"This copy of Windows must be activated" NIGHTMARE!
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From: Chuck Lavin on 28 Mar 2010 10:54 Hi -- I've been going around in circles for going on five hours with this, and I need to get this machine back up. I replaced the hard drive on a Windows XP Pro SP3 computer. The hard drive was cloned with Symantec Ghost, and the new drive was installed in place of the old one. When the PC rebooted and I attempted to log in, I was informed that "This copy of Windows must be activated with Microsoft before you can log in." I clicked on the Yes button, and I spent the next 15 minutes staring at a blank desktop with just wallpaper. No icons, no taskbar, just the wallpaper and the mouse pointer. I rebooted the PC and tried this four more times. If I clicked on "Yes" at the activation question, I wound up with the empty desktop. If clicked on "No", I was taken back to the login screen. I can log in and work on the PC (to a point) if I boot the PC in Safe Mode. But if I try to run the Activation Wizard in Safe Mode, I get an error that the program cannot be run in Safe Mode. I've already performed two Repair installations on this machine, using the SP2 CD with which the PC was originally installed. In both cases, the installation key was accepted when I was asked to enter it, and the repair installation went without a hitch. But after the PC rebooted, as soon as I tried to log in I was told that Windows had to be activated -- and I was back at the same blank desktop. I have even installed SP3 from an installation image I have locally, with the PC in Safe Mode. So the computer shows that it is running Windows XP Pro SP3 (which is what it was running before the hard drive was replaced). I know the PC has a usable network connection. Not only is its DHCP lease showing up on the server, but I can connect to it from any other PC via mstsc. If I try to connect to the PC with the TS client, I get the same "This copy of Windows must be activated" nonsense. After getting nowhere with this I called PSS. The agent who took the call transferred me to the Activation department. The rep at the Activation department told me that this was a support issue and transferred me to Tech Support -- where I was transferred back to the Activation queue. I need to get this machine back up and runnning (it is, in a way ...), and I cannot afford the massive amount of time it would take to get this PC back up if I have to perform a clean install of Windows. I don't know why a simple hard drive replacement has resulted in this mess, or why online searches for "this copy of Windows must be activated" result in dozens and dozens of hits but no apparent resolution. How do I get his PC back up and running? Thanks, CL |