Comments on: Windows Vista Activation really is a mess

By: rock1

rock1 — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 16:39:29 +0000

i don’t have that file on the computer -.- Windows\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\SoftwareLicensing

why?how? can you help?

By: Tim Matheson

Tim Matheson — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 13:10:26 +0000

I don’t think Microsoft Wanted you to type C:\Windows\explorer.exe in the address bar. If they did they wouldn’t have disabled it in the first place. If you look at the caption to this feature it says “To purchase a new product key online.” hence the browser. This method is complicated because it is a hack and was not intended to be done.

Best,

Tim Matheson

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 18:35:09 +0000

Okay, I remember it now. I just didn’t know that I have to enter C:\Windows\explorer.exe. Why make it easy, if it can be complicated, right?

By: Tim Matheson

Tim Matheson — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 17:14:26 +0000

I used RC2 to do it. I tried fiddling with the dates and locked myself out of Vista RC2 and that is when I seen it. Vista gave three options I could logout, Use reduced functionality mode (says to buy a product key online and I tried but Microsoft wouldn’t let me cause it wasn’t released. ) and there was an option to enter a new product key. We have all become latch-key windows users and from time to time we lock ourselves out of the house. Personally I don’t think that $150 is so much to pay for the Vista upgrade. I just don’t see why I have to have my XP cd to do it (Are you listening Microsoft?). What are all those OEM XP users to do who didn’t receive a CD with their machine? Oh well I guess there is always the torrent copies thanks Microsoft for turning your would be legitimate customers into pirates just to save time.

Best regards,

Tim Matheson

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 16:19:34 +0000

Tim, thanks for the tip. Was this feature available in Vista RC? I don’t remember that I saw this “Reduced Functionality mode” there.

By: Tim Matheson

Tim Matheson — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 16:09:53 +0000

You can put in a new public IP without too much effort. Boot up your machine and when Vista tells you your copy has expired goto “Reduced Functionality Mode” then once your inside that you only have a web browser IE7 to be exact. Once you have that done enter C:\Windows\explorer.exe into the address bar. Vista will load explorer and your start menu, and other features will be restored. You will still have a limit on the number of applications that can be run but should be able to enable your public IP from there.

Where theres a will there is a way.

Best regards,

Tim Matheson

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 07 Dec 2006 19:53:32 +0000

Ben, it was only a test system without any software installed. That’s why, installation was fast. But thanks for the tip! I, somehow, think that I might need this some day.

By: ben

ben — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 11:57:43 +0000

ps if you activation is already dead, you dont need to edit the permissions just copy the files to the two locations

By: ben

ben — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 11:56:49 +0000

why would you have to reinstall when you can boot via a PE disk, replace the tokens.dat file and the pkeyconfig.xrm-ms located at both

Windows\System32\Licensing\pkeyconfig

and

Windows\ServiceProfiles\NetworkService\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\SoftwareLicensing

of course remembering to give yourself full access rights first using any Open property of a file, click Security > Advanced > Owner > Edit > Administrators.
Click OK and close the propertes.
Then re-open properties of the file, Click Security > Advanced > Edit > select Administrators and click Edit.
Click “Full Control”, Click OK and close the properties.

sorry forgot to mention, heres the keycode although when these files are replaced any keycode should work

H7RPG-XDMJM-WTY9D-VYJ3C-CB3KJ

now i spose you want to know where to find the files dont you goto

http://xvisual.co.uk/vista

and put the two files to a floppy or whatever, let me know how you get on, everytime i do this i get 30 more days activation, and when windows is working it only takes me about 1 minute to do it.

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 20:08:49 +0000

You can use a private IP to install Vista with WDS. However, to activate Vista, you have to connect to the Microsoft activation server. For this you need a public IP.

By: eth0

eth0 — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 18:56:03 +0000

That’s strange, considering I’ve installed Vista via the new Windows Distribution Service (SP2 beta for 2003 Server, successor to RIS)..
And that’s all on a private-range network ofcourse.

No such problems activating here.

By: Michael

Michael — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 17:38:29 +0000

Kevin, I fully agree.

Animatrix, don’t you think that this is a bit too complicated? I mean I don’t want to hack my Vista installation; I just want to activate it.

By: AniMatrix

AniMatrix — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 21:33:46 +0000

You could boot with a Windows XP XPE boot CD, and boot Windows XP from a CD.

In that Windows XP Environment you can maybe use a Vista activator tool, if compatible in PE (Preinstalled Environment).

By: Kevin Severud

Kevin Severud — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 16:49:20 +0000

Considering the WGA flub for VLK customers being told last week that their XP machines were il-legit and the fact that Volume Activation 2.0 is going to be another bump in TCO, Microsoft better do more than 5 nines in making sure this stuff works. Otherwise it just isn’t worth stomaching this Content Restriction And Prevention (others call it DRM) scheme.

By: Michael

Michael — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 18:59:15 +0000

Did you count the number of digits you have to enter if you activate Vista by phone? All in all there are 108. This is ridiculous! Usually, I am making typing mistakes. Then I might have to call them again. Sorry, I really don’t have the time for these games. It is faster to simply reinstall it, since I didn’t install any other software. The main point of this post is that product activation only annoys customers. Those guys who don’t want to pay for software always find a way. Have you ever been in a computer shop in China? Then you know what I am talking about.

By: Steve

Steve — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 18:12:32 +0000

Why don’t you just activate over the phone?