Details on WindowsXP activation/re-activation

Rayder

Here is something I found many months ago detailing the rules of WindowsXP activation and changes that came with the SP1 update regarding activation/re-activation. I've noticed a recent surge of questions about activation and re-activation and thought I'd help out by posting this. Maybe it would be worth a sticky or made into a news post or something. I know it answered my questions. MODs: feel free to edit it, if you wish, to make it a news post.

This is quite long......

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CHANGES IN WINDOWS PRODUCT ACTIVATION
in Windows XP Service Pack 1
Service Pack 1 for Windows XP ("SP1"), released on September 9, 2002, introduces some changes in the way WPA works. These are not large, and attention is drawn to them at relevant points in this page. For more detailed discussion of the changes and their implications, see Microsoft's article Service Pack 1 Changes to Product Activation.


One new feature in Windows XP that has caused great concern is Windows Product Activation (WPA). There are a great many rumors, and much misinformation, from which you might be led to think that WPA is going to call Microsoft every day and say just what you are doing with your computer; that, if you make any changes at all to your computer hardware, the machine will be instantly disabled; and that WPA is a sneaky way for Microsoft to store personal information about you or your computer, or to begin charging you a monthly fee for your continued use of Windows XP. In fact, all of these rumors are false. WPA is a fairly easy-going check when Windows boots, confirming that it is still installed on the same computer as last time it checked. That's all. But the rampant misinformation is understandable, because it is hard for the general consumer to find a simple yet comprehensive explanation of just what WPA is. This page tries to fill that gap by explaining WPA in a straightforward, detailed way and to show that it will be a lot less trouble to most people than many have feared.



What's the idea of WPA?
The Microsoft License for use of Windows has always been limited to allowing installation on only a single machine (and that excludes having the same copy installed on a laptop as well as a desktop machine: only MS Office is licensed for the combination). Microsoft believes that this has been subject to much casual abuse. WPA is a means of ensuring that a single copy is not installed on more than a single machine.

So, within the first 30 days after installing Windows XP, you must get the system "activated" if you are to be able to go on using it. This involves the computer dialing in and giving some information about the hardware on which Windows is installed, receiving in return a release code which will be recorded on the system.

At subsequent boots, Windows checks to see that it is still running on hardware that it can recognise as being the same. If it does not match well enough, you will be unable to do more than backup files until you call Microsoft to explain for example, that the old machine broke down and had to be rebuilt and get a new release code.

This may not apply to new machines, bought with Windows already installed and activated by the maker locking the system to the BIOS on the motherboard. If the manufacturer has done this, you can change all the rest of the hardware without affecting activation status. But, in this situation, any replacement of the motherboard, or a new BIOS, would have to be obtained from the original computer maker, or WPA will come into action on the replacement and a new release code from Microsoft will be required.


What hardware gets checked?
The WPA system checks ten categories of hardware:

Display Adapter
SCSI Adapter
IDE Adapter (effectively the motherboard)
Network Adapter (NIC) and its MAC Address
RAM Amount Range (i.e., 0-64mb, 64-128mb, etc.)
Processor Type
Processor Serial Number
Hard Drive Device
Hard Drive Volume Serial Number (VSN)
CD-ROM / CD-RW / DVD-ROM
It then calculates and records a number based on the first device of each type that was found during setup, and stores this number on your hard drive. Initially, this is sent to Microsoft in an automatic dial-up, together with the Product ID number derived from the 25-character unique Product Key used in setting up Windows.

If Service Pack 1 has been installed, the entire Product Key is also transmitted: This can then be checked against a list of known pirated keys

The hardware is checked each time Windows boots, to ensure that it is still on the same machine. Also, if you subsequently perform a complete format and reinstall of Windows, Microsoft's activation center will have to be contacted again because the information held on the machine itself (the number previously written to your hard drive) will have been wiped out by reformatting the hard drive. If your hardware is substantially the same, this will be done by an automated call without your needing to talk to anyone.

What does "substantially the same" mean? WPA asks for "votes" from each of these ten categories: Is the same device still around, or has there never been one? Seven Yes votes means all is well and a NIC, present originally and not changed, counts for three yes votes! Minor cards, like sound cards, don't come into the mix at all. If you keep the motherboard, with the same amount of RAM and processor, and an always present cheap NIC (available for $10 or less), you can change everything else as much as you like.

If you change the device in any category, you have lost that Yes vote but will not lose it any more thereafter if you make changes in that category again. So, for example, you can install a new video display card every month for as long as you like.


What if I make too many changes?
If, on Windows startup, there are not the required seven Yes votes, the system will, in the original version of Windows XP, only boot to Safe Mode. You will be required to reactivate by a phone call to Microsoft. You will have to write down a 50-digit number, call into the activation center on a toll-free number that will be given to you, read and check back the number you recorded and explain the circumstances. In exchange, you will be given a 42-digit number to type in. This will reactivate your copy of Windows.

This is made easier if Windows XP Service Pack 1 has been installed: The system will continue to boot normally for three days, during which time you will be able to contact the activation center via the net. If the extra changes have been removed, or if 120 days have passed since the original activation, you will be able to use the automatic process once more


What about formatting a hard disk?
Two things are recorded for disks: the number of the disk drive itself, and the Volume Serial Number (VSN) of the partition on it.

HINT No. 1: The VSN is part of the data in the partition's first sector, so it is changed when you reformat the drive. It is worth getting the freeware utility Volume ID to restore the original VSN. Before you reformat, run VOL from a Command Prompt, note the VSN (e.g., 1F2E-3C4B) in the second line. Then, after the reformat and new Windows XP installation, defer the new activation until you have run Volume ID to restore the old VSN, and rebooted. This is not essential but it saves one of the "Yes votes" against any future hardware change. (If you don't wish to run this utility, the next best way to obtain the same result would be to delete the old Win XP files from the hard drive before reinstalling, rather than actually reformatting.)

HINT No. 2: Another thing that changes the VSN is converting a FAT 32 partition to NTFS. So, if you upgrade a system using FAT 32 to Windows XP and intend to convert to NTFS, do the conversion before activating the system. Remember, you can wait a while: you have 30 days before you need to activate. The machine's hardware at the time of the first activation is what counts. Or, if you have already activated, use Volume ID as described in Hint No. 1.

HINT No. 3: It is valuable to back up the two files WPA.DBL and WPA.BAK from the Windows\System32 folder.Then, should they get damaged, or should you do a "Repair" reinstallation of Win XP, these files can be copied back to restore the prior activation status. However, this only works in those limited circumstances. The contents of these two files is matched to the specific Windows setup; therefore, contrary to what many journalists and members of the user community have written in recent months, restoring these files will not restore your activation status following a reformat and clean install.

The disk drive and partition recorded will be the ones that the system has found first when doing the initial activation: normally the one from which the system booted. So, if you change that disk and reinstall Windows to a new partition, you have lost two of the Yes votes. If, though, you add a new hard disk, copy the original partition onto it with an imaging program, and retain the original hard drive as a secondary data disk, it will still be found by a later check. This is because it searches for all disks, and the vote will be Yes in both categories if it finds the original one, with the partition not reformatted.


What about a swappable hard drive bay?
Provided the swappable hard drive bay is for secondary disks (used for data), and the boot disk with Windows is still present, the swappable disks do not enter into the WPA calculation.


Changing the motherboard
Installing a replacement motherboard will change the IDE controller, and usually will mean that you change to a new, faster, processor. If the processor is one with a serial number (Pentium III), then you lose a third vote including when you change to a processor with no serial number, such as an Athlon. If you also add RAM, or if the motherboard is one with an on-board SCSI adapter, that makes four or five categories now voting No you would need an unchanged NIC to avoid having to call in for reactivation. If the new motherboard also has inbuilt video (and possibly even a NIC of its own!), you run right out of Yes votes with this one hardware change.

Again, this doesn't stop you from making such a hardware change, nor from using Windows XP thereafter. The phone-in reactivation option was created for just this type of situation. Also, this is an extreme example. Due to the onboard features of some motherboards, this one hardware change is equivalent to several changes at once.


Re-activation on a new setup after adding devices
If you add devices, as mentioned earlier in relation to hard disks, the check at boot up will still find the original device, even if it is now in a subsidiary postion (e.g., as a slave hard disk). But if you format and do a new setup, it will be the device that is now in "first place" that goes into the hardware hash sent to Microsoft. This means that this hardware category no longer will match and will be seen as voting "no." This means that you may find the automatic activation rejected, even though you have not recently made any changes. Therefore, from the point of view of WPA, it is best to make such hardware additions subsidiary ones. For example, if you add another CD drive, have it as the secondary slave, and, if need be, move the original one onto the primary channel.

There is a useful program XPInfo which will give you a simple picture of which categories are currently casting Yes votes at the boot-up check.


How long does this go on?
The license for a retail version of Windows XP is in perpetuity. You get to use Windows XP forever, if you choose.

But Microsoft recognises that machines do get upgraded. If, following the activation after setup, you do not need to contact the activation center for 120 days (any changes you make during this time being seen as acceptable when the system boots), then the sheet is swept clean and you can start again using the current hardware as the new baseline to make more changes.

If you get a new computer, you are entitled to remove Windows XP from the one that is being junked, and install the same Windows XP on the new machine but you will have to do the reactivation by a voice call and explain (unless, as was just mentioned, 120 days have passed since the activation was last performed).

Microsoft has said that if it ever becomes not worthwhile for them to keep this activation system going, they will take steps to allow users to disable it.

Restrictions of specific license types may limit the foregoing. OEM versions of Windows XP are licensed together with the hardware with which they are purchased, as an entity, and such a copy may not be moved to a different computer. Other specific license types (e.g., Academic licenses) are handled in different ways. This isn't a WPA issue per se, but rather an issue of the license for that purchase, and therefore outside the scope of this discussion of WPA.


Installation of Service Pack 1
Windows XP Service Pack 1 ("SP1") introduces some further obstacles to systems that appear to have been pirated: It will not install at all on systems which appear to have used one of two well established "pirate" Product Keys, and a wider range of pirated and cracked keys will result in no access being allowed to Windows Update.

Installation of SP1 also will detect and fix a number of "cracks" used by pirates to circumvent the need to activate. Such systems will then need to be activated after SP1 is installed.

Regular, legitimate, installations of Windows XP will not need to be reactivated after installing SP1.


Some things WPA does not do
WPA does not send any personal information at all about you to Microsoft. There is still an option to register the product with Microsoft, but that is separate and entirely voluntary.

If you have to phone in yourself to carry out an activation or reactivation, you are not required to give any identifying personal information.

WPA does not "phone in" every day to check. The check that the system is not significantly different is done by Windows itself at boot. If the hardware is not acceptable (i.e., you don't get your seven Yes votes), you have to initiate the telephone call yourself in order to reactivate. Windows itself never calls Microsoft except when you specifically tell it to do so for an online activation.

WPA does not provide a means for Microsoft to turn off your machine or damage your data. (Nor do they even have access to your data.) If the system is requiring you to phone in, you will still be able to boot to Safe Mode and back up your data.

WPA is not a "lease" system requiring more payments after two years or any other period. You may use the product as licensed in perpetuity.
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germanjulian

its a pain. especially if you upgrade a lot.

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hohum

This is just for the home edition right? I've got WinXP Professional, and have never been asked or needed to activate windows - despite numerous hardware changes and reformats.

DarkFoss

It's for Pro as well. I've had to activate my copy 7 times already.

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Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety,deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

Ben Franklin, 1755

hohum

Hmm, well it has never prompted me to... all i've ever done is type in my cd key during install, and that's it - no prompts to activate or anything like that afterwards.

Rayder

If you've read the whole thing, it says that if you have made NO changes, or have not reformatted, in 120 days (about 4 months) it wipes the slate clean, meaning that you will be able to re-activate with just your normal key upon a total system upgrade and reformat (I have also verified this with MS when I had to call them to re-activate). Make too many changes within the 120 days to too many DIFFERENT parts in the system, you will be prompted to re-activate because too many "yes votes" turn to "no votes" in it's system check. Your NIC seems to be especially important to the "votes" system. For instance, it says you can change the video card as many times as you want because that only shows as ONE "no vote" in the "votes" system, regardless of how many times you swap it for a different card.

This applies to Pro and Home editions.

Must read and comprehend the WHOLE thing, it's all explained in the statement I posted, no matter how poorly written the statement may be (I didn't write it, just copy and pasted it many months ago from I-don't-know-where).

kelticknight

it happen the last time to me and it wouldn't work and had to call

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dj_stick

it happened to me last night, and now i can't reactivate windows as i have re-activated it too many times, and need to purchase a new cd key. WTF?

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Crash Override

umm no you didnt need to.

who told you that load of hooey?

you just call up M$ and tell them that you had an issue with reactivation and they will read off a new activation ID that you use


oh and hohum that would be due to the fact that you either have an oem copy from gateway or another company like that or you arent using a legal windows copy

hohum

Hmm, well initially I had a shop install XP Pro for me as my ME install had gone tits up... and it indeed turned out to be an OEM copy (their company name in the IE bar along the top etc). When it came to the point where I needed to reinstall XP, I just noted down the key i was given and used that when installing xp again with a non-oem copy. Perhaps it can tell which keys are OEM or not? *shrugs*

mkk

Good idea to try to clear this up. But what a saddening mess it is after all. I bet that more than 9/10 times when a user experiences this scheme as a difficulty, it happens to be a well paying customer and not a "pirate" at all.

You've gotta love this part:
I can easily imagine it becoming relatively carefree in the future, but they really started this up too early. To have to phone in and explain why you still want to use your expensively paid for software. Feels like 10-15 years ago.., if ever.

DarkFoss

Actually it's not all that bad. The last time I had to call Ms had automated the service.. I had more problems with that than I ever did talking to a person. The automation did tell me I had activated windows too many times and would have to purchase a new key. I simply hung up and recalled opting to talk to a person instead. They've always been polite and have accepted my explainations without question. I leave the screen up while I call and type in the reactivation code as it's given. Of course they have to ask if it's already installed on another comp..Like anyone would say yes While chatting I always make it a point of telling them in addition to Xp pro, I've got 2 copys of home, Me, 98 and 98se. I've always reactivate around Midnight on a Friday..They seem quite bored and happy to chat.

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Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety,deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

Ben Franklin, 1755

dj_stick

actually it was in the dialog for re-activation… i jus got sick of it and waiting for microsoft to answer the aus number that was given, so i wnet on the net on another computer, found a crack, started in safe mode with command prompt and cracked it

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