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Product Key and Service Pack

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Anthony

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Sep 15, 2002, 11:03:47 PM9/15/02
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I am trying to install service pack one. I get an error
saying that the Product Key used to install Windows is
invalid.
If it is invalid how was I able to install WindowsXP
Professional in the first place?

anthony

Willboy

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Sep 15, 2002, 11:11:09 PM9/15/02
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Hi
I think what they are saying is the key is an illegal pirated key.
Willboy

"Anthony" <tony...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:12a5201c25d2d$acd16230$3aef2ecf@TKMSFTNGXA09...

Michael Stevens

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Sep 15, 2002, 11:17:42 PM9/15/02
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"Anthony" <tony...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:12a5201c25d2d$acd16230$3aef2ecf@TKMSFTNGXA09...

Make sure you are typing it exactly as it is printed on the Retail CD folder
or the OEM certification label attached to the case. If you have multiple
copies, you may be using a different key than the one you used to install.
--

Michael Stevens MS-MVP XP
xpn...@michaelstevenstech.com
http://michaelstevenstech.com

Gregory Phillips

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Sep 16, 2002, 1:05:56 AM9/16/02
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Because you used a pirated key and Microsoft knows it. Since
you are running an illegal copy of XP, Microsoft sees no reason
to offer you free support.

Have a nice day.

---
Gregory Phillips greg...@attbi.com Seattle, Washington, USA

Lewis

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Sep 16, 2002, 3:19:09 PM9/16/02
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I guess that if you are one of the unlucky holders of either of these keys,
you are SOL. I guess it means either go back to the original vendor or one
might have to repurchase a legit version from another retailer? Correct??!!


Lewis


"Alex Nichol" <Alex...@btinternet.delete.com> wrote in message
news:s7acou8oe9askig6g...@4ax.com...
Anthony wrote:

There are a number of pirated keys around. Two in particular became so
widespread in abuse that Microsoft have locked them out of installing
SP1 at all - others may be locked out of access to updates subsequently.
These keys seem to have been released not only through amateur pirates
but also through unscrupulous vendors and possibly through more innocent
subsequent intermediaries. If you find that the Product Id on your
machine matches the quote below, you could take it up with the vendor
and with Microsoft's anti-piracy unit at pir...@microsoft.com

To Quote from the WPA Technical market bulletin "Technical Details on
SP1 Changes to Microsoft Product Activation for Windows XP" of August
2002 at
www.microsoft.com/piracy/basics/activation/WPA_SP1_Market_Bulletin.doc

Quote:

Microsoft has determined through investigations that most pirated
installations are made with either of two volume license product keys.
Volume license product keys are used by corporate or other volume
license customers to install Windows XP on their PCs. These two
particular volume license product keys however were never in use by a
customer in a production deployment. Product keys are 25-character
alphanumeric codes arranged in 5 groups of 5 characters each and used
during setup to install the product. The product key produces the
product ID found in My Computer / Properties after setup has completed.

Service Pack 1 of Windows XP ships with a list of the two product IDs
that are created by the pirated product volume license product keys. To
determine eligibility for the update, Service Pack 1 compares the
Windows XP product ID on the system to this list. The comparison and the
list reside locally on the users PC and no information is sent to
Microsoft as part of this process. Service Pack 1 for Windows XP will
fail to install on installations of Windows with one of the following
product IDs:

XXXXX-640-0000356-23XXX
XXXXX-640-2001765-23XXX

The below message will be displayed if installation fails for this
reason:

Service Pack 1 Setup Error
The product key used to install Windows is invalid. Please contact your
system administrator or retailer immediately to obtain a valid product
key. You may also contact Microsoft Corporation's Anti-Piracy Team by
emailing pir...@microsoft.com if you think you have purchased pirated
Microsoft software. Please be assured that any personal information you
send to the Microsoft Anti-Piracy team will be kept in strict
confidence.

You can find the product ID of your installation by right clicking on My
Computer and choose Properties, then viewing the General tab.

--
Alex Nichol MVP (DTS)
Bournemouth, U.K. Al...@mvps.org
Check out:'How to make a good newsgroup post'at
http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm


Ray Hooker

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Sep 16, 2002, 5:33:50 PM9/16/02
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My question is simpler. What happens if you do have a legitmate key but XP
was installed using an illegitimate key. How do you replace it? I know
that I could do a complete re-install but that would a lot of time and since
I believe that I would have to reinstall the programs, setup, etc. Someone
mentioned "repairing it", but unlike my experience with NT, it gives you the
option to use the recover console. I am not certain what I could use to
then initate repair and replace the license key?

Willboy

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Sep 16, 2002, 5:48:03 PM9/16/02
to
Hi Ray
Sorry there is no reg key for the product key
Willboy

"Ray Hooker" <rho...@nc.rr.com> wrote in message
news:0dsh9.22747$jF4.1...@twister.southeast.rr.com...
> Any clue about the registry key??
>
>
>
>


kurttrail

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Sep 16, 2002, 5:29:14 PM9/16/02
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You could try to change the Product ID in the registry to something other than those 2 ProdID's that have been block.

--
Peace!
Kurt
http://microscum.kurttrail.com
"Produkt-Aktivierung macht frei!"


"Lewis" <lew...@sympatico.ca> wrote in message news:s7qh9.108$WT1....@news20.bellglobal.com...

Ray Hooker

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Sep 16, 2002, 5:40:12 PM9/16/02
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RonS

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Sep 16, 2002, 6:09:23 PM9/16/02
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http://www.mwright.plus.com/xp.htm

Tom

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Sep 16, 2002, 5:47:26 PM9/16/02
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"Ray Hooker" <rho...@nc.rr.com> wrote in message news:27sh9.22723$jF4.1...@twister.southeast.rr.com...

If you have a lefit copy of XP with its legit key, you then could run a "repair" of XP, and then you can use the correct key, and you will be up and running. Step by Step instructions on a repiar install;
http://michaelstevenstech.com/XPrepairinstall.htm

kurttrail

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Sep 16, 2002, 7:19:45 PM9/16/02
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Sure, it does. THE PRODUCT ID IS AN ENCRYPTED FORM OF THE ENTIRE PRODUCT KEY! If you change all the registry references to the Product ID to the same number, then there is no need to even know a valid Product Key, because Windows will decrypt the new Product ID into a valid Product Key from the ProdID you created.

--
Peace!
Kurt
http://microscum.kurttrail.com
"Produkt-Aktivierung macht frei!"


"Willboy" <wil...@oregontrail.net> wrote in message news:Ox18HMdXCHA.1812@tkmsftngp10...
> Hi
> Well those keys aren't useful for changing the product key. The entire
> product key does not appear in the registry as such.
> Willboy
>
> "kurttrail" <donte...@homeyouspammingfools.net> wrote in message
> news:#tc#kGdXCHA.2496@tkmsftngp09...
> Actually there are three or four registry keys for the ProdID, which is just
> an encrypted form of the Product Key.


>
> --
> Peace!
> Kurt
> http://microscum.kurttrail.com
> "Produkt-Aktivierung macht frei!"
>
>

> "Willboy" <wil...@oregontrail.net> wrote in message
> news:e7$LXqcXCHA.2016@tkmsftngp09...

kurttrail

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Sep 16, 2002, 6:38:30 PM9/16/02
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Actually there are three or four registry keys for the ProdID, which is just an encrypted form of the Product Key.

--

Peace!
Kurt
http://microscum.kurttrail.com
"Produkt-Aktivierung macht frei!"

"Willboy" <wil...@oregontrail.net> wrote in message news:e7$LXqcXCHA.2016@tkmsftngp09...

kurttrail

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Sep 16, 2002, 6:41:44 PM9/16/02
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http://www.labmice.net/WindowsXP/articles/changeID.htm

--
Peace!
Kurt
http://microscum.kurttrail.com
"Produkt-Aktivierung macht frei!"


"Ray Hooker" <rho...@nc.rr.com> wrote in message news:27sh9.22723$jF4.1...@twister.southeast.rr.com...

Willboy

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Sep 16, 2002, 6:48:29 PM9/16/02
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Hi
Well those keys aren't useful for changing the product key. The entire
product key does not appear in the registry as such.
Willboy

"kurttrail" <donte...@homeyouspammingfools.net> wrote in message
news:#tc#kGdXCHA.2496@tkmsftngp09...

Willboy

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Sep 16, 2002, 7:34:59 PM9/16/02
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I don't think so man, that would be a hole big enough for a Mack truck. Not
all product keys are valid keys, in particular there are only a small subset
of keys that are valid with the volume license corp. version. Have you
tried this?
Willboy

"kurttrail" <donte...@homeyouspammingfools.net> wrote in message

news:#fQPoddXCHA.2828@tkmsftngp10...

Augustus

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Sep 16, 2002, 9:08:26 PM9/16/02
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This is easily done....step by step at
http://www.tweaktown.com/document.php?dType=review&dId=350


kurttrail

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Sep 17, 2002, 2:53:34 AM9/17/02
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You're right, all Product Keys are not valid, but all Product ID's hacked into the registry in the right way, will be decrypted by Windows into a valid Product Key.

It's a little more involved than I saying here, but it can be done.

--
Peace!
Kurt
http://microscum.kurttrail.com
"Produkt-Aktivierung macht frei!"


"Willboy" <wil...@oregontrail.net> wrote in message news:#l2xGmdXCHA.2056@tkmsftngp09...

TheGhost

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Sep 17, 2002, 2:04:13 PM9/17/02
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Boot from your XP cd , chose INSTALL , it will then
find your existing installation of XP and give you the
option to repair it . Click repair then and enter your
new key when prompted .


RLB

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Sep 17, 2002, 6:07:40 PM9/17/02
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Hi Alex,

Could a person in this situation buy a legal version of Pro upgrade to run
the repair if they have a dual boot system (Win2000)? Would that qualify for
the upgrade version in this particular circumstance?

Thanks.

RLB

"Alex Nichol" <Alex...@btinternet.delete.com> wrote in message

news:ekudou8neebq6pssm...@4ax.com...
Ray Hooker wrote:

>My question is simpler. What happens if you do have a legitmate key but XP
>was installed using an illegitimate key. How do you replace it? I know
>that I could do a complete re-install but that would a lot of time and
since
>I believe that I would have to reinstall the programs, setup, etc.


I would start by doing a Repair reinstall over it using a legal copy
(which would have to be Pro version): I am not sure if this would end up
asking for the Key or not. Or run the legal CD from it and use
Upgrade.

Torgeir Bakken

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Sep 16, 2002, 6:33:14 PM9/16/02
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Willboy wrote:

> "Ray Hooker" <rho...@nc.rr.com> wrote in message
> news:0dsh9.22747$jF4.1...@twister.southeast.rr.com...
> > Any clue about the registry key??
> >
>

> Sorry there is no reg key for the product key

Yes, there are, but it is "encrypted"...


--
torgeir


Uldis

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Sep 28, 2002, 4:52:30 AM9/28/02
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"Ray Hooker" <rho...@nc.rr.com> wrote in message news:<27sh9.22723$jF4.1...@twister.southeast.rr.com>...

I did that way. You have to choose fresh install, and when windows
will search for previous version, it will find this one, and will then
offer a repair (other than repair choice given at startup). And then
you'll be asked for registration key. In my case I anyway called M$
support, but everithing else was OK. This reinstall will take almost
as long as new install, but all of your settings will be kept, except
all windows updates will be lost.

Uldis (uld...@nelss.com)

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