severach

The key on the case will only be accepted by an XP Pro OEM CD that you would obtain from any small computer seller, the kind that sells with one CD key. You don't need the key, only the disk. Retail and VLK will not accept the key. Dell supplies their Windows Install CD to most of their business customers who promptly file it or throw it away. That's the install that matches your license and it preactivates too. Windows install CDs that preactivate can be constructed for many computer brands.

Foxpro DOS will not work in XP x64. I use Foxpro DOS just fine in XP x32.

What is "My XP Pro Disc"? If it's a Retail Full or Retail Upgrade then you shouldn't be hassled so long as you don't activate too often. If it's an OEM that you purchased from a computer store with a piece of hardware then you'll be hassled every time after a few activations. If it's a side of case key from a big name vendor like Dell, Gateway, or HP then you may well get hassled the first time and every time. If you have a Retail version and you aren't installing too often and you get hassled then your key might be stolen. I wouldn't depend on the rep's recommendation. It sounds like they are making that up and not reading from something important on their screen. What kind of key it is helps to determine how it might be compromised. I can go into any computer store and read the key off the bottom of any computer. That should give you an idea of why that type of key hassles you every time. >can they recognize you through your IP? That changes from time to time. They might collect the IP but it won't give them any useful information. >or your mac? ive heard of mac spoofers. is that all it takes? >it cant be as simple as installing a router and running a mac spoofer, can it? thats not fair to the rest of us. Your MAC stops at your router which is either your cheapo router at home or the router at your ISP. Your router's MAC stops at the ISP router. >how do other people around the world using my serial key avoid detection? They call in like you do with a big sob story. Microsoft is pretty lenient giving out activations over the phone. The hassle must be working. >if they find someones IP, cant they contact their internet provider, like i heard they do with tracking child porn weirdos? I don't think your key is worth that much trouble.

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If you want to store files >4GB you must use NTFS. If you want to set file security you must use NTFS. If you want to have a disk that can read and write with any OS, you must use FAT32. If you want the ability to boot from a DOS boot disk without addon software you must use FAT32. Other than that it doesn't really matter which you use. I've used FAT32 and NTFS for drives up to 300GB and there just isn't enough performance difference to worry about. I prefer FAT32 unless I need to store large files. File security works against me and I do too many things that require a DOS prompt. One of those boot disks doesn't cut it.

Build your own Dell disk and it will nLite perfectly. Building a Pre-activated CD from an existing installation

The WGA disc I saw was XP Pro Retail. Retail editions are transferable, OEM editions are not.

Upgrading these Vista only systems to XP is a lot easier when you install from a CD you make with the Driverpacks in it.

It uses the VBScript from Microsoft that only knows how to change VLK -> VLK. KeyUpdateTool can change VLK -> Pro Retail and possibly more. The most obvious place the old key will be found is in keys found in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\WPA. If you have a Dell you don't want to use the key on the bottom. That sounds like XP Pro SP2c.

HP, Dell, and all other Royalty OEMs use the same technique. To preactivate the OEMBIOS files must match your motherboard and the key must have a PID with the digits 0011903 in the middle. If the OEMBIOS files don't match or the key isn't an SLP key you will be asked to activate. Here's how you make the CD that will preactivate. Building a Pre-activated CD from an existing installation It is a volume license but it is different than the kind given to large corporations commonly known as VLK or Corporate Edition. Because the VLK moniker is already well known and the volume license that the Royalty OEM's use can only be used for System Lock Preinstall, I always called it a SLP key to prevent confusion.

This allows you to identify all of the OEMBIOS that will be accepted by the machine. It runs from any DOS disk. I try to keep the keys matched with the manufacturers to minimize the possibility that Microsoft will want to detect this condition. A custom MCE disk will be installed with a Retail or OEM key. The same OEMBIOS files work for all Windows versions and you can have the OEMBIOS files placed correctly but if the key isn't an MCE SLP key it won't preactivate. I thought MCE disk 2 contained all of TabletPC disk 2. Oops, that's the CAT that goes into catroot{xxx}. So far as I can tell SFC does not protect CAT files so the CAT file has no purpose in dllcache. It doesn't make sense to protect CAT files since they are self protecting. To prevent SFC problems you'll need to delete the SYSTEM32\CATROOT2 folder which will be rebuilt the next time the trust of any file is checked. This is easy if you are booting from NTFSDOS or BartPE.

http://www.msfn.org/board/Building-Pre-act...ion-t63258.html You can put your bad drive in another system and attach the registry. REGEDIT, click on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, File Load Hive, and browse your old drive to find \WINDOWS\system32\config\SOFTWARE which probably won't be on the C drive, then pick a random name like zzz. Then you modify the scripts to read the OEMBIOS files off the other drive letter and read the key from the zzz subkey. You can also copy and compress the OEMBIOS files yourself, and use this tool to decode the DigitalProductID remembering that the key you want is in the zzz subkey. http://www.dagondesign.com/articles/window...t-key-recovery/

Why bother? It's long been done. http://driverpacks.net/

http://driverpacks.net/ There are the drivers and the integrator tool.

Right click on my computer, hit properties or just press Window-Break. Standard keyboards have a combined Pause/Break key. Some laptop keyboards require the Fn key to activate the Break function which makes it Window-Fn-Break. Microsoft generates up to 4 keys for each Royalty OEM: Home, Pro, TabletPC, and MCE keys. Every machine with a particular Windows type from that company gets the same key. Only one key is used for every Dell XP Home system. Acer uses one key for all their XP Home machines and it's different from Dell's key. Compaq and HP merged after purchasing individual sets so there are two sets of keys that cover their product line. Gateway and eMachines also have two sets. Since OEMBIOS files and keys are not matched it doesn't matter which set they use.

Three problems! 1) We can't distribute keys no matter how common they might seem. This means any program requires some DIY. 2) There isn't a 1:1 correlation between OEMBIOS files and keys. Few companies got all 4 key types. Some companies were given their own OEMBIOS files but were sold keys already being used by other companies. Anyone wanting to write a program that covers all models will never obtain all the keys because they can't be publicly traded. 3) Some machines detect more than one OEMBIOS set. Which one should be used? If you're playing fast and loose #2 and #3 can be solved by taking anything that works. #1 remains unsolvable.

That has never worked for me but I only tried it after Service Pack 2. Other reports indicate that it doesn't work after service pack 2 either. You have three options. If you have a brand name PC you can build a disk for it http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=63258 You can embed a legit Volume License Key, AKA Corporate Edition into a disk. You can install and activate a system then Ghost it.

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=63258 These are the instructions you should be following and the process works very well. Any kind of error you get is something you or your hardware did wrong.

It was 49.7 days. The actual number is (2^32)/24/60/60/1000. http://www.news.com/2100-1040-222391.html

My approach would be to download Pelles-C and create a Win32 console project that sets the errorlevel based on the installed OS.

PAGEDFRG from SysInternals will get you the swapfile in one piece. PAGEDFRG always places any file it moves half way through the drive.

There isn't a problem with your swap file though that's the error you might see. When you plugged the drive in Windows recorded the drive letter and it's trying to switch over to that drive letter during boot. Before you do the copy you need to go into the registry and delete all the \?? and \DosDevices values. If you don't want to redo the copy, insert the other drive, use RegEdit Load Hive to attach SYSTEM, and hunt through for that key and delete the values, then Unload the hive. If your boot drive isn't C: then none of this will work for you.

What does this tool report?

There is no string in that set or Corporate Edition VLK or someone would have found and published them. They are just placeholders to make the WPA check simpler. Even if leaving it out of your install activates your system may be tagged at some later time as non Genuine. The extra 13MB isn't worth it. That works good though I've always started with Retail or OEM. I've never tried the MSDN to see what is different. Hopefully you have an MCE OEM SLP key, preferably Dell's. It depends on how big the company is. I have a system with a Wintergreen COA but the CD had only the standard non SLP OEMBIOS. Maybe the small companies get their name on the COA but don't have an OEMBIOS set or key made. They just issue OEM COA keys and activate them as necessary and buy the SLP set later when they get big enough. It might also be that Wintergreen supplies the SLP OEMBIOS files on the system but not the restore disk. The list at OEMBIOS.NET is all that is available so far. I notice from the website that there are IPEX branches which tells me that it's a retail store. Any chance you could get friendly with a tech there and get one of the IPEX install CD's, or possibly have at a running machine where you could grab the files? If the store is popular enough then someone else in your area should have one.

Have you plugged a USB CDROM in to see if the BIOS is smart enough to boot from it?