mutiple windows activations from same location.

I recently purchased several (35) pc's at a government surplus wharehouse.
The machines all have valid win XP pro stickers. Since they are ex government
pc's the harddrives have been stripped out of them. I was using the "new" pc
to replace older ones here at work, and everything was fine till a week ago.
I had reinstalled and activated about 16 machines with no problems, but now I
am forced to call microsoft every time I activate one. They are valid codes,
but I think microsoft has become suspicious of so many activations from the
same IP. If the code is valid why should they care? Is there any way to prove
to them that these are legit reinstalls without calling after every
activation?

Ghostrider
Wed Jul 02 13:33:51 PDT 2008


ColOneill wrote:

> I recently purchased several (35) pc's at a government surplus wharehouse.
> The machines all have valid win XP pro stickers. Since they are ex government
> pc's the harddrives have been stripped out of them. I was using the "new" pc
> to replace older ones here at work, and everything was fine till a week ago.
> I had reinstalled and activated about 16 machines with no problems, but now I
> am forced to call microsoft every time I activate one. They are valid codes,
> but I think microsoft has become suspicious of so many activations from the
> same IP. If the code is valid why should they care? Is there any way to prove
> to them that these are legit reinstalls without calling after every
> activation?

Same IP address for all the machines? Did you install Windows XP from
a single image file as well? Sure, Microsoft would be suspicious. Try
this: Before activating, use Microsoft's Product Key tool and assign
the proper COA's to the individual computer. Also, re-set networking
by assigning each machine an unique IP or use dynamic IP addressing.

ColOneill
Thu Jul 03 05:44:02 PDT 2008



"Ghostrider" wrote:

>
> ColOneill wrote:
>
> > I recently purchased several (35) pc's at a government surplus wharehouse.
> > The machines all have valid win XP pro stickers. Since they are ex government
> > pc's the harddrives have been stripped out of them. I was using the "new" pc
> > to replace older ones here at work, and everything was fine till a week ago.
> > I had reinstalled and activated about 16 machines with no problems, but now I
> > am forced to call microsoft every time I activate one. They are valid codes,
> > but I think microsoft has become suspicious of so many activations from the
> > same IP. If the code is valid why should they care? Is there any way to prove
> > to them that these are legit reinstalls without calling after every
> > activation?
>
> Same IP address for all the machines? Did you install Windows XP from
> a single image file as well? Sure, Microsoft would be suspicious. Try
> this: Before activating, use Microsoft's Product Key tool and assign
> the proper COA's to the individual computer. Also, re-set networking
> by assigning each machine an unique IP or use dynamic IP addressing.
>
>
they are all from the same ip.... because everything outside of my network
is seen as only the public ip. i could give it a static or dynamic, but once
that intranet ip hits the firewall... all trafic is routed to the public
ip... which does not change, and i am not going to even try to download a ip
masker, then try to activate:)

microsoft product key tool? is that something to be downloaded from
microsoft, and not already installed? Also the COA labels are good. That was
the main reason i bought the machines. They only recently started making me
call about activation.

i have about 50 win xp cd's and have been swapping them up durring installs,
so all of the installs are not from the same image file.

if I get a usb modem, and locate a dial up account (which would give me the
fresh ip) do you think that would work. I am not cheeting MS. I just do not
want to include the 6 min phone call on every install, and have them think
that i am doing something nefarious.

Malke
Thu Jul 03 07:06:45 PDT 2008

ColOneill wrote:

(snippage)

i have about 50 win xp cd's and have been swapping them up durring
> installs, so all of the installs are not from the same image file.
>
> if I get a usb modem, and locate a dial up account (which would give me
> the fresh ip) do you think that would work. I am not cheeting MS. I just
> do not want to include the 6 min phone call on every install, and have
> them think that i am doing something nefarious.

Call for activation and wait for a human. Tell them exactly your story and
ask them how they would like to handle this. When my partner and I had to
do something similar - granted, we only had to call on about 12 machines
and not 50 - we did it all in one telephone call.

Malke
--
MS-MVP
Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
FAQ - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ

ColOneill
Thu Jul 03 07:26:02 PDT 2008



"Malke" wrote:

> ColOneill wrote:
>
> (snippage)
>
> i have about 50 win xp cd's and have been swapping them up durring
> > installs, so all of the installs are not from the same image file.
> >
> > if I get a usb modem, and locate a dial up account (which would give me
> > the fresh ip) do you think that would work. I am not cheeting MS. I just
> > do not want to include the 6 min phone call on every install, and have
> > them think that i am doing something nefarious.
>
> Call for activation and wait for a human. Tell them exactly your story and
> ask them how they would like to handle this. When my partner and I had to
> do something similar - granted, we only had to call on about 12 machines
> and not 50 - we did it all in one telephone call.
>
> Malke
> --
> MS-MVP
> Elephant Boy Computers - Don't Panic!
> FAQ - http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/#FAQ
>
> i thought about that, but i was worried they would lock out anything comming from my ip. how did you get someone not indian on the phone?