[John Von Trapp]

Hey I Have been locked out of Windows XP.

This morning when I tried to log on to my home computer it told me I needed to activate my copy of Windows XP- which I have done previously.
When I clicked ok it took me to Windows Activation which told me I had already activated it. When I pressed ok it logged me out and sent me back to the logon screen. when I attempted to log in it came up with the same message, and the same endless loop is repeating. Can someone please help, or at least tell me how to get my files off the computer? There is a lot of good software and a lot of files and documents which I need for University. Please help I don't know what to do.

I am running Windos XP Home with Service Pack 3 installed, if thats any help.

I have not installed any new software for a couple of weeks so I don't see that as being a problem. I am completely stuck.

I have several spare HDD's I can use but any time I have slaved my old XP to another I can't access any of the files.

Thanks in advance

 

[Senzala235]

Re: Locked Out of XP- Urgent!

You have to call the help desk to activate by phone. Other than that you will have to reinstall windows.

 

[John Von Trapp]

Re: Locked Out of XP- Urgent!

You have to call the help desk to activate by phone.

It is skipping straight to to the very last frame which says "This product has already been activated":upset: and I am too pissed off to try and wrangle this through the thick skull of some half-english speaking Microsoft "Helper". No other suggestions? :sigh:

 

[mack1]

Re: Locked Out of XP- Urgent!

Hi John and welcome to TSF,

I understand your frustrations. We've all been there.
I guess you have tried Safe Mode and couldn't get in with that. True?

Recovering the data is a good plan and I might be able to help in this area. Not sure anyone can help with the authorization problem. I've found that to be pretty secure from bypassing attempts.
This statement is not clear to me ("any time I have slaved my old XP to another I can't access any of the files"). Try this, move your HD to another computer and be sure to set the jumper to Slave and is connected to an IDE cable that already has a Master connected to it. I'm assuming it is an IDE drive. When you boot, you should be able to see the HD for data extraction.

Hope this helps,
Mack1

 

[Old Rich]

Re: Locked Out of XP- Urgent!

What brand is the pc?

You could try a repair install . .

You can pull the drive, attach it to a working pc to backup your files. It works best if you attach it to the secondary channel . . the one with the CD/DVD drives

 

[Clark76]

Re: Locked Out of XP- Urgent!

I have used the following tutorial before with success:
http://www.help2go.com/Tutorials/Co...r_files_from_an_unbootabledead_computer.html

To do this you would have to have access to another computer to download and burn the linux distro though. Not sure if this is an option for you.

 

[John Von Trapp]

Re: Locked Out of XP- Urgent!

Thanks for your help guys it's appreciated I shall do as you say

 

[John Von Trapp]

Re: Locked Out of XP- Urgent!

I guess you have tried Safe Mode and couldn't get in with that. True?


This statement is not clear to me ("any time I have slaved my old XP to another I can't access any of the files").\

Safe Mode: You Need to activate before you can do anything else.

Sorry if I wasn't very clear I reinstalled XP on a Spare HDD and slaved the old copy to it. When it boots I can see the HDD, but it says it is in RAW format and is 0 KB total size. I cannot access any of the files on it, no data recovery or anyhing. As far as my computer is concerned, there is nothing on it and I need to format it.

I don't want to do this as it has my programs on it, along with the installers etc. Photoshop, InDesign etc etc and all my data.

 

[John Von Trapp]

Re: Locked Out of XP- Urgent! *New Info*

Update for all:

I can no longer even boot from the locked out HDD. It just comes up with

"error loading operating system"

Windows Recovery Console:

C:>chkdsk

"The drive/s has one or more unrecoverable problems."

Am I to assume I am just royally [email protected]*!?

Because I reaaly need all that data.

When slaved it stilll says it RAW format.

 

[mack1]

Re: Locked Out of XP- Urgent!

Hi John,

In earlier times, you could use Norton Utilities to get data off a corrupted drive. There are similar programs available today, though I don't have any links to the sites. You might do a search and see what you can find.

Wishing you the best of luck,
Mack1

 

[John Von Trapp]

Re: Locked Out of XP- Urgent!

Okay thanks I'll give it a shot

 

[Old Rich]

Re: Locked Out of XP- Urgent!

Take a look at GetDataBack . . it will let you know if it can recover any files before you pay for it

 

[John Von Trapp]

Re: Locked Out of XP- Urgent!

Take a look at GetDataBack . . it will let you know if it can recover any files before you pay for it

Yeah thats what all of my mates have been telling me too thanks for thwe support people.

Hey hey whatdaya know it's picking up files might be a worthy investment. Good suggestions all round I will see what happens.

 

[Old Rich]

Re: Locked Out of XP- Urgent!

Good luck with it

 

[John Von Trapp]

Re: Locked Out of XP- Urgent!

Success!!! Thanks for all the help people I ended up having to format the HDD to get all the stuff off it lol... Did a recovery pre-format just showed all the stuff I could remember deleting... Thought what the hell I will give it a shot. Formatted it all data recovered!! YAY!

 

[Old Rich]

Re: Locked Out of XP- Urgent!

Well done . .

 

[mack1]

Re: Locked Out of XP- Urgent!

Good show John. Glad it worked out for you.

Mack1