ThePunkerGuy

Hi, I have a question. I am always chaning parts and getting new parts in my comp since i build comptuers for many people and have opertunity to get new parts.. about every 2 months i end up formatting or reinstalling windows which requires me to reactivate windows. Today i reactivated it and it said i had reached my activation limit.. so of coarse i called and they activated it. I was wondering.. can they actually, legally, not reactivate it after a certain amount of reactivations? Because that would really piss me off if they wouldnt reactivate my legally bought copy just because i reinstall it allot.. i would probably go with a hacked version rather than buy another copy since i bought a copy already.. lol
- Mike

Electronic Punk

Hmm, perhaps if there was an easy way of "deactivating" your copy in windows, before changing any of the hardware...

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Iceman

Legally, MS says they can limit the number of reactivations, but this hasn't been tested in the court systems yet, so it will be interesting to see if and when the courts decide this question. In my opinion this is a toss up on how the courts will decide, it can go either way. But knowing the deep pockets of MS, they will probably win this one.

IMHO

Eck

You can also just save the file "wpa.dbl" (in Windows\System32) to a floppy and put it back there once you reinstall. Won't have to activate again.

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ThePunkerGuy

Cool, that actually works? Awesome
- Mike

Eck

That's what I read somewhere. It might have been on this site... can't remember.

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Behemoth

I found that you can actiavte a maximum of 3 times over the net, and then you have to phone M$ up to reactiave after you've used your 3 ges up on the net. However you can call the M4 free tech support number as many times as you like to reativate.

ThePunkerGuy

Yeah.. I have had to call them because i ran out of net activations.. but i didnt know if there was a limit to calling m$ or not. Guess not.. thats a good thing.. just a pain in the butt hehe
- Mike

Hipster Doofus

If you format & don't make any changes to hardware why can't you use the number they gave you before? :confused:

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Eck

Number? What number? :-/

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Behemoth

The number which they give you to activate Windows.

If you activate online then you won't see the number they give you, hpwever if you do it over the phone you will be told the number. However there is also another number which you see on the screen generated by XP that you tell the advisor over the phone before they will give you a new activation code. This number changes every time so you will not be able to use the same number from thelast time you reactivated.

Lithium

activate windows what the hell are you guys talking about?
ive never had to activate windows so what you guys are talking about make no sence to me

Behemoth

Then like me you've also got one of the charity versions of XP doing the rounds. For those that went out and bought XP with money they have to activate, it's stop piracy. TO be honest it;s absolute loonacy the number of complintsI hear about it.

ThePunkerGuy

Yeah, you guys dont have to activate because you have a stolen copy.. i had a stolen copy but then decided i liked XP so i bought it..
- Mike

Behemoth

I can't afford to buy a genuine copy of XP.

ThePunkerGuy

just $50 for a full copy of home ed!
- Mike

X-Istence

hmm, i got the corp edition from the company i work for, plus if you think about it, get a cracked version, and get a Windows XP key generator and reinstall and use a key, and M$ wont know if it is the right key, plus with corp you dont have to activate

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ThePunkerGuy

Yeah i used to have the corp version.. but i just feel better having a legal copy since it is the biggest piece of software on a computer..
- Mike