Accurately checking the license for this computer

Hi mayor_dave,
Is this the one you read???

Knowledge Base  

"Error Code: 0x80070002" Error Message Cites License-Checking Issue After Upgrade on Dell ComputerPSS ID Number: 310794

Article Last Modified on 6/11/2002


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The information in this article applies to:


Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
Microsoft Windows XP Professional
Microsoft Windows XP 64-Bit Edition

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This article was previously published under Q310794
IMPORTANT: This article contains information about modifying the registry. Before you modify the registry, make sure to back it up and make sure that you understand how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For information about how to back up, restore, and edit the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows Registry

SYMPTOMS
When you start Microsoft Windows XP, you may receive the following error message:
A problem is preventing Windows from accurately checking the license for this computer. Error code: 0x80070002.
CAUSE
This issue can occur if one of the following conditions is true:
The default security provider in Windows XP has been changed.
The system drive letter has changed.
The security provider issue has been reported with Dell computers on which the Dell Assistant software is installed.

NOTE: This issue can be caused by any software that changes the default security provider. It is not limited to Dell computers or the Dell Assistant software.
WORKAROUND
To work around this issue, use the appropriate method.

WARNING: If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

Reset the Default Security Provider in Windows XP
To reset the default security provider in Windows XP, delete the relevant keys in the Windows registry. To do this:
Start the computer. Press the F8 key during startup to start the computer in Safe mode.
Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).
Delete the following keys in the Windows registry:
HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Cryptography\Providers
HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-20\Software\Microsoft\Cryptography\Providers

Quit Registry Editor.
Restart the computer.
Reset the Drive Letter of the System Drive
To reset the drive letter of the system drive, use one of the following methods.
Undo the action that changed the drive letter of the system drive.
If you can run Registry Editor, update the drive letter for the system drive in the Windows Registry. To do this:
Start Registry Editor.
Open the following key in the Windows registry:
HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Cryptography\Defaults\Provider

In each key under the Provider key, change the drive letter in the ImagePath value setting to match the new drive letter for the system drive.
Quit Registry Editor.
Restart the computer.
STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.
MORE INFORMATION
The third-party products that are discussed in this article are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products.

Keywords: kb3rdparty kbenv kberrmsg kbprb KB310794
Technology: kbWinXPHome kbWinXPHomeSearch kbWinXPPro kbWinXPPro64bit kbWinXPProSearch kbWinXPSearch kbZNotKeyword



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© 2003 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.


PeteL

Small or Home Business        (800) 936-4900

Yes Petelong that is the article I read. Rayt333 I have no idea if it's a legal copy, it's not my computer.

"I have no idea if it's a legal copy, it's not my computer"

To find out if this is one of the hacked copies going around you need to look at the Product ID.
The Product ID can be found by right clicking  My Computer and choosing Properties.
The product key used to install Windows is invalid.
XXXXX-640-0000356-23XXX and  XXXXX-640-2001765-23XXX

I experianced a similar problem as well. That is what led me here.
I am using a fully licensed LEGAL version of XP Pro.
-
The computer is normally connected to a domain.
It is a laptop, and I use it for work. This requires me to constantly change to network configuration.

After changing the network configuration (IP, DNS, DG, etc... - Still Domain member though)
I tried to logon, and I got this same message.

I rebooted the machine into safe mode, set my network config to DHCP and rebooted.
Voila, it worked.

This may be a different scenario, but I thought it worth a mention.

Mayor_dave
How did you fix this problem?
Because we have the same problem here on our dell systems...

The register, is good, the system driver letters are good.
The funny thing is, that it works fine, but when I make an image of it, and restore
the image an other pc, or the same.... then I get this error message...
Really strange...
And it is a legal version, ( an open liscence for companys)

Evening, its not an answer but its a good start to finding it!

The problem is corrupt or missing files, i recently setup a system from a rather poorly kept CD, during the instalation a number of files where not copied because of this problem, this led to the same problems you guys seem to be having.

Unfortunatly my XDA got trashed which held the list of files, i will get back to you if i can find the exact files thats giving us issues, but if anyone knows what files are needed for activation then i think it should just be the case of overwriting your old ones in safe-mode.

OEMBIOS.BIN appears to be the problem, removing this file or damaging it results in above error.
it resides in the %:\windows\system32

there was other files but i've not yet worked out what they are all for yet.
oledlg.dll
admtoolw.chm (pretty sure this has nothing to do with it)
spolconw.chm (pretty sure this has nothing to do with it)
dhcpmon.dll (think we all know this has nothing to do with it)
pro_seg5.swf (error seems to accure with or without this file, although XP becomes very unstable without it!!)

Just setup another PC and "broke it" starting up in safe mode i just copied an original file from another install, reboot, thought windows hit a rut on the restart but it sort its self out and no more error.

I have this same problem.  I found out that what caused this is that I recently upgraded to Norton AntiVirus 2004.  My problem is that there isn't a Cryptography subfolder underneath Microsoft on HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Cryptography\Providers.  Can anybody help me out?

Same problem here after installing norton 2004

All these solutions are valid and I would expect at least one to lead me in a direction for repair........but.......I can't even get in in safe mode....get same error except now it's 0X800705aa???

Spent 2 hours on phone with Dell.....They said it was the registry entries mentioned above that were the problem....same thing ....no crypto files.  Did a parallel install to access old files....system works now on new windows dir but when ya do this you lose all program drivers to programs in old install so you must do a lot of reinstalling.  Also did this with another HD installed with new Installation accessing old harddrive for old data files/address books/e-mail etc......good luck I still think this fix-it is less than good cause I have no idea what caused the original problem....I had not installed norton as some did so I can't blame Symantec....we run Enterprise.  Any new ideas would be greatly appreciated ....I still want to know what happened!!!!

I have The same problem and I guess without nortins. I have a few files (Cryptography) but not in the same place. I have an upgrade copy legal can I just use that copy?
OR did I understand that I just need to change the drive letter?
I'm confused please give step by step.

steper

OK I have finally solved this problem without FDISK or doing a clean install.  Heres how:
Boot to Safe Mode.  
Run MSCONFIG and disable all startup items.  
Boot to the XP CD and select clean install.
 When prompted to chose install or repair or exit chose repair.  
Once the repair copy process is completed your PC should reboot and complete the origianl upgrade install.  
When the install/upgrade is complete you should be able to successfully boot to normal mode without the error....

Not sure if anyone has seen this problem lately.  But I have a solution for the exact same symptoms.

Scenario:  Windows XP sp1, boots to login prompt.  After login, it applies personal settings, immediately followed by the licensing error.  Cannot boot into safe mode, same thing happens.  Doing an in-place upgrade of XP also doesn't resolve the problem.  Replacing files in the recovery console provides not solution as well.

Solution:  Use a Windows XP environment Boot CD (I used BartPE with adaware 6.0 installed).  Boot into the cd environment and run adaware 6, make sure you update the reference file.  You want to specify your scan type so you can select which drive to scan.  BartPE was D (cdrom) so I selected the C drive (original XP install).  I found numerous infected objects (121 to be exact), quarantined and deleted these files.  Rebooted, and all the symptoms are resolved.  I'd also suggest to update virus defs and run a full system scan as well as running ad-aware 6.0 AND Spybot S&D to check for any malicious spyware on the pc.

Have a nice day.

When you start Windows XP and log on, your receive the subject error. When you press OK, you are returned to the Log On to Windows dialog.

NOTE: If you perform a System Restore, the problem may persist.

This behavior will occur if you are missing the %SystemRoot%\System32\secupd.dat file and / or the %SystemRoot%\System32\oembios.dat file.

To resolve this problem:

1. Restart your computer and press F8 to start in Safe Mode.

2. Log on.

3. Right-click My Computer and press Manage.

4. Open the Event Viewer.

5. Check the System event log by using the View menu to Filter for an Event source of Windows File Protection since the last time you successfully logged on. You should be able to locate the files that could not be found during logon, probably as Event ID 64005.

6. Using another Windows XP computer, preferably as the same service pack and hotfix level, copy the missing files. If you don't have another Windows XP computer, you may be able to Expand the missing files from the Windows XP CD-ROM.

7. Restart your computer normally.

8. You may have to reapply the latest service pack and hotfixes, perform a SFC /SCANNOW and also check for viruses and other malware.

My   C:/windows/system32/$winnt$.inf was corrupted and I was getting the same error
It should look something like (adjust yours if needed) this:


[OobeProxy]
Enable=1
Flags=9
Autodiscovery_Flag=5

[userdata]
productid=xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxxx
productkey=xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxxx
[regionalsettings]
Language=00000409
LanguageGroup=1

[data]
unattendedinstall=no
floppylessbootpath=\Device\HardDisk0\partition1
producttype=winnt
standardserverupgrade=no
win31upgrade=no
sourcepath=\device\harddisk0\partition1\$win_nt$.~ls
msdosinitiated=1
floppyless=1
AutoPartition=0
UseSignatures=yes
InstallDir=\WINDOWS
EulaComplete=1
winntupgrade=no
win9xupgrade=no
Win32Ver=8930005
uniqueid=D:\WINNT\LHE
OriSrc=G:\
OriTyp=5
dospath=C:\$WIN_NT$.~LS


I substituted my license key ( make sure it is the one used on your installed OS  )f or the xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxxx in :
productid=xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxxx
productkey=xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxx-xxxxxx
and it worked !

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/310794

This issue can occur if one of the following conditions is true:

    * The default security provider in Windows XP has been changed.
    * The system drive letter has changed.

The security provider issue has been reported with Dell computers on which the Dell Assistant software is installed.

NOTE This issue can be caused by any software that changes the default security provider. It is not limited to Dell computers or to the Dell Assistant software.



Reset the default security provider in Windows XP
To reset the default security provider in Windows XP, delete the relevant registry keys in the Windows registry. To do this, follow these steps:

   1. Start the computer. Press the F8 key during startup to start the computer in Safe mode.
   2. Start Registry Editor (Regedt32.exe).
   3. Delete the following registry keys in the Windows registry:
      HKEY_USERS\.DEFAULT\Software\Microsoft\Cryptography\Providers
      HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-20\Software\Microsoft\Cryptography\Providers
   4. Quit Registry Editor.
   5. Restart the computer.



Reset the drive letter of the system drive
Use Registry Editor to change the drive letter of the system drive back to its original value. Edit the following registry key to change the value of the system drive:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\MountedDevices
For additional information and steps detailing the exact procedure to rename the system drive letter, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
223188  (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/223188/ ) How To Restore the System/Boot Drive Letter in Windows


Alternately, you can manually register the following DLLs by rebooting into Safe Mode and running a command prompt.  From %system root%\system32, run:

regsvr32 licwmi.dll
regsvr32 regwizc.dll
regsvr32 licdll.dll
regsvr32 jscript.dll
regsvr32 vbscript.dll
regsvr32 msxml.dll
regsvr32 shdocvw.dll
regsvr32 softpub.dll
regsvr32 wintrust.dll
regsvr32 initpki.dll
regsvr32 dssenh.dll
regsvr32 rsaenh.dll
regsvr32 gpkcsp.dll
regsvr32 sccbase.dll
regsvr32 slbcsp.dll
regsvr32 cryptdlg.dll

Then restart the PC.  Any of these should work.