archant Posted May 22, 2007 Report Share Posted May 22, 2007 After setting up a new XP system to create an image, I ran sysprep to get it ready to go. When booting the computer back up, I enter the windows key as well as the various set up options. Once windows boots for the "first time"(since sysprep) I get the "Windows XP needs to be activated" message. Activation fails for whatever reason, but I'm wondering why sysprep removed the activation. Is there a way around this? Is there a reason activation fails?All help is appreciated, thanks.Also, I have tried transferring the wpa.dbl and wpa.bak from the old image(which I saved on the network before running sysprep just in case), but I can't find the wpa.bak file. I tried transferring the wpa.dbl file only, but still, windows asks to be activated. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcb2001 Posted May 22, 2007 Report Share Posted May 22, 2007 activation fails for many reasons...(I assume its a legal copy of windows.)Usaully its cause some hacker hit your key when he generated one. In that case you need to contact Microsoft by phone or mail (find the numbers online or on the cover of the cd)Or it can be (which is my guess in your case) that you ran the windows install so many times, that you used up all your activation codes. I have the same problem, so i have to "activate by phone" each time i restart my computer. Takes an ekstra 10 minutes but aint really worth a bother...The idea about the activation process is to ensure that end users (meaning private users, who only have a single licence) have the rights to the activation, so just run the activation, its only done once, and wont bother you again untill you have to reinstall again... So why waste loads of time try to get arround it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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