3 days left for activation

[hynesy]

Hmm, funny, Windows Vista without SP1 allows you to login after the trial period is up using safe mode, are you actually selecting Safe Mode from the F8 menu?

 

[vnf4ultra]

I tried it on the xp home sp3 system. It failed in the same way, would not allow safe mode login. The common denominator between the two systems is SP3, so maybe SP3 breaks this "hack."

And yes, I'm pressing f8 to select safe mode (I'm not aware of other ways to do this )

 

[kimsland]

So if that's the case you could Repair Windows with a SP1 or SP2 disc (effectively removing SP3) and then try Safe Mode (yes F8 ) again

 

[hynesy]

Just making sure, never know, I once almost bought a new hard drive because I thought my current hard drive was broken, turns out it just wasn't plugged in.

 

[kimsland]

I don't think you're plugged in hynesy, what are you talking about?
I think it was a joke, if so, then you should make sure it's turned on too

 

[hynesy]

haha, sorry fellers, wrote that at like 2.30am my time after a long days work.

 

[TimeParadoX]

The way I got into the account was because I had 2 days left on the "3 days remaining", so I did the code and added 30 days. I'm going to do it until I get my new Activation key. I have like 120 days to do it, so maybe for Christmas I might get a present from Santa. :3

 

[vnf4ultra]

I know this is a semi-old post, but I had a situation where XP SP3 Pro sporadically deactivated and immediately locked me out of the system totally, no 3 day grace period. No access to system in safe mode. This is what I did to get back in. It worked for me, so I thought I'd post and it may be useful for others.

-Boot windows into normal mode.
-Click on your user if you don't have autologin turned on.
-It will tell you windows is expired, and give you the option to activate now.
-Click activate now, it will log you into windows, in a reduced function state.
-Minimize the "lets activate windows" window.
-Press "Windows Key" and "u" simultaneously. This brings up narrator.
-If it brings up the narrator help window, close it.
-On the main narrator window (it says "narrator can read aloud menu commands..." and has check boxes) click on the icon in the top left of the window that is a screen with a speech bubble.
-Click "about narrator." This brings up the info about narrator.
-Click the link on the info window that says "microsoft web site." This opens IE.
-Once IE is open, go to the address bar and type in a directory on your system (i.e. C:\Program Files\, or whatever)
-When you do this, it will cause the taskbar to appear for a brief period of time.
-Click Start>Run
-Type cmd and hit enter in the box. This brings up the command line.
-In the command line type the following lines hitting enter after each:
regsvr32 regwizc.dll
regsvr32 licdll.dll
rundll32.exe syssetup,SetupOobeBnk
-Note: Explorer only runs for a short period of time before it disappears, so you may have to try several times. To get the taskbar back so you can try again, simply enter a directory location in the IE main bar again. You don't have to get all the commands in one session, in fact it probably would be difficult to do so.
-Restart the computer, it should log in normally now.

After doing this, it allowed me to log into the system again and it reset activation so I have 30 days to get it activated now.

The information above, I can't take credit for, so I will credit my sources below. Credit for the first part goes to this blog and credit for the command line commands go to TimeParadoX and kimsland in this thread.