Working of Windows Product Activation

 

Windows Product Activation or WPA is a license validation procedure introduced by Microsoft Corporation in all versions of its Windows operating system. WPA was first introduced in Windows XP and continues to exist in Windows Server 2003, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008 and Windows 7 as well.

WPA enforces each end user to activate his/her copy of Windows so as to prevent unauthorized usage beyond the specific period of time until it is verified as genuine by Microsoft. How WPA really works was a closely guarded secret until GmbH analyzed WPA using a copy of Windows XP RC1 and published a paper on their findings.

In this post you will find answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about Windows Product Activation.

Why activation?

Microsoft’s intention behind the activation is to limit the usage of its Windows operating system to only one machine for which the retail license is issued. Any other computer which runs on the same license must be disallowed from using the software. Hence, WPA demands for activation of the product within 30 days of its installation so as to ensure that it is genuine.

What does “Genuine Windows” means?

The copy of Windows is said to be genuine only if the product key used during the installation is genuine. It means that a given product key (retail license) must be used to install Windows only on one computer for which the license was purchased. Thus, if the same key is used for the installation on another computer, then it is said to be a pirated copy.

Exactly what information is transmitted during the activation?

When you activate your copy of Windows, you are transmitting an Installation ID code to Microsoft either by phone or Internet depending on the method you choose to activate. Based on this, the Microsoft’s licensing system can determine whether or not the installed OS is genuine. If it is said to be genuine, then the system will receive the Activation ID which completes the activation process. If the activation is done through a telephone, the Activation ID needs to be entered manually to complete the activation process.

What information does the Installation ID contain?

This Installation ID is a 50-digit number which is derived from the following two data.

1. Product ID – It is actually derived from the 25-digit product key (the alphanumeric value that is printed on the sticker over the Windows CD/DVD case) that is entered during the installation of the operating system. The Product ID is used to uniquely identify your copy of Windows.

2. Hardware ID – This value is derived based on the hardware configuration of your computer.

The WPA system checks the following 10 categories of the computer hardware to derive the Hardware ID:

• Display Adapter
• SCSI Adapter
• IDE Adapter (effectively the motherboard)
• Network Adapter (NIC) and its MAC Address
• RAM Amount Range (i.e., 0-64mb, 64-128mb, etc.)
• Processor Type
• Processor Serial Number
• Hard Drive Device
• Hard Drive Volume Serial Number (VSN)
• CD-ROM / CD-RW / DVD-ROM

Thus, the Installation ID which is a combination of Product ID and Hardware ID is finally derived and sent to Microsoft during the activation process.

How is the Installation ID validated?

The Installation ID needs to be validated to confirm the authenticity of the installed copy of Windows. So, after the Installation ID is received by Microsoft, it is decoded back so as to obtain the actual product key and the hardware details of the computer involved in the activation process.

The Microsoft’s system will now look to see if this is the first time the product key is being used for the activation. This happens when the user is trying to activate his Windows for the first time after purchase. If so, the Installation ID is instantly validated and the corresponding Activation ID is issued which completes the activation process.

However, Microsoft system will now associate this product key with the hardware ID of the computer and stores this information on their servers. In simple words, during the first use of the product key, it is paired together with the Hardware ID and this information is stored up on the Microsoft servers.

What if a computer running a counterfeit copy of Windows attempts to activate?

The activation fails whenever the copy of Windows installed is not said to be genuine. This usually happens when the product key used for the installation is said to have been used earlier on a different computer. This is determined during the activation process as follows:

During the validation of the Installation ID, the Microsoft’s system checks to see if the same product key was used in any of the previous activation processes. If so, then it looks to see the Hardware ID associated with it. The computer running a counterfeit copy of Windows will obviously have a different hardware configuration and hence the Hardware ID will mismatch. In this case the activation process will fail.

Therefore, for a successful activation, either of the following two cases must be satisfied:

1. The product key must have been used for the first time. ie: The product key should not have been used for earlier activations on any other computer.
2. If the product key is said to have been used earlier, then the Hardware ID should match. This happens only if the same computer for which the license was genuinely purchased is attempting for subsequent activation.

What about formatting the hard disk?

Each time the hard disk is reformatted and the Windows is re-installed, it needs to be re-activated. However, the activation process will be completed smoothly since the same computer is attempting for subsequent activation. In this case, both the product key and the Hardware ID will match and hence the activation becomes successful.

What if I upgrade or make changes to my hardware?

In the above mentioned 10 categories of hardware, at least 7 should be the same. Thus you are allowed to make changes to not more than 3 categories of hardware. If you make too many changes then your activation will fail. In this case, it is necessary to contact the customer service representative via phone and explain about your problem. If he is convinced he may re-issue a new product key for your computer using which you can re-activate your Windows.

Some things WPA does not do:

• WPA does not send any personal information at all about you to Microsoft. There is still an option to register the product with Microsoft, but that is separate and entirely voluntary.
• If you prefer to activate via phone, you are not required to give any personal information to Microsoft.
• WPA does not provide a means for Microsoft to turn off your machine or damage your data/hardware. (Nor do they even have access to your data). This is a common myth that many people have about Microsoft products.
• WPA is not a “lease” system requiring more payments after two years or any other period. You may use the product as licensed in perpetuity.

I have tried my best to uncover the secret behind the WPA. For further details and more technical information you can read the actual paper by Fully Licensed GmbH at http://www.licenturion.com/xp/fully-licensed-wpa.txt. I hope you like this post. Pass your comments.

Linux

Important Tools and Downloads

RED FLAG LINUX

1. Download ISO file (Version 6.0 Desktop SP1)

Printer Not taking print command:
Click here to download the printflush.Zip file,extract the file and update Run Printflush.bat with administrative privileges.
now anytime print job is stuck double click the batch file and here you go.
I used the Disk Cleanup Tool in Windows Vista, and now the hybrid sleep feature and the hibernation feature are unavailable

http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=9645383
Download and run the above file to resolve the issue.
Microsoft Downloads:
UPS Application Update

1. USB Power Surge Error 
2. Windows Vista asking for activation on a pre-installed Desktop
3. Windows installer cleanup utility
4. Windows Vista HOTFIX
5. DirectX 9c for windows XP
6. “Generic Host process Error” For Windows XP
7. Windows Defender
8. Microsoft Universal Audio Architecture drivers (UAA now same can be requested from Microsoft)
9. Decoder Checkup utility
10. Microsoft .Net framework 1.1
11. Microsoft .Net framework 2.0
12. Microsoft .Net framework 3.5
13. Microsoft® Windows® Malicious Software Removal Tool (KB890830)
14. Windows Installer 3.1 Redistributable (v2)
15. Windows Installer 4.5 Redistributable
16. Windows XP service pack 3 Standalone installer KB936929
17. Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (Information and Download)
18. Windows Vista Service Pack 2 (Requires Vista SP1 given above)
19. Search for an error message on Support.Microsoft.com
20. Windows messenger 5.1
21. Windows 7 Download and Product Key
22. Microsoft Office Trail Activation key

Anti Virus Utilities:

1. Enable registry, folder options
2. Disable Write protection on USB (New) 
3. Mal Ware removal for vista Update error
4. Generic Host process error in windows
5. Virus effect remover
6. SuperAntiSpywarePro
7. Trojan Remover Tool
8. AVAST removal Tool
9. McAfee Removal Tool
10. K7 anti virus Removal Tool
11. AVG remover 32
12. AVG remover 64
13. SymRegFix Tools For windows XP SP3 Registry error
14. Norton removal Tool
15. Kaspersky antivirus Removal Tool
16. Norton removal Tool 2009 Products
17. NO Disk Error in windows XP
18. Microsoft® Windows® Malicious Software Removal Tool (KB890830)

Haup pauge TV tuner:

1. Driver CD
2. MPEG Decoder for region not supported error
3. Driver cleanup utility
4. BB+Dongle driver

Install windows 8, Windows 7 and from a Bootable pen drive.

Hi all,  i feel too happy to share the things i Know and i wish this will help someone somewhere.

Today, here is an article to create a bootable windows installation Pen drive. This will allow us to install newer versions of windows OS from this pen drive.

The steps given below are applicable for creating a windows Vista, Windows 7 and windows 8 Bootable USB disk.

Objective: Create a bootable windows(vista , windows 7, windows 8) installation USB disk.
Requirements:

1. A USB 2.0 or 3.0 pen drive 4GB or higher
2. Original windows installation DVD media or iso image.
3. A system with Vista, windows 7 or windows 8 operating system with DVD drive.

In case you do not have any system having vista , 7 or windows 8 installed, still we can complete our task....

to do this, boot from windows vista, windows 7 or windows 8 disk, you can use any of the disks to prepare the pen drive.

after booting you will get the windows setup screen, now Press SHIFT+F10 key combination together and this will bring up command prompt on the screen, now you may follow the instructions below

1.Preparation:

First we will prepare the pen drive, to do this open CMD (command prompt) with Administrative privileges and run the following commands.

note: this is clean all the data from pen drive, be sure to backup it first.

• Type  Diskpart on command prompt
• Now type List volume, this will show all the partitions and drivers attached to pc. find the drive letter corresponding to you pen drive(in my case it is was F:)
• type select volume F
• now type clean (this will clean pen drive completely, deleting all partitions)
• now type create partition primary
• now type format fs=ntfs quick
• now type active
•  the step above automatically assigns drive letter to pen drive, but if it doesn't then you the next command.
• assign letter="f"
• now type exit

note: Command prompt is still open and let it be, our pen drive is now ready.

2.Adding boot information.

 using the command prompt, go to DVD drive and then Boot folder in windows installation DVD.

in my case E: is the DVD drive letter and prompt looks like this.(instead of E: use your DVD drive letter)

E:\

E:\BOOT>

now type the following command (f: is my pen drive letter)

bootsect.exe /nt60 f:

3.Copy.

Next step is to insert windows installation DVD and copy all the contents from your windows installation DVD to the pen drive. copy windows vista DVD if you wish to install Vista, use windows 7 disk if you wish to install 7 or use windows 8 DVD if you wish to use pen drive to install windows 8.

Yes!! and we are done!!...You can now easily boot from this pen drive and use it to install windows on and pc that support booting from Pen drive. Suitable for net books, laptops etc.

try and see if it works for you..... you may use these steps for Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 as well.

Install Windows XP from Pen Drive without third party software

We have seen people looking for a simple solution to install Windows XP from pen drive just like they can now install windows Vista , 7 and windows 8. Well, i know one such solution exactly and i use it personally. but i never shared it though... so here it is , and i hope this will help.

Benefits: 

1. Takes less than 5 minutes to install OS.
2. Image Based installation much similar to Vista, 7 and 8 installation.
3. Tools used are from Microsoft.(ImageX).

so let's get started. i assume that you know computer and OS installation basics and have read the earlier article for preparing a bootable window Vista,7 or 8 Pen drive.

Let me explain first, given below are the steps that we will use for preparation.
Step1 : Prepare Window Vista, Window 7 or windows 8 Boot able pen drive.
Step2 : Install windows XP on a a test pc.
Step3 : Capture Windows XP image from C: partition of test pc.(using imageX.exe)
Step4 : Once the image is captured, it can be used for installation on other desktops or laptops etc.


Objective: Install windows XP from a bootable (windows) pen drive.

1: Click here and follow instructions to create a bootable windows installation drive.
2: Install a fresh copy of windows XP on a desktop computer using standard procedure. do not install any drivers or software. Shutdown your computer after first restart.
3: We will now need Microsoft ImageX

(Microsoft ImageX tool for windows.(download it from Microsoft site here) ImageX is a very tiny application which comes as part of WAIK (windows automated installation kit). download the latest iso file from the link here. its is a big image file but worth the download because we will use ImageX.exe for several different purposes. )

Time to capture the freshly installed windows XP image from C: partition. to do this follow the steps below. 

• Copy ImageX to bootable pen drive created during the Step1.
• Boot from bootable pen drive
• On the setup screen Press Shift+F10 to open command prompt.
• Now from command prompt go to pen drive.
• Now Type command Imagex /capture C: C:\WinXP.wim "XP"
• The above step will capture windows XP image from c: drive and save it with a file name Winxp.wim
• the process will take around 10-15 minutes.
• once done you may normally restart the pc.
• next step is to copy winxp.wim from c: drive to Pen drive

 and that's it!!, we are done creating a bootable pen drive that can be used to install windows Vista, windows 7 or windows 8 and Windows XP as well.

You might be wondering how to install windows XP? So here are the steps...

Explanation: to install windows XP on a fresh HDD, we will create a new partition and then after format it with NTFS. next we will make that partition active and bootable. Once done, next step would be to apply windows XP image captured earlier to the newly created partition and finally, restart PC normally.


 Objective: Install windows XP from a bootable (windows) pen drive.


1. follow the steps below to create a new partition to install windows XP. (if you already have a partition created on the Hard drive.)

1. Boot from Pen drive created earlier
2. on the setup screen press Shift+F10 to bring up Command prompt
3. Type  Diskpart on command prompt
4. Now type List disk, this will show all the Physical Hard disk drive and other drivers attached to pc. find the disk corresponding to you HDD (in my case it is was Disk 1)
5. type select disk 1
6. now type create partition primary size=102400 ( mention required partition size in MB)
7. now type format fs=ntfs quick
8. now type active
9.  the step above automatically assigns drive letter to pen drive, but if it doesn't then you the next command.
10. assign letter="C"
11. now type exit

 2.Installtion

Now using the same command prompt got to the pen drive wherein we have our WinXP.wim and imagex.exe file.

now from the command prompt type the following commands.

imagex /apply WinXP.wim 1 C:\

C: is the drive letter on which we you wish to install OS.

now patiently wait for process to finish up. it would take around a minute or 2. you will be able to see the progress in the command prompt window.

2.Adding boot information to Windows Partition.

using the command prompt, go to Pen drive and then Boot folder. In my case E: is the Pen drive letter and prompt looks like this.(instead of E: use your Pen drive letter)

E:\

E:\BOOT>

now type the following command

bootsect.exe /nt52 C:

the above command will make the partition bootable with NTLDR.

and we are done now...!!
Close all windows and restart pc normally, you will be greeted with windows XP logo....

Now go ahead give it a try...and do not forget to share your experience... And while installing Win XP, if we change the priority of setup process through task manager (Shift+F10 then type taskmgr and press enter) to high then within 15 min Win-XP will install.

Solution -Windows 8 not detecting CD DVD drive

I have been through several forums and disscustion boards stating about an issue with windows 8 out of which the DVD /CD drives no longer get detected. well here is some explanation to it and a way to make it work if it is not working as expected.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/jj591582.aspx 

Zero Power Optical Disk Drive

Zero Power Optical Disk Drive (Zero Power ODD or ZPODD) is one of many new Windows 8 features introduced for power efficiency. On a system enabled with ZPODD, when Windows 8 detects that there is no media in an optical drive, power to the optical drive is cut off. As soon as the user attempts to use the optical drive, power to the optical drive automatically resumes and the user will be able to use the optical drive immediately, unaware that the power to the device was ever turned off. Everything happens in the background and normal user interaction is not affected. ZPODD applies only to optical drives that use the slimline SATA connector and is typically found on laptops. Some servers and desktops also use a slimline SATA connector for optical drives.
In order for ZPODD to work, the ZPODD feature must be supported by the optical drive, the motherboard, and the BIOS.
In some cases even after inserting a Disk in the drive, the drive icon still doesn't show up. you may follow the steps below to make that work.


1. Run Command Prompt as an  Administrator. Directly type cmd in the new Start Screen(a.k.a Windows 8 Metro UI) and press cltr+shift+enter.

Now copy the following , right click command prompt and select paste and the Enter.
reg.exe add "HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\atapi\Controller0" /f /v EnumDevice1 /t REG_DWORD /d 0x00000001

2.Reboot the system 
3.Verify if the problem has been resolved.