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It does this to confirm that you aren’t trying to install Windows XP on another computer - so it makes you go through the activation/registration process again.

When I tried activating online, it didn’t work - it said that I had exceeded the number of licenses available and asked me to either give Microsoft a call or to enter another product key. We actually have an Action Pack subscription, which for a very low price gives you 10 licenses for all the major Microsoft operating systems and applications (excluding server software and development tools), so really I shouldn’t have had a problem activating. I went to the telephone instructions and it produced an activation number for me, and gave me a phone number to call.

I went through the prompts and entered the very very long activation string. Again, with the automated process it wouldn’t let me activate so I had the option to speak to somebody in customer service.

I got straight through to some guy, and I explained to him what had happen. He asked half-a-dozen questions (what sort of machine, my product key) and it seemed that he was going to assume that I was guilty of piracy before giving me the activation code. I mentioned to him that the product key was from an Action Pack subscription, and his tone changed - he apologized for all the questions and after confirming that we hadn’t exceeded the 10 install limit promptly gave me the activation code I required.

It seemed to easy - I don’t think he actually checked if it really was an Action Pack product key, I don’t know if they can even check that, but it seems that despite all the anti-piracy technology Microsoft now have as part of ‘Genuine Advantage’ (advantage to Microsoft) there is a bit of a loophole with phone activation and having a bulk-license. May I suggest that the next time you get stuck with having to re-activate, you try the phone number and tell them that you have Action Pack (or MSDN) - from my experience it will work (other Omnidrivers have previously pulled the same trick).