How do I login to expired XP and Activate

[CorBlimeyLimey]

We shipped a couple of our instruments with XP notebooks, but the customer did not use them straight away and now they cannot login because the 30 day grace period has expired.

Can they gain sufficient access to activate and register the OS (without re-installing).

I know how to bypass the login to gain access to the MS website but cannot find a way to initiate the activation sequence. How can I run msoobe.exe?

[Cheers]

 

[wolluf]

I thought when the 30 days has expired you just have to activate it immediately - you're prompted to when trying to login. If machine has internet connection it will try over this - otherwise you can use the phone (just have to type in lots of numbers).

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Apparently they are not being allowed to login. They are in England and I suggested phoning MS support but as far as I know they haven't yet (damn Brits ).

As mentioned, I've explained how to get access to MS and how to use a browser to access the OS files. I just don't know how to run the activation executable from the browser.

Any ideas?

[Cheers]

 

[linney]

Are they logging in as an Administrator User and not as a Limited User?

As an Administrator the Activation Option should be immediately available.

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Administrator was the only account available when the notebook was delivered, and apparently this is the first time they had tried to login, but I will double-check on Monday.



[Cheers]

 

[bigbadbet]

Cant remember if it works but i think you can change the date in the bios to say 1900 (the year that is) and it messes it up enough to allow a logon. if this doesn't work i'll have to dig through my old notes, as i have got round this before, and on a laptop. Been a while since having to do it though.
Rgds,
Tim,
MCSA, A+, Network+,(damned Brit!).

 

[CorBlimeyLimey]

Turns out they used the phone activation after all!

Thanks for all replies.

[Cheers]

 

[xwb]

Moving the BIOS backwards or forwards doesn't work on XP. It works on quite a few bits of S/W but not on XP.