I recently bought (not pirated) my own copy of Windows XP. I updated my old windows 98 to XP. The problem is, when I try to activate it with the product key that came with the package, it says "incorrect product key". I tried it again and again and made sure I had it right. I can't believe a legitimate computer store would sell a product key that didn't work. A friend brought over his product key, but it gave the same message. Did it get corrupted somehow? I checked my date and time and they are correct. Any suggestions?
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XP home product activation problem
- Thread starter Dreadson
- Start date
It can happen that the product key will report as invalid, even with perfectly legitimate retail versions of XP.
See:
Essentially you boot to Safe Mode, click the activation icon, use the phone option, and call them.
See:
Essentially you boot to Safe Mode, click the activation icon, use the phone option, and call them.
You may have to turn of any Anti Virus software that is running during the Upgrade. Or you could look at a clean Install of XP and forget about the Upgrade. Your XP Upgrade CD is perfectly capable of doing a clean install as long as you have the 98 CD to show it during the install.
310637 - Troubleshooting Invalid CD Key Error Message During Windows XP Setup
326904 - Error Message: The Product Key Used to Install Windows Is Invalid
Can't input a new product key code into Windows XP Pro.
thread779-712103
310637 - Troubleshooting Invalid CD Key Error Message During Windows XP Setup
326904 - Error Message: The Product Key Used to Install Windows Is Invalid
Can't input a new product key code into Windows XP Pro.
thread779-712103
marcs41,
You might find the following interesting. (link for the source is in the thread is mentioned above)
"Did you know that Microsoft is having a problem with activating new copies of Windows XP? Well, they are.
The other day while installing a copy of for a friend (XP Home OEM) and after doing the MS Updates and upgrades and loading all my goodies like Popup Stopper, Passmark's Benchmark software and the like, I was going to Ghost the PC and burn some restore images... I clicked on the Activate button that was bugging me for the last 5 hours and punched in the Product Key from the packaging and then whammo.. nothing... it reported that I had an Invalid Product Key!
There was a button on the lower part of the Activation Window to activate XP over the phone so I clicked on that. Another window popped up and I had to indicate what country I was in... you know the rest...
So I called MS [888.571.2048 always punch "0" to bypass the stupid recording] and reported this. After a few minutes of conversation, the technician admitted to me that Microsoft is having a problem with the production of the Product Keys. What kind of problem you may ask? Well, it seems that brains at MS (the ones that thought up the logarithm for the Product Keys) were putting the wrong product keys all over the place. The Product Key for Office XP and the Product Key for Windows XP are generated by the same logarithm but the two keys won't work on the others software. One side note here, let me go on record to say that I hate the fact that MS can pour money into making a sticker why can't they put a sticker on the CD!?! The CD is serialized, so if you lose the key for that CD you can't use it. In the case of several of my clients who have 10 or more PCs in their office, if you didn't get a sharpie and mark which one goes to which CD, you could be in for a long afternoon of reloading software before you find which Product Key goes with which CD.
Anyway...
Your copy of XP Office or Windows XP Home or Pro may have a Product Key that won't work.
What do you do about that? Well, if you're a legitimate user, no problemo... You just call another number (800) 936-5700 and press "0" to talk to a tech. This tech will give you a new Product Key right over the phone. They did with me.
The previous product activation person stayed on the line with me (Amanda) to help with this interesting problem.
Interesting enough, I was passed back and forth between the two people, the Product Activation guys and this Key Giver person. About an hour later, I was running.
I Ghosted the system and my buddy is a happy computer user now, but man alive, what a pain that was.
No, there's nothing you can do about this. Maybe MS will fix their distribution and the logarithm that produces the Key Codes or maybe they wont, but at least the gods at Microsoft are at the ready making sure you're no thief! Ahhh... no I can sleep at nights.
Ga' night.
"
I note as a comment that the CDs are not in fact serialized as described by this user. They are perfectly generic, and there is no need to write with a Sharpie the activation on the disk, although it is not a bad idea.
I suspect though that the comments have a grain of truth: the question asked by Dreadson in the original post appears to me to occur in waves, that the product CD Key is printed and released and does not work.
It is easily enough remedied, as the thread reference to linney's links and the above comments suggest.
And I have no idea why it took an hour for this guy, under five minutes is more likely.
You might find the following interesting. (link for the source is in the thread is mentioned above)
"Did you know that Microsoft is having a problem with activating new copies of Windows XP? Well, they are.
The other day while installing a copy of for a friend (XP Home OEM) and after doing the MS Updates and upgrades and loading all my goodies like Popup Stopper, Passmark's Benchmark software and the like, I was going to Ghost the PC and burn some restore images... I clicked on the Activate button that was bugging me for the last 5 hours and punched in the Product Key from the packaging and then whammo.. nothing... it reported that I had an Invalid Product Key!
There was a button on the lower part of the Activation Window to activate XP over the phone so I clicked on that. Another window popped up and I had to indicate what country I was in... you know the rest...
So I called MS [888.571.2048 always punch "0" to bypass the stupid recording] and reported this. After a few minutes of conversation, the technician admitted to me that Microsoft is having a problem with the production of the Product Keys. What kind of problem you may ask? Well, it seems that brains at MS (the ones that thought up the logarithm for the Product Keys) were putting the wrong product keys all over the place. The Product Key for Office XP and the Product Key for Windows XP are generated by the same logarithm but the two keys won't work on the others software. One side note here, let me go on record to say that I hate the fact that MS can pour money into making a sticker why can't they put a sticker on the CD!?! The CD is serialized, so if you lose the key for that CD you can't use it. In the case of several of my clients who have 10 or more PCs in their office, if you didn't get a sharpie and mark which one goes to which CD, you could be in for a long afternoon of reloading software before you find which Product Key goes with which CD.
Anyway...
Your copy of XP Office or Windows XP Home or Pro may have a Product Key that won't work.
What do you do about that? Well, if you're a legitimate user, no problemo... You just call another number (800) 936-5700 and press "0" to talk to a tech. This tech will give you a new Product Key right over the phone. They did with me.
The previous product activation person stayed on the line with me (Amanda) to help with this interesting problem.
Interesting enough, I was passed back and forth between the two people, the Product Activation guys and this Key Giver person. About an hour later, I was running.
I Ghosted the system and my buddy is a happy computer user now, but man alive, what a pain that was.
No, there's nothing you can do about this. Maybe MS will fix their distribution and the logarithm that produces the Key Codes or maybe they wont, but at least the gods at Microsoft are at the ready making sure you're no thief! Ahhh... no I can sleep at nights.
Ga' night.
"
I note as a comment that the CDs are not in fact serialized as described by this user. They are perfectly generic, and there is no need to write with a Sharpie the activation on the disk, although it is not a bad idea.
I suspect though that the comments have a grain of truth: the question asked by Dreadson in the original post appears to me to occur in waves, that the product CD Key is printed and released and does not work.
It is easily enough remedied, as the thread reference to linney's links and the above comments suggest.
And I have no idea why it took an hour for this guy, under five minutes is more likely.
barnegattech
Technical User
running a XP repair. does not accept product code. microsoft states that must use the same cd that was originally installed. believe it was an upgrade cd but client can not find it. question is is there a way to cancel out of the repair.
These might depend on how far into the repair process you have traveled.
Use the Recovery Console to replace the Boot.ini file with Boot.bak or get a Boot.ini file that doesn't have XP Setup as the Default Operating System. This will the stop the Boot-Setup loop. (These are System and Hidden files).
HOW TO: Edit the Boot.ini File in Windows XP (Q289022)
See instructions at the end of this article.
316417 - "Setup Cannot Upgrade Some Settings" Error Message When You Reinstall Windows XP
How do you stop an unwanted repair of XP?
thread779-746800
This will also give you access to your drive.
You might be able to make use of BartPE (a mini XP self contained on a bootable CD and run from CD).
Use the Recovery Console to replace the Boot.ini file with Boot.bak or get a Boot.ini file that doesn't have XP Setup as the Default Operating System. This will the stop the Boot-Setup loop. (These are System and Hidden files).
HOW TO: Edit the Boot.ini File in Windows XP (Q289022)
See instructions at the end of this article.
316417 - "Setup Cannot Upgrade Some Settings" Error Message When You Reinstall Windows XP
How do you stop an unwanted repair of XP?
thread779-746800
This will also give you access to your drive.
You might be able to make use of BartPE (a mini XP self contained on a bootable CD and run from CD).
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