Activation...

[casey]

Something strange just happened to me with XP. It is a new install and as I usually do I didn't activate it right away. Well since having a problem with my cmos date/time and jumping back and forth it seems that somewhere I forgot to change the year to 2006 and when I went to enter XP it told me I couldn't enter until I activated it. It seems XP was looking at being installed in 2005 and since it is now 2006 the 30 days was over. I just activated XP to enter..

[tonyd]

I wonder what would happen if you set the clock to 2007 before you installed XP. Would it not demand to be activated until some time in '07?
-td

[mylanta]

Activation isn't for a set time period though Tony..I'm not quite sure what you are thinking here.

[PeteF]

Activation isn't for a set time period though Tony..I'm not quite sure what you are thinking here.

Yes, there is a 30 day time period associated with Activation.
For example, if you install but don't activate you have 30 days to
activate it. So having the PC clock set wrong and being outside that
30 day window, I'd expect WinXP to act accordingly by locking you
out until you activate.

---pete---

[mylanta]

Yes, there is a 30 day time period associated with Activation.
For example, if you install but don't activate you have 30 days to
activate it. So having the PC clock set wrong and being outside that
30 day window, I'd expect WinXP to act accordingly by locking you
out until you activate.

---pete---

Pete that isn't what I meant. I meant it isn't for a year or 2 years in other words the activation isn't for a specified time period.

[PeteF]

Pete that isn't what I meant. I meant it isn't for a year or 2 years in other words the activation isn't for a specified time period.

Ohhhhh, ok, but still, if WINXP was never activated and the current time
& date are so much different from the computer clock date I'd expect
that the activation scheme could detect that and lock out the user.
Evidently something similar is happening.

---pete---

[mylanta]

Ohhhhh, ok, but still, if WINXP was never activated and the current time
& date are so much different from the computer clock date I'd expect
that the activation scheme could detect that and lock out the user.
Evidently something similar is happening.

---pete---

OK but how would a cd of software know that the time on the pc isn't the right time?

[PeteF]

OK but how would a cd of software know that the time on the pc isn't the right time?

The CD has files with dates & times. So what if the computer clock is set
to sometime before the CD was created? That alone could trigger it.

Soon as you connect to internet there could be things that indicate
the true time or date. You have the Windows Clock that syncronizes
with web-based time systems. Then if Windows Automatic Updates are
enabled that could be another way to detect the real time and date.
Who knows what other things could be happening in the background
without our knowledge. Even if you connect to another PC there could be
ways to determine the current date or a most recent date.

Hey, I'm just guessing here at all the possibilities, based upon what
was reported to actually happen. There has to be a logical explanation.

---pete---

[mylanta]

Ah add in the internet and now you have a story!