XP Activation

[[TC]»Elmo«]

With XP, the activation code must be for the same licence key that was entered when the PC was installed. AFAIK, you can't just change the licence key afterwards.

Never try to activate a key you 'found on the internet' - it'll probably have been blacklisted already.

Safemode won't prevent the activation stuff from happening. Safemode is there purely to fix problems - the system (and many programs) won't run normally while in safemode.

Also, windows shouldn't randomly say it needs activating if it's not connected to the internet. It might trigger if you change a major piece of hardware, but shouldn't at any other time. Seems suspicious if it just comes up with an activation message out of the blue.

Safest, most reliable solution: reformat & reinstall windows using the key on the sticker (remembering backups etc etc, make sure you have the correct install disc for the type of key before you start). Or leave it to the manager to sort out.