For the same reasons that it is important to update Windows XP, it is also important to make sure that your major applications (such as Microsoft Office, Corel's WordPerfect.)
Updates are best done online (some programs may have update disks available, but generally there is a charge for these disks). For Microsoft visit their page at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/officeupdate/default.aspx for updates. For Corel's products, their update web page is at http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=Corel3/Downloads/SupportDownloads.
The Windows Product Activation (WPA) is a system where Microsoft attempts to link the copy of Windows to a specific computer. This is done using a scan of certain core hardware, and using information about this hardware to generate a one-way key. This key, when you activate Windows, is saved at Microsoft for a period of time.
The system was greeted with a bit of skepticism by the user community when first introduced. Stories of doom and gloom, of computers being disabled, of Microsoft being able to gather information about the computer circulated wildly (and to a certain extent, there are misconceptions about WPA that still do come up time and time again.)
WPA, generally, has worked. There is nothing to say that Microsoft will continue to use WPA (indications are that they are satisfied with the results, and feel the expense is acceptable).
In order to understand WPA, you must understand Microsoft's various licenses. Not every installation of Windows XP (or Office, or any other PA enabled product from Microsoft) is equal. We have:
· Regular retail boxed Windows XP. These are the copies that you might by from a reputable store or online seller. They come in a box, with a disk and the WPA product key (the key is typically on a small sticker that is called a "certificate of authenticity". Regular retail boxed Windows XP can be either a full version, or an upgrade version.
· OEM versions can be more problematic. One OEM license type where Windows XP is sold with a piece of qualifying hardware (perhaps a complete computer, or just a component). These versions can be installed on virtually any computer as long as the supplied hardware is used. These versions are activated in a manner very similar to the retail versions of Windows XP.
· The other OEM type is a version that is tied to a specific computer (usually by information about the motherboard in the computer.) These linked to hardware versions do not activate, but if they are installed on a computer that does not match the hardware that is expected will go into mode where it acts like retail versions--it will require activation. However, this activation must be done by phone, and the user must have a convincing reason why the different hardware.
· MSDN is the Microsoft Developer's Network. MSDN subscribers are provided with a (small) volume license version of Windows XP. Most allow for installation on between five and ten computers, and these versions activate in the same manner as the retail version.
·
Volume license versions of Windows XP are sold
to corporations, organizations and other large users for use on their
computers. Volume license versions do not call into Microsoft for activation,
and will run on any hardware combination. The cus
· Academic software is software that is sold to academic users (schools, colleges, universities, staff, faculty, and students.) Most organizations receive volume license versions, while individuals receive essentially the retail version.
· There are other special licensing categories; however these are the exception, not the rule. They may include OEM's software for internal and testing, and other groups or organizations that Microsoft may decide to grant special licensing to.
Does WPA work? Well in my experience the answer is yes. I've been installing and using WPA activated software for years (since before it was made available to the public). I've only had one case where I had to call Microsoft for activation, and that case the Microsoft representative informed me that it was a system problem and not my problem. A phone activation can sometimes be done without talking to a live person, using voice recognition software at Microsoft (OK, I did do it by phone two times, the second time my Internet connection was broken.)
WPA works using a few simple techniques that are not terribly difficult to understand. The first thing that WPA does is to inventory the computer's hardware, and create a numeric value based on the hardware found. This numeric value is created using a series of one-way hashes, with the result being that the specific hardware cannot be determined from the values created and sent to Microsoft.
Table 2.1 lists the hardware that WPA will check. If a particular piece of hardware is not installed (such as no SCSI controller, or no Network Interface Card (NIC), that value will be set to zeros.
The hashing works by first hashing each individual component. The resulting component hash is then reduced to the number of bits given in the table. For example, though there may be hundreds of different IDE adapters, the hash only returns one of 16 possible values. In a similar fashion, the processor serial number is a very large value (almost 100 bits long), but the resulting hash value will be one of 64 possible values. So many different hardware devices will appear to be the same to WPA!
Table 2.1 - WPA Hardware
|
|
Description |
Length |
Permutations |
|
1 |
Hard Drive Volume Serial Number |
10 |
1024 |
|
2 |
Network Adapter MAC Address |
10 |
1024 |
|
3 |
CD–ROM / CD-RW / DVD-ROM |
7 |
128 |
|
4 |
Display Adapter |
5 |
32 |
|
5 |
Processor Serial Number |
6 |
64 |
|
6 |
Hard Drive Device |
7 |
128 |
|
7 |
SCSI Adapter |
5 |
32 |
|
8 |
IDE Adapter |
4 |
16 |
|
9 |
Processor Type |
3 |
8 |
|
10 |
|
3 |
8 |
|
11 |
Dockable notebook computer |
1 |
1 |
|
|
Total |
61 |
(an eight byte field) |
When hardware changes approximately six 'items' must be changed before WPA will consider it necessary to re-activate. However, the weight of the hardware items is not equal. One device, the NIC's MAC address counts as three 'items'.
Note
There is one thing that Microsoft didn't count on when they created WPA, and that was the growing popularity of motherboards with integrated NIC, video, IDE and SCSI support.
Replacing one of these boards will frequently trigger the reactivation process, as the motherboard, processor and NIC would appear to have changed.
The computation for the
Table 2.2 - WPA RAM Size breakdown.
|
Value |
RAM Size |
|
0 |
Unused. (may originally been 0 - 16 MB) |
|
1 |
0 to 31 MB |
|
2 |
32 to 63 MB |
|
3 |
64 to 127 MB |
|
4 |
128 to 255 MB |
|
5 |
356 to 511 MB |
|
6 |
512 to 1023 MB |
|
7 |
Greater than 1023 MB |
When you run WPA on your installation of Windows XP, the following process occurs:
1. The Product Key entered when Windows XP was installed is retrieved.
2. The hardware configuration hash is computed using the devices listed in Table 2.1. Any missing devices are given a value of zero. The resulting hash is the Hardware Key.
3. The Installation Key is generated by combining the Product Key to the Hardware Key.
4. The Installation Key is sent to Microsoft for verification.
5. If the Installation Key is verified as acceptable, then Microsoft sends a digital certificate to Windows indicating that the product is activated.
If everything is OK, Windows is set, and will run. The process at Microsoft is:
1. Microsoft receives the key (step 4, above.)
2. The product and the hardware keys are extracted.
3. The product key is looked up in a database of currently activated copies of Windows.
4. If there is no entry for that product key, one is created, and the hardware key is stored in that entry and the product will be activated.
5. If there is a match of the product key, and an entry in the database, then the hardware key is compared with the hardware key in the database. If they match, the product will be activated.
6. Finally, if the product key exists in the database, but the hardware keys do not match, activation may be blocked.
In step six, notice that I said "may be blocked". There are several factors that affect this. First, some product keys allow multiple activations (call them mini-volume licenses). Some license types are allowed some leeway, such as the case with retail copies of Windows XP. Other products (OEM) are allowed very little leeway--and the blocking rule is strictly enforced in these cases.
When WPA was created, Microsoft felt that keeping a database of every activated product may become too inefficient to manage in the future. To help with the problem, they created a rule that says that records are purged from the activated products database when they age 120 to 180 days. So if you activate your copy of Windows XP in January, and in July you replace everything, though you will have to re-activate, the activation will be granted without question--it will be treated as a new installation.
Tip
Do not panic if you have to reactivate, and the online system tells you that reactivation cannot be done. You will be given a telephone number to call for activation.
Calling this number connects you with a Microsoft representative who will take your activation key information, and check the database as to why there is a problem. Often a simple explanation (I had to upgrade the motherboard, or whatever the reason why you are reactivating…) will be accepted, and the representative will provide the activation information you will need.
The final piece in the WPA puzzle is what your computer does. In your %systemroot%\system32 folder are two files, wpa.bak and wpa.dbl.
The wpa.bak file is the original WPA activation information (the product key, hardware key, and returned certificate that activates Windows XP.) In wpa.dbl is the same information, with the most recent boot hardware information included. (If you look at the time/date stamp on wpa.dbl it should match your last reboot of Windows XP.
An Identical Computer Install Quick Activation?
Let's say you are going to reformat your drive and do a clean install (perhaps because of a virus or other infection). There are numerous write-ups on the Internet that say following these steps will allow you to bypass the WPA process. I will not say these techniques work but, if you want to try them, here are the steps:
1. Save the two WPA files in %systemroot%\system32, wpa.bak and wpa.dbl to a diskette or CD-R disk. (These files are small, and both easily fit on a diskette.) Also write down the volume-serial number for your drive.
2. Reformat the drive, and reinstall Windows XP, without modifying any WPA checked hardware.
3. When Windows XP requests that you re-activate, click no.
4. Using one of the disk utilities that are available on the Internet, change the drive's volume-serial number to match the original one that you wrote down in step 1, above.
5. Restart Windows XP in safe mode (F8, select safe mode from the menu).
6. Backup to another diskette the current %systemroot%system32\wpa files.
7. Copy the two WPA files you saved in step 1, above to the %systemroot%\system32 folder.
8. Restart your computer.
If things work as they should, you will be activated and ready for work.
Though there was much consternation about WPA, that it would invade your privacy, tell Microsoft about your computer, and allow Microsoft to disable Windows XP, none of these fears have materialized. There are very few valid complaints about WPA and its possible shortcomings.