Posted March 5, 2019 Hello there! I've been lurking for a while and never made an account but after 2 years of working in a PC Repair Shop I finally hit a wall I can't get around. English is my third language, please don't eat me alive. I have this PC from the early 2000s with a fried board that, as usual, has some vital programs that would cost thousands of euros to replace. The first step was to find a similar donor PC and transfer the hard drive. After doing that, and after resolving some issues with user folder not showing up, we finally can log in-- oh wait, it needs to be activated. No biggie, the original PC still has it's license sticker. (Note: I took the images from the internet, the originals are in italian) . So I go for option number 2 ("Yes, I want to telephone a customer service representative to activate Windows"), and get to the second part. "Wait a minute" I think to myself, "It never asked for a product key". I shrug, set my location to Italy, call the number (as usual, not a real person, just a nice robot-lady voice), give her the ID from step 3 (it displays one for me), and type the confirmation ID for step 4. Lo and behold, it doesn't work, citing a bad product key. "Doesn't matter, I have the original anyways". So then I press 'Change Product Key' and type the product key and press 'Update', and I wait... and wait... and wait... I tried other spare Keys I had, even a random one, nada. The longest I waited was 4/5 hours. The internet connection is there because if I unplug the cable it tells me the key can not be verified (I also tried installing a couple PCI Ethernet cards, just to be sure...). Since I can only enter windows in Safe Mode and Safe Mode with Prompt, I can't do the "change the registry value" trick because it works only in normal mode, which I can not access. I tried looking for command line solutions but found nothing. Before I go dumpster-diving for an early 2000s board, is there something that can be done at this stage? Did I miss something stupid that I should be ashamed of? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted March 5, 2019 How about not activating it and getting the stuff you need from it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted March 5, 2019 Pretty sure they took down the servers for that when they threw support for it into the garbage, pick option 3, don't activate, and see if it works, should at least function long enough for you to pull whatever data you need desktop Spoiler r5 3600,3450@0.9v (0.875v get) 4.2ghz@1.25v (1.212 get) | custom loop cpu&gpu 1260mm nexxos xt45 | MSI b450i gaming ac | crucial ballistix 2x8 3000c15->3733c15@1.39v(1.376v get) |Zotac 2060 amp | 256GB Samsung 950 pro nvme | 1TB Adata su800 | 4TB HGST drive | Silverstone SX500-LG HTPC Spoiler HTPC i3 7300 | Gigabyte GA-B250M-DS3H | 16GB G Skill | Adata XPG SX8000 128GB M.2 | Many HDDs | Rosewill FBM-01 | Corsair CXM 450W Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted March 5, 2019 7 minutes ago, Cyracus said: Pretty sure they took down the servers for that when they threw support for it into the garbage, pick option 3, don't activate, and see if it works, should at least function long enough for you to pull whatever data you need Why on earth would one use XP, it doesn't even support most new hardware. sighs Asus Sabertooth x79 / 4930k @ 4500 @ 1.408v / Gigabyte WF 2080 RTX / Corsair VG 64GB @ 1866 & AX1600i & H115i Pro @ 2x Noctua NF-A14 / Carbide 330r Blackout Scarlett 2i2 Audio Interface / KRK Rokits 10" / Sennheiser HD 650 / Logitech G Pro Wireless Mouse & G915 Linear & G935 & C920 / SL 88 Grand / Cakewalk / NF-A14 Int P12 Ex AOC 40" 4k Curved / LG 55" OLED C9 120hz / LaCie Porsche Design 2TB & 500GB / Samsung 950 Pro 500GB / 850 Pro 500GB / Crucial m4 500GB / Asus M.2 Card Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted March 5, 2019 This is uncle billys way of saying come to Windows 10. hehe You can buy a Winblows 10 key for cheap on ebay or something. Asus Sabertooth x79 / 4930k @ 4500 @ 1.408v / Gigabyte WF 2080 RTX / Corsair VG 64GB @ 1866 & AX1600i & H115i Pro @ 2x Noctua NF-A14 / Carbide 330r Blackout Scarlett 2i2 Audio Interface / KRK Rokits 10" / Sennheiser HD 650 / Logitech G Pro Wireless Mouse & G915 Linear & G935 & C920 / SL 88 Grand / Cakewalk / NF-A14 Int P12 Ex AOC 40" 4k Curved / LG 55" OLED C9 120hz / LaCie Porsche Design 2TB & 500GB / Samsung 950 Pro 500GB / 850 Pro 500GB / Crucial m4 500GB / Asus M.2 Card Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted March 5, 2019 Author I would if it was data only, but there are also programs that are very niche that are very important for the clients company (they work with EPROMs) and of course there are no original CDs around. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted March 5, 2019 Author 9 minutes ago, Cyracus said: Pretty sure they took down the servers for that when they threw support for it into the garbage, pick option 3, don't activate, and see if it works, should at least function long enough for you to pull whatever data you need Strangely enough they do still work. I activated another PC last month without an issue. As for the second thing, my mistake: I can no longer postpone the activation. My third option says "Disconnect" and goes back to user selection. 9 minutes ago, Turtle Rig said: This is uncle billys way of saying come to Windows 10. hehe You can buy a Winblows 10 key for cheap on ebay or something. I would but the programs this company uses are old, rare, and even if, they have no installation CDs left from when the bought them 10+ years ago. Basically I need to extract them somehow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted March 5, 2019 I don't advocate or indeed agree with piracy but heck, I doubt even Microsoft would care if you just cracked it. XP is far to old to care about product keys these days. I doubt you are going to achieve your goal though, it's very unlikely copying the application data straight off the hard drive will end with a working application. You might get lucky but chances are these applications require registry entries and other files stored in hidden locations to work. Main Rig:- Ryzen 7 3800X | Asus ROG Strix X570-F Gaming | 16GB Team Group Dark Pro 3600Mhz | Corsair MP600 1TB PCIe Gen 4 | Sapphire 5700 XT Pulse | Corsair H115i Platinum | WD Black 1TB | WD Green 4TB | EVGA SuperNOVA G3 650W | Asus TUF GT501 | Samsung C27HG70 1440p 144hz HDR FreeSync 2 | Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS | Server:- Intel NUC running Server 2019 + Synology DSM218+ with 2 x 4TB Toshiba NAS Ready HDDs (RAID0) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted March 5, 2019 (edited) Author 2 hours ago, Master Disaster said: I don't advocate or indeed agree with piracy but heck, I doubt even Microsoft would care if you just cracked it. XP is far to old to care about product keys these days. The issue is it doesn't even seem to care if a key is original or not; it just keeps loading endlessly. And I can't even use a program to crack the key even if I wanted to since I can log only in Safe Mode. I need a big bottle of something strong... edit: typo Edited March 5, 2019 by GoodBytes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted March 5, 2019 Try this... Boot up to Safe Mode with Command Prompt, in the command window enter explorer.exe and hit enter, once Explorer is loaded hit WinKey+R and enter rundll32.exe syssetup,SetupOobeBnk. Afterwards restart in normal mode and you should have another 30 day activation grace period. Main Rig:- Ryzen 7 3800X | Asus ROG Strix X570-F Gaming | 16GB Team Group Dark Pro 3600Mhz | Corsair MP600 1TB PCIe Gen 4 | Sapphire 5700 XT Pulse | Corsair H115i Platinum | WD Black 1TB | WD Green 4TB | EVGA SuperNOVA G3 650W | Asus TUF GT501 | Samsung C27HG70 1440p 144hz HDR FreeSync 2 | Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS | Server:- Intel NUC running Server 2019 + Synology DSM218+ with 2 x 4TB Toshiba NAS Ready HDDs (RAID0) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted March 5, 2019 (edited) Author 2 hours ago, Master Disaster said: Try this... Boot up to Safe Mode with Command Prompt, in the command window enter explorer.exe and hit enter, once Explorer is loaded hit WinKey+R and enter rundll32.exe syssetup,SetupOobeBnk. Afterwards restart in normal mode and you should have another 30 day activation grace period. Many thanks! Now I can access Windows normally, but I still get the infinite loading glitch when I try changing the product key. This may be a game changer, though. Thank you very much, I'm going to try a bunch of stuff. Edited March 5, 2019 by GoodBytes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted March 5, 2019 Reminder to all: Speaking about piracy is against forum Community Standard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted March 6, 2019 13 hours ago, GoodBytes said: Reminder to all: Speaking about piracy is against forum Community Standard. Apologies, but cmon, it's Windows XP, it's 18 years old. Nobody cares about it anymore. Either way, rules are rules, won't happen again. Main Rig:- Ryzen 7 3800X | Asus ROG Strix X570-F Gaming | 16GB Team Group Dark Pro 3600Mhz | Corsair MP600 1TB PCIe Gen 4 | Sapphire 5700 XT Pulse | Corsair H115i Platinum | WD Black 1TB | WD Green 4TB | EVGA SuperNOVA G3 650W | Asus TUF GT501 | Samsung C27HG70 1440p 144hz HDR FreeSync 2 | Ubuntu 20.04.2 LTS | Server:- Intel NUC running Server 2019 + Synology DSM218+ with 2 x 4TB Toshiba NAS Ready HDDs (RAID0) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Posted March 6, 2019 3 hours ago, Master Disaster said: Apologies, but cmon, it's Windows XP, it's 18 years old. Nobody cares about it anymore. Either way, rules are rules, won't happen again. It's fine. But we don't know if Microsoft lawyers cares. Same for any other software, even if it is a software from the 90s and there wasn't a new version since. We see on YouTube how companies can be up tight even on several decade old content and probably not even sold anymore. This forum doesn't want any trouble from lawyers. In addition, being in Canada, the forum that is, the forum admin and mods has an active duty to obey to all Canadian laws. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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