I bought my Dell Quad Core Inspiron desktop in March last year with 64 bit vista home premium preinstalled. It has been working fine until recently it suddenly made the desktop background black with the message "this copy of windows is not genuine".
I googled this message and found some other people had this issue as well. One site said to press Windows key+break to get the properties screen where we can see the activation status. I did this and saw the message "This copy of windows is not activated. Click here to activate". I tried that and it gave an error.
I also see that the product key listed on this screen does not match the key on the sticker of my PC. I tried to re-enter the key from the sticker, but I got the message "Service not running. Please activate first".
Can anyone help? I hate F**ng Micro$oft for penalizing legal users like this.
I called Dell, but they want me to pay $59.00 to help because my 1 year warranty has expired.
Dell preinstalled Vista suddenly goes to black screen and says "Not Genuine"
neo960 wrote:I bought my Dell Quad Core Inspiron desktop in March last year with 64 bit vista home premium preinstalled. It has been working fine until recently it suddenly made the desktop background black with the message "this copy of windows is not genuine".
I googled this message and found some other people had this issue as well. One site said to press Windows key+break to get the properties screen where we can see the activation status. I did this and saw the message "This copy of windows is not activated. Click here to activate". I tried that and it gave an error.
I also see that the product key listed on this screen does not match the key on the sticker of my PC. I tried to re-enter the key from the sticker, but I got the message "Service not running. Please activate first".
Can anyone help? I hate F**ng Micro$oft for penalizing legal users like this.
I called Dell, but they want me to pay $59.00 to help because my 1 year warranty has expired.
I've seen this on updates ran sometimes, at the very least you could back up your data and just reinstall from that key using any Vista OEM disk or the Vista disk that came with your computer. I've also seen this caused by some sort of error from another software app or virus..who knows at this point but I wouldn't be so quick to blame microsoft when it may not be their fault.
Actually every time this problem happens, I reboot the PC, and Windows starts working fine and I see that even windows update works fine. The desktop background still remains black, but I am able to set a wallpaper again. But it really annoys me when suddenly this problem pops up once every couple of weeks or so.
Is there a number for Microsoft that I can call to get this fixed?
Luckily Dell gave a OS reinstall Disc and a drivers disc, but I do not want to spend a day reinstalling the OS. I might have to do this eventually if no other solution comes up.
Is there a number for Microsoft that I can call to get this fixed?
Luckily Dell gave a OS reinstall Disc and a drivers disc, but I do not want to spend a day reinstalling the OS. I might have to do this eventually if no other solution comes up.
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YeOldeStonecat
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yeah, I would scan your machine and see if your infected or not, at the very least it would just clear that possible chance up before you do decide to reinstall.YeOldeStonecat wrote:There's a rogue/fake alert that does that too.
All day? Hmm I can install and tweak Windows 7 on a new computer in less than 2hours now
Do you mean it could be spyware/virus masquerading as a windows alert?YeOldeStonecat wrote:There's a rogue/fake alert that does that too.
But still, when I go to "Computer"-> right click -> "Properties", the window says "This copy of windows is not activated. Click here to activate". When I click on it, it gives an error message and blackens my wallpaper again.
Will reinstalling the OS make this go away? I am trying to avoid it as it means it could kill a significant portion of my weekend.
I have MSE installed and scan the HD every weekend.Sava700 wrote:yeah, I would scan your machine and see if your infected or not, at the very least it would just clear that possible chance up before you do decide to reinstall.
All day? Hmm I can install and tweak Windows 7 on a new computer in less than 2hours now
I have never installed Vista before. Does it really take only 2 hours to install? In my older machine I had Win2K and it used to take at least half a day to reinstall the OS and all my application software.
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YeOldeStonecat
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Yes....just like they imitate antivirus software and Windows Security Center.neo960 wrote:Do you mean it could be spyware/virus masquerading as a windows alert?
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Might just run through the serial key change/re-activation process again...just to make sure you have the proper key in there. Since it's an OEM, should have a sticker on the case..enter it again
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/productke ... expkey.htm
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That OS install disk is probably a SLP disk, System Locked Preinstallation. It checks the BIOS and if it matches the code on the disk it will install without asking for a product code and it will be pre activated, you won't have to activate. The product code used won't match the one on the sticker. Every Dell laptop in that product range likely uses the same install disk and that same embedded product code. A lot of manufacturers do it, it makes the install easier for the end user. It can confuse the more tech savvy though when they discover the product code used doesn't match the one on the sticker. You might even find that the one on the sticker won't activate without a phone call or not be accepted when you try to type it in.
I don't know the same things you don't know. 
Happened on my windows 7 PC a while ago too. I think I just clicked the get genuine button and it was all back to normal. There was an update to the "Activation Technology" for windows 7 that Microsoft claimed was to help users detect if they had a "pirated" version installed and didn't know it. I think that was what triggered it on mine. It has only happened once and my copy is store bought and legal, so I haven't worried too much about it. If it happened over and over again I'd be pissed though.
I don't know the same things you don't know.
I think you are on to something there. I have 6 windows PC's "in the field" and only did the most recent updates on two.The Dude wrote:Happened on my windows 7 PC a while ago too. I think I just clicked the get genuine button and it was all back to normal. There was an update to the "Activation Technology" for windows 7 that Microsoft claimed was to help users detect if they had a "pirated" version installed and didn't know it. I think that was what triggered it on mine. It has only happened once and my copy is store bought and legal, so I haven't worried too much about it. If it happened over and over again I'd be pissed though.
I will have to check out the other pc to see if it claims "not genuine" status.
I think this is the update that did it to me. > http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971033
It was a voluntary "recommended" update at one point, so it may or may not install in the background, depends on your windows update settings.
It was a voluntary "recommended" update at one point, so it may or may not install in the background, depends on your windows update settings.
I don't know the same things you don't know.
So what should be my course of action at this point?
I got the message again today. Also MSE gave me a message "you may be a victim of software counterfeiting. Microsoft Security Essentials will stop working in 30 days......your copy of Windows must be validated as genuine".
This is getting to be very aggravating
I got the message again today. Also MSE gave me a message "you may be a victim of software counterfeiting. Microsoft Security Essentials will stop working in 30 days......your copy of Windows must be validated as genuine".
This is getting to be very aggravating
You could try going here http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/default.aspx?displaylang=en and validate. Might also want to track down that "service" that isn't running and preventing activation. If it was me I'd have likely reinstalled after the second time it glitched. At one time it would have taken me most of a day to do it. I have everything on thumb drives now and that really speeds things up. I can be up and running with all my essential programs in a couple of hours now.
I don't know the same things you don't know.
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YeOldeStonecat
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Have you tried re-activating it? As in the link I put above? Snag the Windows key from the sticker on your case, and follow the manual method to run the activation process in that link...should take about 35 seconds to try.neo960 wrote:So what should be my course of action at this point?(
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Thank you! The link worked for me.The Dude wrote:You could try going here http://www.microsoft.com/genuine/defaul ... laylang=en and validate. Might also want to track down that "service" that isn't running and preventing activation. If it was me I'd have likely reinstalled after the second time it glitched. At one time it would have taken me most of a day to do it. I have everything on thumb drives now and that really speeds things up. I can be up and running with all my essential programs in a couple of hours now.
I was instructed to start the software licensing service by running the dos prompt as administrator, and then running "net start slsvc ".
I did this and:
C:\Windows\system32>net start slsvc
The Software Licensing service is starting.
The Software Licensing service was started successfully.
And then proceeded to the validation URL again and this time it validated successfully!
Now I see in my system properties : "Windows Activated". I hope it stays that way and not act up again!
My system is activated now, but I would probably try to reinstall on some weekend just to get rid of the Dell junk like the "Dell Dock" etc. My system startup also is very very slow (5 to 7 minutes after I enter my password for outlook 2007 to load) and maybe things will speed up. I have a quad core PC with 4GB RAM and it runs as if it is swimming through molasses.Sava700 wrote:I'd reinstall... more time you try fixing it the sooner you could be back up and running on a fresh install
I hope that the info in this thread helps anyone else who has this kind of activation problem. The mystery of the license service is at least solved!
Thanks to everyone who pitched in to help me. I appreciate it.
The "license" service "not" running probably triggered the whole thing. I would think that would be one of the things you would do if someone were trying to run an illegal copy. Once windows detected that, the bells and whistles went off. 
It's part of the Windows Activation Technology that Microsoft is using to stop counterfeiters and or illegal use of their software. In your case it was just a side effect from that service stopping for some reason. It does sound like you need to clean things up. You could fire up msconfig as a temporary way to curb some bloat until you do a clean install. A clean install , after downloading the latest driver etc, would be my recommendation.
It's part of the Windows Activation Technology that Microsoft is using to stop counterfeiters and or illegal use of their software. In your case it was just a side effect from that service stopping for some reason. It does sound like you need to clean things up. You could fire up msconfig as a temporary way to curb some bloat until you do a clean install. A clean install , after downloading the latest driver etc, would be my recommendation.I don't know the same things you don't know.
Damned thing went back again to "not activated" status after a reboot. I went to the control panel and saw that the service was set for "Manual" start. I changed it to automatic and started the service manually, and the "Windows activated" message came back again! This is so ridiculous. A less tech savvy person may never be able to figure this out.The Dude wrote:The "license" service "not" running probably triggered the whole thing. I would think that would be one of the things you would do if someone were trying to run an illegal copy. Once windows detected that, the bells and whistles went off.
