Sunday, March 30, 2008

Cannot activate XP Pro after upgrading from XP Home

Q. I recently upgraded from Windows XP Home to XP Professional. I have been using XP Professional for about a month now. But now, it says that Windows must be activated to log on (I already activated Windows!). I click on activate now, and it says that Windows is already activated. After I click OK, it logs off and I am unable to log back on. PLEASE HELP!

A. Assuming that you did in fact use a legitimate copy of XP Professional from a reputable retail outlet to perform your upgrade, then I would ask if you changed any hardware on the pc before you upgraded to XP Pro. If so, this would prevent you from activating the Pro upgrade.

If you have not added any new hardware before activation and you are using a legitimate Microsoft product, then the easiest solution is for you to phone, email or chat with Microsoft support http://support.microsoft.com/oas/default.aspx?ln=en-us&x=13&y=11&prid=3518&gprid=185522 and tell them exactly what you did and have all the corresponding evidence to support your case such as the XP Pro CD in hand because they will ask you for identifying numbers from the CD to verify its legitimacy. Once this is confirmed, they will give you free instructions on activating XP Pro or issue you a new product key.

Don't worry. As long as everything is legit, MS is very much willing to assist you with your product activation. Their email response is 24 hours or less. Chat is within minutes. The above link gives you both options including the MS support phone number.

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