XXHighEnd

All,

I have been asked a question by a customer about how to avoid the "Activation question" by Windows, which happens when you have an Activated Windows OS all right, but since you are never connected to the Internet (Minimized OS) this question pops up.

I recall this myself from something like Windows SP1 beta or whatever it was and I don't know anymore whether this question could be shut off (or how annoying it was). So, this is about the text down-right in the screen "this version is not genuine" in the first place (no problem there), but as it seems to be, once per xx time you are asked to activate (which is non-sense because you just are, plus it won't work without internet connection).
Also, I can't test it myself because each day I hop back to Normal Mode, and I recall something like after 2 days the message pops up.

I hope it is clear what I am talking about !
So the main question is : can this question about "you need to activate" be shut off ?

Thanks in advance ...
Peter

Yes but not legal... there is a little program on the internet somewhere that simply avoids this message to appear.

I am not sure how it works (forgot the tweak) but it works well.

Bert

Edit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ip4Kh8iYkpQ (turn down the volume first!!!)

This shows how it can be done differently...

Google is your friend!

Yeah, Google is my friend all right, but I myself don't know what to look for. Maybe you neither, because this YouTube is about Microsoft Office ...
haha

but if I am right , in W7 , the windows online activator , lets you download an exe which itself will modify an update ( it has a famous name ) that flags the installation as non genuine . What is the point here ?

Do we really need to activate windows online or not ( beside the Mininimize thing ) ?

Well, no and yes;
When you never do it, and stay offline, you are okay. But, when you go offline after 30 days, you are out of luck (you won't be able to run Windows which also prevents Activation) and need to call a number.


I am not sure what you mean here.
Anyway, if you never go online, I think after two days the "not genuine" text will be in the screen and this is harmless. Now, don't ask me how that QUESTION to activate looks like. But when I am right this can only happen when you go online.

Btw, the sort of stupid combination here is that this is just about an Activated OS. But this state changes because of Minimized OS (because some service can't determine it) and that seems to incur for the question AGAIN.
And what I don't know is what happens when you let this be for 30 days (so, never go out of Minimized and never go online ... until you do the latter once ...

Keep in mind please : this is how I get it from a customer; I can't check it myself.

Peter

In my last two computors running W7 I've activated Windows and have used minimised OS mode in XX. Other than the "this is not a genuine copy" message, I've never been asked to reactivate Windows. There is a procedure for activating Windows by telephone if you don't want to go online: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/950929#Win7

I've been using an aplication named ulteven. I don't remember where I got it but it works fine for me. After every XXHE new version installation and when you minimize OS the activation message pops up. It doesn't happen inmediatly but after a couple of days. Then I fire the  program and the message disappears.

Maxi

Hi Maxi,

You seem to have (nailed) the situation I am talking about. But "ulteven" ? can't find anything about that ...
Can you find it back yourself (please) ?

Thanks a lot,
Peter


PS: I don't know why I named the title of this topic "Forum Activation Question" (probably because I promised the user to ask it on the forum - he doesn't know English), but of course it should have been named "Windows Activation Question". I just changed it ...

Hi Peter,

This is about removing WAT (Windows Activation Technology).

Please check this link :
 http://techglobex.blogspot.com/2011/07/make-windows-7-genuine-and-activate-by.html

Hope the above will help.
Regards,
Praphan

Yep, that's the little program I've suggested before. After installing it will tell you everytime you reboot about the change though but that message can be removed too...

Bert

I haven't the time to read everything here.  But Peter, you know my XXHE Windows HD has never been online.  I activated by calling MS over the phone (when you choose to activate they give you this Offline Activation option... giving them my number from the valid Win7 pro, and they then gave me a long ass number to type in, and I'm activated.  I only run XXHE HDD in minimzed mode and have never booted back to normal.
but,
When i start windows I don't see this message... but after playing XXHE for awhile, I see a message like, "this copy of windows is not genuine" even though I did an offline activation. I just laugh and figure it's you messing around with windows and MS doesn't like that.  Doesn't affect SQ and when I start up the next day it's gone until I play XXHE again... which is the only thing that HDD does.

Dave ...

No. This way you won't be Activated. All you did was entering your Key, and that now waits for Activation - which will happen when you go on-line the first time *and* you entered somehwhere that this Activation should automatically happen when you go on-line. Normally you enter this during the install of the OS - and btw once you did I don't think this "checkbox" can ever be removed again (Google couldn't tell me about it). Hey, it is already hard enough to find out how to re-enter a once entered Key (but that sure can be done).

So, in your case too, Activation will only happen when you go on-line, and there's a fair chance that you too will loose your OS when that happens. Over 30 days ...

What I didn't know is that the "not genuine" text only appears after playing with XXHE. Maybe it is Wallpaper related ?
(note though that the messages appearing in that area are not "burned" into the Wallpaper or background otherwise, but maybe the change of Wallpaper triggers the text)

Peter

Okay, thank you all for your kind help on this. Also those who sent their solutions by private mail. But as with many of these things, most solutions imply some illegal activity or hack, while nothing illegal is going on anyway.

So this must be the official solution :
(again, I can not check it myself)

There's a service "Software Protection Service". This is shut down by Minimized OS;
When this is running, no questions (or messages) will appear.

Without testing it myself, after being in Minimized Mode, you can set it's startup type to "Automatic" and next Start it. It will be shut down again when you start playing, but when needed it will now start automatically and it will allow the OS to see that nothing is illegal about your OS install (this is my reasoning and hopefully it is correct).

What you can also do is exclude it from the Services Shutdown list (before going into Minimized), but that doesn't seem the best solution to me. Although, in the end maybe there's no difference.

Oh, with a little help of friends the customer came up with this himself.

Thanks !
Peter

Also , the service Has some "properties" of log on like :Local system account and Allow service to interact with desktop .

More over its dependencies are : RPC ( remote procedure call ) , DCOM server process launcher , RPC endpoint mapper .

Now I am in a UEFI shell OS and I do not have yet activated .

But before when working with the MBR partition table , I did notice somehow , that activating the OS online was making quite some difference .

stefano

No  I have to disagree.

There is an offline activation method.  You give MS your registration number over the phone, and MS gives you another number to type into a screen you're taken to when you select offline registration choice.  Maybe it's a US thing? dunno

Oh ya, I should say that I've always seen this message when running in Min mode.  Even when I ran the previous OS of Win 7 activated online.

Okay Dave. I know about this offline method (performed it myself in some other situation), but as it seems to me it may serve two purposes :

1. Your Key does not work *and* the grace period has expired and so you virtually get a new Key (by means of this offline procedure). Whether that also Activates ?

2. Something went wrong and the PC nags about needing Activation. This is a bug within itself, and the offline procedure solves that (hey, I can do a few things offline just the same).

In both cases the message won't pop up anymore and neither case may (indeed) go wrong after going online. This makes you being correct.

It is all quite confusing. For example, I have a PC at hand right now which wasn't given any Key during the install. And no, you don't need to enter it right away (this is W7 Professional). And you know what ? this thing is expired right out of the box. So, it works, but the 30 days grace period are over right away. The offline procedure can't be performed because the PC isn't even to be given a Key right now; the customer has one ...
Anyway, I am pretty sure that I now have the same message/question as that from the other customer this topic is about. But the situation is very different.

Peter

Hi Peter , do we read 'Status not available' and 'Product ID not available ' or something similar maybe ?

thanks

stefano

I must fire up that PC to look.
What can I do with it, if so ?

Thanks,
Peter

Don't know , but after playing a bit with that service , I had the below picture of an error .
And I cant read the activation thing .
After going online , I must check again but it seems there will be the installation of the famous KB971033.
Of course all of this may tell you nothing . My original W7 copy is not yet activated here .So I am fooling around a bit .

Stefano

Haha, well, I wouldn't fool too much around if I were you !

haha , you're right . I have another copy full activated .  :)