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Windows XP Activation Loop (Virtual Machine)

Greetings,

We have a virtual machine (Windows XP Pro 32-Bit) that was recently created and it's asking us to activate Windows before we can log in. The problem is that when we click "Yes", it loops right back to the log on screen. This is a virtual machine using Oracle's Virtual Box and when I attempt to enter Safe-Mode using F5 or F8 it doesn't respond. Oracle's solution is to invoke Safe-Mode boot option in the MSConfig utility which we cannot get to without a full log on.

Is there any solution to this issue? I can access the image and did delete the WPA.DBL file and looks for the WPA.BAK file, but did not find that one. With WPA.DBL deleted it still does not load the activation screen.

Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Chris H

edit boot ini and add safemode entry:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/239780
Adding /safeboot:network /sos /bootlog /noguiboot to an entry should do the trick or you can add a second option which will prompt you.

Should be able to mount the vm's vmdk in a different VM to edit or use live linux iso

Poly11

ASKER

Well, even if Safe Mode we're being prompted to activate. Are there any other suggestions?

Thanks

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Chris H

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See answer

Chris H

http://forums.techguy.org/windows-xp/363300-solved-win-xp-activation-loop.html

Quote:

Windows stores the activation information in two files in the c:\windows\system32 folder: Wpa.dbl and Wpa.bak. If those files are locked, or permissions are incorrect, Windows may not be able to save its activation information.

You might also want to check the following registry keys:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFTNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
(change Activation Required value to zero)

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion
(change RegDone value to 1)

Boot into safe mode, click Start¿Run and type regedit then check these values.

Hope this helps. Cheers.

Chris H

http://www.squidoo.com/XP-Activation-Loop

Or maybe this?

Poly11

ASKER

Thank you choward16980. We're still having the problem and I did make the registry changes, however the following path is not valid:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFTNT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
(change Activation Required value to zero)

I did go into WinLogon under WindowsNT\CurrentVersion but did not see Activation Required. I did, however make the change to RegDone. I can create the Activation Required key, but can you tell me if it's a Reg DWORD key?

Thanks again.

Poly11

ASKER

I went back and reviewed the process and also incorporated the following which allowed me to access the desktop, then launch activation which was successful:

start -> Run, then enter: rundll32.exe syssetup,SetupOobeBnk

That combined with your help did the trick. Thank you!

Poly11

ASKER

Thank you.

Chris H

No problemo.