cannot activate windows after a repair install

Hi all,

Bit of an urgent one...

I have recently run a repair installation on one of our workstations, and now i cannot login because it keeps saying that i need to activate Windows. I click on yes to do it now and then it logs me off. its a vicious circle. I can get into safe mode but you cant activate windows from within safe mode. i have googled the problem and tried a number of things but nothing seems to work.

It wouldnt normally be a problem but this computer is one that is used in the office so needs to be sorted fairly quickly. i really dont want to reinstall windows because that takes a lot of time.

Is there a way of changing anything in the registry to allow me to at least login to windows to activate over the net properly??

Many thanks

James

Not done it like this but what you could do is boot the system with UBCD , use the registry editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\Cu rrent Version\WPAEvents

Once you are there double click "OOBETimer" and change at least one digit of its value. That should force windows to deactivate itself, then if after you reboot you manage to get into windows run "%systemroot%\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /a" and you should get the the activation screen that will allow you to enter a valid product key for the type of windows you are using. If it's OEM it won't take the VLK key though...

Is this Windows Vista?

If so why don't you simply ring up Microsoft to activate Windows?

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Originally Posted by dtakias

Not done it like this but what you could do is boot the system with UBCD , use the registry editor and navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\Cu rrent Version\WPAEvents

Once you are there double click "OOBETimer" and change at least one digit of its value. That should force windows to deactivate itself, then if after you reboot you manage to get into windows run "%systemroot%\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /a" and you should get the the activation screen that will allow you to enter a valid product key for the type of windows you are using. If it's OEM it won't take the VLK key though...

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This was one of the things i tried. not from UBCD but from within safemode. It doesnt fix the problem.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rh91uk

Is this Windows Vista?

If so why don't you simply ring up Microsoft to activate Windows?

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Its not Vista, Its XP Pro. i cannot phone Microsoft because there is nothing i can do to the computer once its switched on. As i said earlier, as soon as i login it asks me to activate windows, i click on yes and then it logs me off again.

I have seen this problem so many times, after a cleanup of spyware, some spyware programs can jack up the registry causing a bluescreen or there is a rootkit with a driver removed causes a bluescreen. so then a repair install is attempted. 8 times out of 10, the repair install does not work, it may or may not complete, sometimes claiming files are missing during the repair install. other times it goes through flawlessly, then when windows starts it says Windows must be activated. Here the user accepts the activation, yet it never comes up, all you see is a desktop background. ctrl+alt+del, alt-f4, etc do not work. because the system is locked out of those options until windows is activated. Usually the first sign of this outcome is the last part of the windows install where it says please wait, and the hard drive loops activity at a steady rate, yet nothing ever happens. You can alt-f4 this part, then you only have an arrow. the only way to get around this is rebooting. then you are left were we left off, windows needs activation yet activation will not start. again, you can access the system in non-networking safe mode. but nothing else. The last time this has happened to me the spyware was brought on a clients computer in the form of something called "Wind Optimizer" among other things like a rogue "safety center" disguised like a Microsoft program. it looks really close to microsoft security center. Always with the malware...

This has become a very common problem due to the versions of windows (service pack level) and media player versus what comes on the cd even if it is a sp3 xp cd this can happen.




1. Turn On your PC

2. Press F8 repeatedly and go to Safe Mode

3. Logon as per normal
(note: Administrator password is usually blank, but hopefully you know your password)

4. Allow the Desktop to fully load (answering "Yes" to continue into Safe Mode)
(note: This is just a long way of saying go to Safe Mode)

5. Click on Start - Run

6. Type in exactly: rundll32.exe syssetup,SetupOobeBnk (and click OK)
(note: one space, after "rundll32.exe " also the Oo are two letter o's in "oobe"; capitals and comma are important)

7. Wait a couple of seconds (although you will Not see any change)

8. Restart your PC normally (Start - Shutdown - Restart - Ok)

9. You are now able to go to Normal Mode again (For another 30 days !!!)

10. Install IE8, do not pass go do not install ie7, install ie8. that should solve not being able to browse and not being able to activate somehow it's tied to the broken ie. Let me know if this works. Now do whatever you like, you're back to Normal.
:troll:

(if you have an ie8 installer package install ie8 in safe mode, as you cannot get online until your period has been reset or activated this is the best way)

(note also windows update does not function properly after you reset the key until ie8 is installed due to ie/oobe being jacked up)

You didn't get thanked from the previous person so I thought it only appropriate that you recieve thanks from someone, you did save my day. I also think from the lack of response at all you managed to help the other person as well.
I was having a similar problem where I put my wifes HDD in a new machine and ran a repair to finish the job. When it was finished it said that I could not log on until I activatedd windows, when I selected ok, nothing at all would happen, I got her desktop picture and that was it. I tried the advice you had offered to the other person in need and we have desktop! My assumption as one with moderate pc skills and knowllege, is that it couldn't connect to the internet properly and since I couldn't do anything I had no way to configure the connection to suit the hardware change.
Now the problem seems to be that when I select to activate windows, still nothing happens. Click on it, a momentary hourglass, then nothing. I was able to do some windows updates etc. and I'm hoping that will fix whatever is snagging that part of the system. If it doesn't I may be back to ask for the kind help of all those who are willing to give of their knowllege.
Thank you Hargak and Thank you to all of you who deserve it and do not recieve it.
Peace

Yep, went to install IE8 in Safe MOde with Networking (Only safe mode you can use while not activated) Copied IE8 install files to thumb drive and installed. Rebooted and was able to activate. Worked fine for a bit until I was cleaning out malware with malware bytes. Now it is rebooting. Just another issue with this piece of Dell. Really needs a reinstall. But seperate issue!