XP Embedded 'Windows Product Activation' error at login

If you are running Windows on your WebDT366 this is for you.
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casm
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XP Embedded 'Windows Product Activation' error at login

Post by casm »

I'm having a problem with getting my WebDT 366 to boot XP Embedded.  I followed the instructions here for building the image, transferring it to the unit, etc. and everything went OK up to login.

Basically, I can log in as administrator with no password.  However, before I get to the desktop, I receive the following error:

"Windows Product Activation: A problem is preventing Windows from accurately checking the licence for this computer.  Error code: 0x80070002."

If you say OK to the error, it just drops you back to login.

I had an old 3Com 3C589C PCMCIA network card laying around, so made a build including support for it and connected it to a switch; the idea was that if it just needed to do some sort of phone-home before allowing login to complete this should let it do what it needed to.  However, the error persists, and I have been able to verify that the WebDT gets an IP address from the DHCP server - so there's something else going on here.

The device will not boot to Safe Mode; it BSODs en route to getting there.  This is the same end result with both the reference and my build.

I haven't been able to find anything directly referencing this error via Google.  However, I did turn up this thread, which suggests it may be a winlogon-related issue.  Frankly, I've never had to deal with that before, so it's definitely uncharted territory for me.

Does anyone have any idea as to what may be going on?  I'm completely lost at this point, and would appreciate any pointers.  It's so close I can almost taste it ;)
plane_crazy
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Re: XP Embedded 'Windows Product Activation' error at login

Post by plane_crazy »

Not sure this is what you need ...

Search for a file called wpa_kill.exe

Bruce
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casm
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Re: XP Embedded 'Windows Product Activation' error at login

Post by casm »

plane_crazy wrote: Not sure this is what you need ...

Search for a file called wpa_kill.exe
Thanks, but I'm not sure that will do what I need - the main problem is that I never reach the desktop, so don't have any way of running it.

I really don't get why I'm getting activation errors in the first place.  I'm using a time-limited version of XPe; having to do activation seems pointless for something that'll lock itself in 90-180 days anyway.
rectic
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Re: XP Embedded 'Windows Product Activation' error at login

Post by rectic »

Very strange.

When I ran the trial, everything went fine... as did others.

I gave up with it though and ended up buying a larger flash chip with license and image. I use XPe, so I figured what the hell.
casm
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Re: XP Embedded 'Windows Product Activation' error at login

Post by casm »

Yeah...  I'm not quite sure why I'm falling through the cracks on this one.

It looks like I may not have properly Googled the error earlier, because I managed to turn up this knowledgebase article suggesting that it's the result of three registry keys that need to be removed.

OK, that's all well and good - but as I can never get to the desktop I can't start regedt32.  Editing it over the network doesn't appear to work either (can't find the remote registry either by name or IP address), and booting the XPe install disc and trying to edit it per this MSKB article is also going nowhere.

Any ideas?  I have no idea what's going on here at this point and could use any pointers.
plane_crazy
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Re: XP Embedded 'Windows Product Activation' error at login

Post by plane_crazy »

Can you boot into safe mode with a command prompt?

Bruce
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casm
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Re: XP Embedded 'Windows Product Activation' error at login

Post by casm »

Negative.  *All* Safe Mode possibilities result in a BSOD.

I'm beginning to wonder if my XPe installation isn't cranking out bad builds.  I did have it running XP Pro initially and didn't have any of these issues.
JouriM
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Re: XP Embedded 'Windows Product Activation' error at login

Post by JouriM »

I have no found any ways to "fix"windows if it already fond licence limitation.
So, I think, the only suggestion to you is to setup any XPe image again (if you will use old images do not forget to setup system time back in time to avoid trial-time-expired BSOD) and, after this, try to patch it.
WPA patch does the most of job but not shure it will be enough (i make complex patch an fix some files WPA doesnt touch, but may be WPA-kill will work).
serialjoepsycho
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Re: XP Embedded 'Windows Product Activation' error at login

Post by serialjoepsycho »

you might be able to use hawkpe
casm
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Re: XP Embedded 'Windows Product Activation' error at login

Post by casm »

Folks,

Not that I don't appreciate the help, but I think we're getting off-track here.

What I would like to know is why I'm having this issue when nobody else apparently is.  Suggesting activation cracks and using different versions of XP are possibilities, but not the ones I'd like to explore - if I've run into this issue, chances are someone else might as well.

Back on track: I've made several more builds, all with the same result.  This is being done completely cookbook, and it doesn't seem to matter if I use the .sld/.slx files posted in angrymeat's thread or if I generate my own via tap.exe and go from there.

I'm really out of ideas at this point.  Anyone?
casm
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FIXED: XP Embedded 'Windows Product Activation' error at login

Post by casm »

Okay, managed to find the answer late last night.  What it boils down to is that if you're using a Flash ROM greater than or equal to 1GB in size, you need to adjust the value for the Boot Partition Size in Target Designer.  I'm using a 4GB flash, so this goes quite some way towards explaining the failure.

To make the change, load your .slx in Target Designer.  Go to Settings | Target Device Settings | Boot Partition Size (MB).  Set it to 1024 and retry the build; the proper Winlogon components should now be included into the build, and the error should no longer be present at login.

If you are using Angrymeat's .slx (from this thread) on a 1GB+ device, you will need to change the value.

Source for the fix: this Usenet thread.
Last edited by casm on Fri Aug 21, 2009 6:35 am, edited 1 time in total.
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