Cyber Axe

Yeah, at some point a few months after i posted this, ms fixed all the activation stuff i think it may be because they updated all their internal certs due to an industry change which had the side effect of fixing activation but there was a long period where the only way to activate was the above method it wouldn’t surprise me though if they decide to keep the servers up they let the certs expire again

Extremely late reply, I know but if i'm insane enough to still be looking for such XP info in this day and age there may be others, for the settings you have there you need to have UnattendSwitch = yes changed to no as this switch is what determins if OOBE is launched after install

The Links/Attachments no longer work

Just to confirm, I've installed MSE 4.4.304 on each edition of 32-Bit Vista over the past couple of weeks, applied the reg hack and manually updated the defnitions from the MS Website and it seems so far to stop it updating MSE to anything newer than 4.4.304 and keeps t.he definitions updating correctly, if that changes i'll make another post, but if not everyone can assume it's working fine.

I've noticed that if I install Windows 10 (Home or Pro) from a USB stick (presumably works with DVD too) that it will install a recovery partition on the target computer, but if install via PXE network share it will not install a recovery partition Does anyone know how to enable recovery creation as part of the install process? I've been using the April 2018 ISO downloaded via the Windows USB Install utility, The process for installing via pxe is simply a batch script auto mounts windows share on server cd's into the windows 10 setup folder and runs the setup.exe with no parameters. the WinPE that is booted to run the setup is the original boot.wim from the Windows 10 Setup ISO I've looked to see if there is a commandline parameter for installing the recovery partition but couldn't see one.

There is a link somewhere that has the old root certificate updater if you download that then download the latest certs from microsoft and put them in the same folder it will update the root certs and should fix it, I'm about to go out but if you haven't got it by then i'll post a how to I also have a script that works with it that i'll post too.

I recommend turning the clock forward a couple of months on xp for the force oobe timer you should find it stops working (unless you keep it un-updated then it may work indefinatley), also if you're using a DELL you should be able to legitimatley activate it using the SLP OEM Activation method. I have only tested my methods on versions of XP that have been upgraded to SP3 and were from clean retail/msdn disk sources.

After I posted this within a week we started being able to activate again without doing this fix (I volunteer at the Turing Trust, we deal with a lot of XP machines) however if one is having problems with the built in activator I highly recommend downloading the “Windows XP Product Key Change Tool” it’s an official Microsoft tool and you should be able to download it from majorgeeks (Pretty sure MS no longer have it on their site) worked in every other instance for me where the built in one didn’t. Also since TLS Certificates are playing a part in this process may want to make sure your clock is set correctly (A common source of TLS problems) I’ll edit my original post to add in this info as it may be helpful.

Does anyone know you can, or know where i can find the relevant i for customizing the partitioning part of the Windows 7 installer I cant find any info on this part of the setup process, does it use a diskpart script in the background or is it a custom partitioning built i to the setup and such? The main reasons i want to play around with it: i want to be able to customise it so i can potentially optimise it better (if it is doable i imagine it would be the same process in the win 10 installer, since it’s seems to be based on the same code and the default win10 boot partitions are done badly and it would save me manually diskparting them later) Plus i plan on doing some windows xp installs in wim format to install via the win 7 installer And win xp requires some specific parameters for the partitioning Any info is welcome, thanks

Since there's not much info out there on the web unless you spend a considerable amount of time googling, I thought i'd post the solution so more people can find it quickly. Update Late 2019: Several months after i posted this Microsoft fixed the problem but I believe it was a side effect of them updating their certificates due to an industry shift, so there’s no guarantee they will continue work in future also in the last update i mentioned a batch file, I ended up getting busy and my adhd made me forget, I’ll still post it once I get organised and find it again as it’s useful. Update: The latest problem with activation affects both XP and Vista however it’s relatively easy to fix, you need to update your root Certificates (The same issue causes problems browsing the net too) I have created a Batch script that will download and update the Root Certificates accordingly but it will be a couple of days before I can post it. Below is the Original Fix I posted Turns out it's exceedingly easy to restore Windows XP Online Activation Open the Start Menu Right Click on Internet and choose "Internet Properties" Goto the Advanced Tab Scroll down near the bottom to the Security Section and uncheck both: "Check for publisher's certificate revocation" "Check for server certificate revocation" Now you can activate online as normal or use the "Windows XP Product Key Change Tool" I would reccomend re-enabling both options afterwards even if you dont use Internet Exploder (which you REALLY REALLY should not be) If you’re still having problems: I highly recommend downloading the “Windows XP Product Key Change Tool” it’s an official Microsoft tool and you should be able to download it from majorgeeks worked in every other instance for me where the built in one didn’t. (And in think it also lets you use different type of keys from the media the OS was installed from, such as Retail on OEM and such) Also make sure your clock is set correctly (A common source of TLS problems)

What I am attempting to do is when the appropriate DIV is clicked it adds a class that the CSS tells it how to display that bit works fine. What doesn't work is the fadeout that is supposed to occur after that #HeaderFade is the parent of #Header, what should happen is that the #HeaderFade's class is changed to the class that will display the appropriate background then #Header should be set to the same class afterwards so that it displays the same image after the fadeout occurs, then #Header is "invisibly" faded back in so that the next time it is clicked it will work for the next set of images. I've also been unable to figure out how to stop the previous delayed action from the previous click to stop if you click on another one so that it doesn't result in sporadic time changing. I know the following code is rather inefficient since I'm manually setting an event per ID instead of creating one function that can dynamically do it for each div but I've yet to figure out the best way to do stuff like that in jQuery. <div id="HeaderFade"><div id="Header" class="HeaderOffer1"><div id="Header-Overlay"><div id="Logo"><a href="#"><img src="m/t.png" title="Stephen Clark Fitness: Perthshire and Tayside personal training." alt="Stephen Clarke Fitness Logo" /></a></div><div id="OffersContainer"> <div id="Offers"> <div id="OfferContent"> <p id="Offer1Text" class="OfferText"><a href="#">Stephen Clarke fitness are now the health and fitness experts for Radio Tay and Perthshire online TV.</a></p> <p id="Offer2Text" class="OfferText Inactive"><a href="#">Read more about our Dundee Personal Training here.</a></p> <p id="Offer3Text" class="OfferText Inactive"><a href="#">The route to success begins with a KICKSTART, Full consultation, health check, nutrition review and exercise programme for just £80.</a></p> <div id="OffersBox"> <div id="Offer1" class="Offer OfferActive"></div> <div id="Offer2" class="Offer"></div> <div id="Offer3" class="Offer"></div> </div> </div> </div> <script type="text/javascript"> $('#Offer1').click(function(){ $('.OfferText').addClass('Inactive'); $('.Offer').removeClass('OfferActive'); $(this).addClass('OfferActive'); $('#Offer1Text').removeClass('Inactive'); $('#HeaderFade').removeClass('HeaderOffer2'); $('#HeaderFade').removeClass('HeaderOffer3'); $('#HeaderFade').addClass('HeaderOffer1'); $('#Header').fadeout(400, function() { $('#Header').removeClass('HeaderOffer2'); $('#Header').removeClass('HeaderOffer3'); $('#Header').addClass('HeaderOffer1'); $('#Header').fadein('fast'); }); $('#Offer1').clearQueue(); $('#Offer2').clearQueue(); $('#Offer3').clearQueue(); $(this).delay(7000).queue(function(){ $('#Offer2').trigger("click"); $(this).dequeue(); }); }); $('#Offer2').click(function(){ $('.OfferText').addClass('Inactive'); $('.Offer').removeClass('OfferActive'); $(this).addClass('OfferActive'); $('#Offer2Text').removeClass('Inactive'); $('#HeaderFade').removeClass('HeaderOffer1'); $('#HeaderFade').removeClass('HeaderOffer3'); $('#HeaderFade').addClass('HeaderOffer2'); $('#Header').fadeout(400, function() { $('#Header').removeClass('HeaderOffer1'); $('#Header').removeClass('HeaderOffer3'); $('#Header').addClass('HeaderOffer2'); $('#Header').fadein('fast'); }); $('#Offer1').clearQueue(); $('#Offer2').clearQueue(); $('#Offer3').clearQueue(); $(this).delay(7000).queue(function(){ $('#Offer3').trigger("click"); $(this).dequeue(); }); }); $('#Offer3').click(function(){ $('.OfferText').addClass('Inactive'); $('.Offer').removeClass('OfferActive'); $(this).addClass('OfferActive'); $('#Offer3Text').removeClass('Inactive'); $('#HeaderFade').removeClass('HeaderOffer1'); $('#HeaderFade').removeClass('HeaderOffer2'); $('#HeaderFade').addClass('HeaderOffer3'); $('#Header').fadeout(400, function() { $('#Header').removeClass('HeaderOffer1'); $('#Header').removeClass('HeaderOffer2'); $('#Header').addClass('HeaderOffer3'); $('#Header').fadein('fast'); }); $('#Offer1').clearQueue(); $('#Offer2').clearQueue(); $('#Offer3').clearQueue(); $(this).delay(7000).queue(function(){ $('#Offer1').trigger("click"); $(this).dequeue(); }); }); $(document).ready(function() { $('#Offer2').delay(7000).queue(function(){ $('#Offer2').trigger("click"); $(this).dequeue(); }); }); </script> </div> Thanks

Ive Made a query and for one of the columbs i want to check if the data exists ont eh table if so then it will display that data if not then it will calculate the value between two dates, it works except for getting the value of the table data, all the date calulation and the check seems to work its just the second part of the iif that should display the code from the table [Client Data].[Number of Weeks] and botht eh names are correct but it jsut outputs #Error when it should output the value. Number of Weeks: IIf([Client Data].[Number of Weeks] != "", [Client Data].[Number of Weeks], DateDiff("ww", [Client Data].[start Date], DateAdd("d", 8-Weekday([Client Data].[Expected End Date], 2), [Client Data].[Expected End Date]))) Any help would be appriciated, thanks.

Thanks. (sorry for late reply had troubles getting into my account)

Does anyone know if its possible to make an installation disk that can install both home and pro and install various license versions? It's more important i can have multiple license types over having pro and home together As we have various license types and it would be nice to be able to use one disk to do everything

the program i am making is basically an app that is an overhead map of the room layout with all the computers listed on it when you move the mouse over a button that corresponds to the pc it pings the pc to see if its on or off, if it is off then it doesn't do anything if it is on then it shows a context menu of options. the function works fine if the dns server has that hostname setup however if that hostname is not on the pc then it takes an unacceptable amount of time to complete, the ping timeout doesnt appear to effect dns response and so thats why i added the dns resolve code at the start to try and find a method around that. i just tried using the winapi stuff using gethostbyname however thats not really going to work for me it seems as it has problems when it comes to std::strings and System::Strings i'm getting conflicts i cant fix as it wants to convert one to the other or vice versa and fails.

5ms seems to be plenty of time when i ping any hostname on the lan and that hostname is valid and the computer accepts icmp echo requests then the reply is obtained usualy beteen 2 and 4 ms, this function will only be used on lan side the reason i'm doing a dns resolve before the ping is so i can see if the dns will resolve if it doesnt withing 5ms or possibly slightly longer delay then return false else let the code continue so it can ping. it's the dns resolve that takes ages if the dns hostname is invalid, which i want to get around by using async then after 5ms see if it has finished if not then return false

trying to use asynchronus method again but cannot find a way of getting the status of the async attempt once it has began, so that if it hasn't resolved after sleep is finished it returns false and stops the attempt. bool pingTargetHost(System::String^ stringHostName) { System::AsyncCallback^ callback = gcnew AsyncCallback(ProcessDnsResults); System::Object^ state; Dns::BeginGetHostEntry(stringHostName, callback, state); System::Threading::Thread::Sleep(5); //ResolveState^ ioContext = (ResolveState^)( callback->AsyncState ); //ioContext->IPs = Dns::EndGetHostEntry( ar ) //System::IAsyncResult^ testresult = callback; //Dns::EndGetHostEntry(testresult); if (testresult->IsCompleted == false) { return false; } Ping ^ pingSender = gcnew Ping; int timeout = 5; PingReply ^ reply; try { reply = pingSender->Send(stringHostName, timeout); } catch (Exception^ exceptionPING) { String^ stringException = exceptionPING->Message; return false; } if (reply->Status == IPStatus::Success) { return true; } else { return false; } }

Visual C++ 2008 (i put it in the subtopic) bool pingTargetHost(System::String^ stringHostName) { //try { // IPHostEntry^ host = Dns::GetHostEntry(stringHostName); //} //catch (Exception^ exceptionResolve) { // return false; //} Ping ^ pingSender = gcnew Ping; int timeout = 5; PingReply ^ reply; try { reply = pingSender->Send(stringHostName, timeout); } catch (Exception^ exceptionPING) { return false; } if (reply->Status == IPStatus::Success) { return true; } else { return false; } } The commented out bit i want to check for dns resolve first and have a timeout of like 5 milliseconds, i had deleted my earlier attempt at asynchronous version. Want to check that the hostname resolves first so that the ping doesn't have the same timeout problem in the event it can resolve.

Does anyone know of an easy way to resolve a hostname to IP Address with the ability to time out? GetHostEntry just takes too long if it can't resolve, I've tried setting up a function similar to this using the Asynchronus version that would start lookup wait a certian amount of milliseconds then end though i dont really understand how it works properly so that attempt failed. Thanks

I managed to figure out how to get the X and Y values though i now have the problem of that it seems to be offset to the curser the same amount as the width of the window border and the height of the window top border

I'm using Visual C++ 2008 and am trying to create a context menu when clicking on a button, i have managed to get the context menu to show when the button is clicked however it appears offset to the window the same amount that the window is form the top left of the screen. I'm going to be reusing the code for various other buttons so do not want to use any button specific names in the code. i know i can get it appearing where i want it if i could subtract the values of this->Location from this->MousePosition but have been unable to get the specific X and Y values from them , and cannot find any decent info on Point's so i can convert them to integers. private: System::Void button_Click(System::Object^ sender, System::EventArgs^ e) { contextMenuPCOptions->Show(this, this->MousePosition); } Any Help would be appreciated, thanks.

Thanks for the replies, will try them out on mnday (as i'm only there monday and tuseday) wish i knew about SteadyState sooner, i've been using a trial of 1st security agent to do what SteadyState seems to do for free (i've downloaded it but not looked at it yet in detail) Though most likley wont be able to use DeepFreeze as there si no budget whatsoever for PC stuff (charity funded everythng donated) Thanks

I Administer a load of computers at a place I volunteer that all run windows XP Home, but one annoying thing keeps happening, people (well ok one person) has managed to get around all my blocks (disabling of the desktop properties and so forth) and can change the wallpaper. I believe she does it in internet explorer (which I thought I had managed to disable), and it’s annoying resetting it back to the one I want as I have to log out of the guest account log into the admin account disable the restrictions on the desktop so I can go back to guest and change it then put all the restrictions back again. I do have the ability of removing the right click menu from IE however that is not an option as the users need the ability to save images and such from time to time. Does anyone know of a way to remove the ability to set image as wallpaper in IE? Or does anyone know if it’s possible to set a desktop theme from the command line? Then I might be able to set it to the theme I want at start-up. Thanks

i am trying to temporarily change a system colour and then change it back when the probram ends however all the SetSysColors seems to do is return a number it doesnt change any system colours or anything heres all the code for the system colour change Declare Function SetSysColors Lib "user32" Alias "SetSysColors" (ByVal nChanges As Long, ByVal lpSysColor As Long, ByVal lpColorValues As Long) As Long Public Const COLOR_SCROLLBAR = 0 'The Scrollbar colour Public Const COLOR_BACKGROUND = 1 'Colour of the background with no wallpaper Public Const COLOR_ACTIVECAPTION = 2 'Caption of Active Window Public Const COLOR_INACTIVECAPTION = 3 'Caption of Inactive window Public Const COLOR_MENU = 4 'Menu Public Const COLOR_WINDOW = 5 'Windows background Public Const COLOR_WINDOWFRAME = 6 'Window frame Public Const COLOR_MENUTEXT = 7 'Window Text Public Const COLOR_WINDOWTEXT = 8 '3D dark shadow (Win95) Public Const COLOR_CAPTIONTEXT = 9 'Text in window caption Public Const COLOR_ACTIVEBORDER = 10 'Border of active window Public Const COLOR_INACTIVEBORDER = 11 'Border of inactive window Public Const COLOR_APPWORKSPACE = 12 'Background of MDI desktop Public Const COLOR_HIGHLIGHT = 13 'Selected item background Public Const COLOR_HIGHLIGHTTEXT = 14 'Selected menu item Public Const COLOR_BTNFACE = 15 'Button Public Const COLOR_BTNSHADOW = 16 '3D shading of button Public Const COLOR_GRAYTEXT = 17 'Grey text, of zero if dithering is used. Public Const COLOR_BTNTEXT = 18 'Button text Public Const COLOR_INACTIVECAPTIONTEXT = 19 'Text of inactive window Public Const COLOR_BTNHIGHLIGHT = 20 '3D highlight of button Public Const COLOR_2NDACTIVECAPTION = 27 'Win98 only: 2nd active window color Public Const COLOR_2NDINACTIVECAPTION = 28 'Win98 only: 2nd inactive window color Public Commands As String = Command() Public Sub ChangeSystemColour(ByVal Red As Integer, ByVal Green As Integer, ByVal Blue As Integer) varColourChanged = True ' System Colours have Changed SetSysColors(1, COLOR_WINDOW, RGB(Red, Green, Blue)) End Sub

i've written a wrapper for another app that basically just puts a window on top of another application so it is graphically more appealing Public Class frmWrapper Private Sub frmWrapper_Load(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles Me.Load Dim Commands As String = Command() If Commands = Nothing Then MsgBox("You must specify the IPC File you wish to load.", MsgBoxStyle.Exclamation) ElseIf System.IO.File.Exists(Commands) = False Then MsgBox("Cannot find " + Chr(32) + System.IO.Path.GetFileName(Commands) + Chr(32) + ".", MsgBoxStyle.Exclamation) Else frmBackdrop.Show() frmOverlay.Show() Dim objWSH As Object objWSH = CreateObject("WScript.Shell") Commands = "WinIPAC.exe" + Chr(32) + Commands.Replace(Chr(34), Nothing) objWSH.Run(Commands, 1, True) frmOverlay.Close() frmBackdrop.Close() End If End End Sub End Class There are a few things I’d like to do but I don’t know if it’s possible or how to do them since I’ve not been able to find any info after searching first of all one thing I’d like to do is after a certain period of time like 10 seconds or so if the application is still running then I get my wrapper to close it and then rerun until it doesn’t need to be closed (the program that’s being run should only take about 3 seconds to run and but if it returns an error such as a timeout it wont go away till the user clicks the close button) Another thing I would like to do is the ability to resize and change the position of the window and finally if its possible get text from a textbox that the window has so I can echo it on my wrapper instead of having to depend on overlaying a window this would make the above 2 things redundant since I wouldn’t need to wait nor would I need to manipulate the window position or size Anyone got any info on how to do any of this?