I upgraded to media player 11 and now my system fails wga

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  Hello mikeinelcajon,
  
   

    Installing Media Player 11 did not make your XP Non-Genuine, your computer is showing as Non-Genuine because it has a Volume Licensing (VL) edition of XP Pro installed (Line 10), and that installation was done with an invalid Volume Licensing Key (VLK) (Line 2).  An Invalid Key means the key was not made by Microsoft. It was generated by a KeyGen tool to look and act just like a Valid key but is not.
  
  In addition, VL editions of XP are not to be sold to individual consumers.  Businesses, schools and gov'ts buy a Volume Licence Ageement that allows them to use one VL Key to be installed on a specific number of computers within thier orginization.  Also, Volume Licenses for XP are upgrade licenses only and can never be used as the orginal or base license for a computer. (Which means a VL Version of Windows will never come Pre-Installed in a computer)

  This is why you were seeing the "software counterfeiting" messages on the computer, because the current installation of XP is an unauthorized installation.
  
    You may have had a Genuine copy of XP on your computer, at some point, but not currently.  The most common way for this to happen is if you had your computer "fixed" by an untrained computer repair technician or perhaps by well-meaning friend, who probably needed to reinsyall XP in the course of repairing the computer, but used a downloaded copy of XP Pro along with a Keygened Volume Licensing Key instead of the proper Product Key.

  Look on the computer or in the materials that came with your computer to see if you have a Windows Certificate of Authenticity (CoA). Windows XP purchased in retail packaging will have the CoA on the retail package boxtop, and will have the Product Key on a yellow-orange label affixed to the CD holder folder inside the box.

  1.  What edition of Windows XP does the COA (or documentation) say? Is it the same as the one currently on the computer?

  2. Does the Product Key on the COA sticker (or on the documents that came with computer) match the Product Key listed in your Diagnostic Report above?  (DO NOT post the Product Key printed on the CoA.)
   

    If the CoA on your computer is for the same version of XP as is currently installed (in your case XP Pro), and the Product Key is not the same as the one shown in the Diagnostic Report, then the first thing to try is the Product Key Updater Utility here:  http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=45668  Running this utility will attempt to screen about 6,000 files for itegrity and then, if possible, convert your nongenuine installation of XP Pro VLK back to a genuine installation of XP Pro by exchanging the VLK key with the key from the COA.  The PK Updater is not always able to handle severely damaged or modified installations of XP.

    If the CoA is not for XP Pro, or the PK Updater cannot handle the situation, then your only available alternative is to backup and offload your data and use the Recovery Solution (supplied with the computer) to Recover the computer back to a factory-fresh installation of the original XP installed.  The Recovery Solution is usually a hidden Recovery partition, or a set of CDs, or both. (contact the Manufaturer of the computer for assistance if you can't find the recovery software or don't know how to conduct the Recovery).

    If the key on the COA (or on the documents that came with computer) match the Non-Genuine VLK Product Key listed in your Diagnostic Report, contact the person or company that sold you the computer and demand the Genuine Microsoft Software that you paid to be included in your computer. I also encourage you to submit a Piracy Report at http://microsoft.com/piracy

  Thank you,
  Darin MS

  • Marked as answer by Darin Smith MS Friday, August 7, 2009 4:37 PM

  Friday, August 7, 2009 4:37 PM
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  Hello mikeinelcajon,
  
  In addition to the answer Darin posted regarding Windows, I'd like to call your attention to the mgadaig report section regarding Office:
  
  

  OGA Data-->
  Office Status: 114 Blocked VLK 2
  Microsoft Office XP Professional with FrontPage - 114 Blocked VLK 2
  Microsoft Office Professional Edition 2003 - 100 Genuine
  OGA Version: Registered, 1.6.21.0
  Signed By: Microsoft
  Office Diagnostics: 025D1FF3-230-1
  
  Note that you have two versions of Microsoft Office installed on the computer.
  
  The one underlined is a Genuine retail license for Office 2003 Professional.  This is fine, no issues whatsoever.
  
  The one in bold above is a nongenuine Volume Licensing installation of Office XP Pro w/Front Page.  Please go to Add or Remove Programs in Control Panel and click on Office XP and uninstall it.  After that's complete, restart the computer.
  
  Next visit http://www.microsoft.com/genuine and click on the Validate Office button.  The process should complete and now that the nongenuine Office is uninstalled, your Office 2003 Pro should come up as Genuine.  Once that's done, you'll have access to lots of nice-to-have Office goodies here http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/downloads/FX101321101033.aspx?pid=CL100570421033 such as oodles of Clip Art, loads of templates, etc.
  
  Good Luck!

  ---

  For great advice on all topics XP, visit http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp

  Friday, August 7, 2009 4:55 PM
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  I'M STUNNED.  Can I get a link on this so-called key generating thing? I'd like to study it. Anyway, the
  company that built this is no longer around (like I said this machine is going on 7 years) and it was a custom
  built (RAID MIRROR--great stuff) So when I ran this genuine tool the first time I believe it sent me to a
  MS website where I can shell out $`149 for a new key. Is that my proper option?
  
  
  thanks

  Saturday, August 8, 2009 12:02 AM
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  Hello mikeinelcajon,
  
  The WGA Kit you are being offered to "Get Genuine" is one option available.
  
  The WGA Kit is a genuine full retail license for XP Pro.  The WGA program offers you an equivalent legal version of what you have installed on the computer.  For example, if you had a nongenuine XP Home installed, it would have offered you a genuine XP Home at [IIRC] $99.  You are offered the same XP as you have installed because once you make the purchase of the WGA KIt, you'll be emailed the Product Key, and utilizing the Product Key Updater Utility with the new Product Key in many cases you can become Genuine almost instantly.  In about 2-3 weeks you'll also receive a genuine XP CDROM to use along with the genuine PK in case your situation requires a repair reinstallation or a clean installation, and of course for future reinstallations.
  
  Other options:
  
  1.  You could Get Genuine by purchasing and installing an OEM license kit for any edition of XP of your liking from a trusted local or online retailer.  These are usually somewhat less expensive that the WGA prices, but then these are OEM licenses that have limitations on support and cannot be moved from the computer onto which they are first installed.
  
  2.  You could switch to a "free" OS such as one of the Linux distros.
  
  3.  You could simply do nothing.  The computer will still work fine and you will still get critical security updates if you have Windows Update set for automatic, you just have to put up with some periodic annoying nags, like the WGA popup and the desktop background going black occasionally.
  
  4.  You could search the internet for a way to uninstall the WGA Notifications Utility.
  
  Microsoft wants you to use genuine software for two reasons:
  
  1.  They want to get paid for you using their software.
  
  2.  Nongenuine installations of Windows are more likely to have embedded malware, thus creating security issues not only for you, but potentially for all other WWW users.

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  For great advice on all topics XP, visit http://www.annoyances.org/exec/forum/winxp

  Saturday, August 8, 2009 12:26 AM