous image of her PC and use a utility to retrieve her old product key (did you image it before wiping it?  Acronis and Ghost are two good options for this.  If not, consider this a lesson learned, as there's ALWAYS something missing from a new install that people will raise a stink about).

Other than that, assistance from us regarding licensing issues cannot get to the point where the assistance can be used for piracy, no matter how legitimate the person's intentions are.  We don't need the trouble from Microsoft...

[thecritter99]

Thanks for your help. She lives miles away so I'm helping her via msn. The cd that we are using has a product key sticker on the back, but not on the pc itself (as I guess it was a custom pc - it is not branded). Unfortunately, we have wiped everything on the HDD, so it is not possible to recover the product key that was used before.

Any further advice please and/or could you give me the phone number to contact microsoft?

Thanks again

[killerb255]

Typically, if a WGA prompt triggers, there's an option to click on to contact Microsoft. 

However, I'm thinking the odds don't look good in your (or your friend's) favor.  I'm thinking the custom build PC had a pirated copy of Windows installed on it in the first place.  Otherwise, she would have been given the installation media and/or the certificate of authenticity with the product key on it.  However, it's not too farfetched if she had installation media in the past and lost it...

Now if the media you are using has only been installed on her PC (or the previous PC that it was installed on is no longer in commission), then you can go through the "Activate Windows" wizard on her computer.  Once it fails, it will give an option to activate by phone.  Click that option and call that number.  The automated system will ask for a long (and I mean LOOOOONG) series of characters displayed on the screen.  If it works, then it'll spit out a series of characters for you (or her) to type in.  Once it's done, her computer is activated.  If it fails, then it'll transfer you to a representative and you'll have to explain what happened.  Typically if the key is only used on one PC, then the rep will give you a series of characters to type in to get it activated.  Sometimes they may ask for proof of purchase.

Worst case scenario, the WGA wizard can be used to purchase a new license at a discount. 

[patio]

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