Fricken Peachy

[RyanVM]

I'm an XPSP2 beta tester. I was at the WindowsBeta site the other day and noticed that build 2120 was posted there. My eager heart skipped a beat and I quickly fired up the MS File Transfer Client. After uninstalling the old SP2 RC1 build on my laptop and all the old SP2 hotfixes, I restarted my comp. I installed the new build and restarted again and that's where the fun begins.

Upon trying to log in, I was greeted by a "Your copy of Windows must be activated before you can log in" message. Interesting given that I'm using a VOLUME LICENSE version of Windows that doesn't require activation. Thinking "Well that's weird," I decide to try and activate by phone. I go to the screen with the phone numbers to call and notice that the space where my Installation ID is supposed to be is blank! Time for the fun phone calls to MS. After fighting with that stupid automated system, I finally got an operator who had no clue what to do and sent me to customer service. After listening to the Sasser cleanup hold message what seemed like 90 times, I finally got another guy who once again had no clue what was going on. He transferred me a tech support guy in India (New Delhi to be exact). He was unable to help me either.

In recap, this is what the new SP2 build did for me: wasted over an hour of my time on the phone, destroyed my XP installation (time to find a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter so I can at least get the data off my laptop's hard drive before formatting), and left me hoping that this was a random fluke and not a bug with this particular build, oh, and I'm now an expert in getting rid of Sasser .

Thanks for reading,

[RyanVM]

Oh, and I should probably point out that this has nothing to do with my volume license key - it's legitimate.

[gamehead200]

When you signed up for the XP SP2 beta, didn't they supply you with a Product Key?

That build may not be a good one, yet.

[RyanVM]

You only need a new product key if you're downloading a slipstreamed ISO from them. Otherwise it works with your normal WinXP product key (as all service packs do).

[Datalore]

Sorry to hear you went through so much trouble- I think I'm going to stay away from SP2 until it reaches final.

[Alanoll]

same here.

I bet the repetitive Sasser thing got annoying.

I remember one time i called Comcast support (yes, Comcast) and I was on hold for a good 2 hours, and then hung up. I forget what they were saying, but god did it get annoying. Then i called back, and was bounced aruond different departments. What funs are the support teams.

[RyanVM]

I was going to test slipstreaming 2120 directly onto a VL install today just to see what happens - sound like it's a waste of time?

[Bachus]

You can try it, just be sure to install it on a machine you don't care about or VMware of Virtual PC..

[RyanVM]

You can try it, just be sure to install it on a machine you don't care about or VMware of Virtual PC..

VirtualPC is the plan. I bet I was right when I told MS that I was betting they'd be getting a lot more phone calls on that matter soon