Any way to legalize a Win 2000 installation with CoA?

[ThatGuy]

I purchased an older Dell laptop almost two months ago on eBay and when I tried to validate it on Microsoft's website it failed. Apparently the seller installed a pirated version of Windows 2000 on it. (It said in the auction description that the laptop would come with fresh install of Windows.) I contacted the seller and he admitted it was not "legit", but said he lost the original restore CD. I contacted Dell, and they told me how to order a replacement restore CD (for a fee) and how to use the key on the CoA sticker located on the bottom of the laptop.

Problem is, I would have to delete two months worth of settings and configuration files, as well as games and/or apps. Is there any way to legalize this version of Windows with the CoA, without actually reinstalling everything (once the CD arrives, which might be weeks)

[jaclaz]

Yes, you need to change the serial info on your current install.

Unfortunately, unlike XP, there is no "simple" freeware solution I know of.

You can use Sysprep to change SID and product key, but it is not a really straightforward chore:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details...;displaylang=en

but of course, since you are not, at the moment, a "Genuine user" you will need to download it from another PC.

The procedure should be this:

Copy Deployment Tools from the CD to the C: drive. Move sysprep.exe and setupcl.exe to c:\sysprep. "sysprep -reseal -quiet -mini -pnp" will strip SID's and Windows activation. You'll need a product key. -mini runs mini setup, -pnp senses hardware if different from the source system. After running sysprep, system will shutdown, SID's etc will be established when booted, so be sure to image copy before booting from the sysprepped drive.

Since you are not changing system, this should be enough:

sysprep -reseal -quiet -mini

But DO READ the docs of the utility and search some more info in it BEFORE attempting the above, here is a very well made guide:

http://www.vernalex.com/guides/sysprep/index.shtml

jaclaz

Edited May 9, 2007 by jaclaz

[ThatGuy]

"so be sure to image copy before booting from the sysprepped drive"

What exactly does it mean?

[jaclaz]

Well, basically once you have stripped the SID from the machine, at next reboot Windows won't (obviously) find one, and thus will re-detect hardware and ask for Product Key.

For the intended use of the sysprep tool, which is:

1) Doing a complete install with all settings configured

2) Removing specific hardware/machine settings

3) Image (clone) the system

4) Deploy system to other computers

5) Boot the other computers to let the minisetup find the changes (including individual machine SID and Product Key)

It is of course VITAL to make the image immediately after the stripping has been done, otherwise on next reboot the stripped info will be re-detected and re-applied, thus making the install once again "machine dependant".

Since you don't need to deploy the system, you also do not need to image it after "sysprepping" it, on the contrary it would be a VERY GOOD idea to image the system BEFORE attempting using sysprep on it.

jaclaz

[ThatGuy]

Wait, will this procedure strip all my device/hardware information? Will I need to re-install all the device drivers? Or does this just initiate the standard OEM registration procedure. (I mean, if this will force me to reinstall a large portion of my software, then a clean install might not be such a bad idea)

[jaclaz]

Yes and no, it should remove the drivers from Registry (but of course it will keep the existing driver "database").

So yes, once you reboot the hardware will be re-detected and drivers will be re-installed.

And no, you won't need to re-install "a large portion of your software", everything should work automatically, like on a normal install, with windows detecting devices and installing the corresponding drivers that are already on the hard disk.

The situation is just like when you remove a device from Device Manager.

At subsequent reboot the system will detect the device and re-install it's driver.

The method, even without sysprepping has been used with success to move a Win2K install on new hardware, see solution #4 here:

http://www.windowsreinstall.com/install/ot...board/win2k.htm

Quite obviously, on first re-boot the system will take some time to perform the described re-detection, but you won't need to reinstall ANY "user" software.

The procedure is better detailed in #8 on the previous link, remembering that the context in which the article is written is that of changing the hardware, somethig you are NOT going to do.

An exception may be some proprietary software whose license serial number is linked to the PC SID, i.e. those softwares that when installing produce a "challenge code" that you have to send to the software manufacturer to get the corresponding "response code", but this kind of software will need to be re-installed and re-activated or whatever anyway if you just re-install the system.

jaclaz

[RJARRRPCGP]

Windows 2000 don't even support WGA!

That probably is why it failed. Microsoft apparently changed it so that Windows 2000 don't pass anymore!

[jaclaz]

Windows 2000 don't even support WGA!

Are you sure?

When did it happen?

I have downloaded programs from Microsoft servers through WGA not later than one week ago or so.

jaclaz