I was enabling some processes in windows to use my cd writer. When I was done disabled them then rebooted and got this message. " The hardware on this computer has significantly changed, you must reactivate windows within 3 days " WTF Is this about? Ive never had this before. What happens after 3 days?, Microsoft sends in the special forces in an assault on my house to confiscate my computer?

your copy of windows will quit working if it is Not re-activated...........!

WTF did it just do this now for? the last time i installed hardware was just a cd writer about 6 months ago.

format
install linux
repeat

LOL, I already have 3 slack systems, XP is my gaming system.

call up ms and tell them about the problem.

they are actually quite nice, ive heard.

Why this activation thing anyway? It's not bringing down piracy on the one hand (there are still plenty of cracked versions of XP around) At the same time genuine owners (technically licensees) are put to so much hassle.

Shame on Microsoft!

Yep, it's funny really. Well, sort of. All it does is hassle the legal users. The hacked copies are hassle free. Honestly I know people with legal copies, and a license to use XP, that use the hacked illegal copy rather than the legal one they bought simply because it's easier for them... They tend to be the sort who change out hardware on a weekly basis...

It thinks there were significant hardware changes so they might come to a conclusion it was installed on another machine, so they want you to confirm this. That's why its prompting you now.

That, my friend, is the reason that so many people are hanging back at Windows 98 and Windows 2000: The Microsoft Product Activation Key. Microsoft decided that too many people were stealing their software, so they worked out this client/server design for generating an encrypted key on the client machine (yours) based on what hardware (brand, model, type) is on your machine and the server machine, once receiving that key, will return a an encrypted key that "unlocks" Windows XP.

So, when you first installed Windows XP, it probably said, "Do you wish to activate Windows now?"

You said, "Yes."

Windows XP then looked at your hardware, determined a huge number to represent it, and sent it to Microsoft over the Internet.

Microsoft then responded with an encrypted "key" that is stored on your system.

If you pull out the video card and replace it? Microsoft generates a new key, and then checks it against the old one for what they call "significant change." If you only change out your video card, nothing will happen more than likely.

But if you change two or three parts out, you may just trigger Windows XP's detection system, which tells it "This jerk just installed me on a different machine and is using two copies, so I'm going to make him activate again."

This system is pretty lame, as the others have pointed out.

What if you cannot reach the internet after it locks up? You can call on the telephone and Microsoft will dictate a 56 digit key back to you to type in. WHAT A PAIN!

So, basically, you need to click on the system tray icon for product activation, and answer "Yes, activate my copy of Windows."

And yes, this happened to me after a system upgrade 2 months ago, and I couldn't find my product code to enter to generate the key, so I had to call 1-800-Microsoft and get one from them. They wanted my name, blood type, serial number, etc, and then gave me a key. They were extremely friendly (LOL!), but after I did that, I downloaded Mandrake 10 and installed it. I don't ever want to go back now.

I reactivated it using the automated phone message thingy, but adding a cd writer 6 months ago triggers this right now? It must have triggered when I was enabling processes to get the cd writer working again because I have all processes marked as disabled except for the 4 or 5 that you cant disable and I had to go through and figure out the one(s) that let me use the writer. This better not do this every time I disable then re enble the process I need to use the cd writer.

I do believe it doesn't do it on every change. I think it allows 2 to 3 minor hardware changes and just this last one you made triggered it.

I had to call them once. They let me install two copies of Windows XP - One on my harddrive and one in VMWare (I even told them that )

EDIT: Spelling

If you had some of the services that drive your CD burner disabled, then when you enabled them was probably the first time Windows discovered the drive properly, and it looked like a hardware change.

FWIW, I've made tons of changes to an XP machine before and not had the key thing come up, and then there was one time that I did some minor thing that touched it off.

It's really annoying, isn't it? It feels like using your PC under the sword of damacles. At any second it could threaten you to contact Microsoft and check in with them. You never know.

Well, my cousin has had this problem ever since he upgraded to XP Professional at his office. He has spoken of this problem to Microsoft but he's still very frustrated.

Unfortunately, since he has a lot of development projects tied up in Microsoft Visual Studio.NET, he cannot switch to any other OS.

Talk about bondage to Microsoft!