Using Bootcamp install - always have to reactivate?

I'm using my Bootcamp install of WinXP with Parallels 3.0. Even though I have activated Xp, every time I boot into it I get the message it's not activated because the computer specs changed. So I activate it while in Parallels and then if I boot normally to Bootcamp I have to activate again. Why is this?

 

I too, am having this issue.

I would like to use my boot camp partition while in OS X to access a couple of programs... while I need to keep the Boot Camp option for my games that are not yet supported in Parallels.

When I log into the boot camp partition via parallels, it is forcing a reactivation... and then again when I boot back into boot camp.

any thoughts?

 

Set your ethernet MAC address (en0) to emulate your systems try MAC address.

Ony problem there, is so far.. at least for me, when I do that.. it utterly b0rks net access in everything else...

gosh darn intertubes

 

Just to expand on maztec's response this question seems to come up a lot for Boot Camp users...

1st determine your apple's en0 mac address. Two ways to do this.

1) Open a console window and type "ifconfig en0" you will see something in the output that looks like; ether 00:16:cb:c9:da:54 (my example) or.....

2) You can open your "System Preferences" and select the "Network" icon. From there in the "show" drop down window select "Built-in Ethernet", click the "Ethernet" menu tab and you should see something like; Ethernet ID: 00:16:cb:c9:da:54

Armed with this info fire-up Parallels and after selecting your VM image (do not start it) go to the top Parallels menu bar and under "Edit" select "Virtual Machine". You should be looking at the "Configuation Editor" for your VM now. Select "Network Adapter 1" and then click on the "Advanced" tab top right. In the "MAC address" field replace the virtual mac address of the Realtek 8029(AS) with the real hardware mac address of your en0. i.e. 0016cbc9da54 omitting the colons.

That should do it.

Hope this helps!

Tim
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nope... tried that and it still gives me the same message.

what I did notice, is that I typed in:

001b6391ab80

and when I saved it and went back in to check it, it read:

001B6391AB80

I reentered, thinking I had left the caps lock on, but no avail. Parallels keeps changing it to upper case. Could this be the problem?

I'm still getting that there has been a major change in my settings, and I need to reregister windows.

 

That is correct. I checked my settings and it capitalized mine too.

odd this has worked for me without fail for quite some time and for many others I have shared it with.

What system are you using? Also can you open a console window in OS X and type: ifconfig -a and include it with your response?

Tim
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Tim,

that's the output from ifconfig -a, I hope that's right... I'm VERY new at this Mac thing... so I don't know if I ran it correctly...

Also, I am running OS X 10.4.9,
MacBook Pro
2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo
2 GB 667 MNz DDR2 SDRAM
Parallels 3.0
Windows XP, SP2

I've tried using both the mac address from the mac (001b6391ab80) AND the mac address from the boot camp installation (001b63442996), and in both cases, I get the same error when I boot into parallels, but not when I open into the bootcamp partition.

It's just that this feature would be SO very nice, but I don't want to call MS everytime I choose to boot into the other set up to get a new activation code...

 

Your setup matches mine pretty closely.

Only other thing I can think to check would be to verify the MAC address change was recorded and carried over correctly from within XP when you fire it up;

When you bring up your XP Parallels bootcamp VM, open a command window

(i.e. click start ; click run ; enter "cmd" in the open: window, and hit enter)

type "ipconfig /all"

(typing "exit" will close the window)

Verify that the parallels adapter has your hardware MAC address and is correct;

For your instance you should see...

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection #:
Description . . . . . . . .: Parallels Network Adapter
Physical Address . . . .: 00:1B:63:91:AB:80
Dhcp Enabled . . . . . .: Yes

Tim
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just checked the mac address in the boot camp partition opened via parallels... and it matches what I entered.

Still giving me the same message, but only when I open the bootcamp partition in parallels. If I open it in bootcamp, it works just fine. Should I call parallels support at this point? I have a feeling this shouldn't be happening...

 

Not sure how responsive Parallels support would be to this but I guess you never know if you don't ask.. ;-)

What do you have your memory size set to in the BC VM? Mine is 1024mb

I am stumped as to what may differ between your setup and mine as I did not change anything else in my config to get this to work but it seems windows is still detecting something different enough between your VM and native BC to trigger.

I shared this with another user on the below thread just recently and they reported success. Might be worth asking if they reactivated one last time after making the MAC change. (I personally do not recall having to do so but I did this pre Parallels 2.5 quite some time back) see thread - http://forums.parallels.com/thread13394.html

I found this thread interesting too. No mention of changing the MAC address and was able to get this functionality working... just an FYI.. http://forums.parallels.com/thread13044.html

Below is something I found on VMware's forum site which would apply to Parallels too if accurate.

> Known Issues
> Product Activation
> The Microsoft Windows XP product activation feature creates a numerical key based on
> the virtual hardware in the virtual machine where it is installed. Changes in the
> configuration of the virtual machine might require you to reactivate the operating system.
> There are some steps you can take to minimize the number of significant changes.

> Set the final memory size for your virtual machine before you activate Windows XP.
> When you cross certain thresholds—approximately 32MB, 64MB, 128MB, 256MB, 512MB > and 1GB—the product activation feature sees the changes as significant.

> Note The size reported to the Windows product activation feature is slightly less than the > actual amount configured for the virtual machine. For example, 128MB is interpreted as > falling in the 64MB–127MB range.

> Install VMware Tools before you activate Windows XP. When the SVGA driver in the
> VMware Tools package is installed, it activates features in the virtual graphics adapter
> that make it appear to Windows XP as a new graphics adapter.

> If you want to experiment with any other aspects of the virtual machine configuration, do > so before activating Windows XP. Keep in mind that you have 30 days for
> experimentation before you have to activate the operating system.
> For more details on Windows XP product activation, see the Microsoft Web site.


Tim
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My Bootcamp install is activated when I run it under Bootcamp... When I run it under Parallels, it tells me I need to activate...

Any ideas?

 

Hi cdaiger,

What model and memory is you Mac? Is this for XP? Also have you tried item #4 in this thread? Also how much memory are you giving your boot camp VM?

Tim
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Tim:

MacBook (CoreDuo) 2GB... XP on the BootCamp partition. I am giving the VM 1024MB RAM.

Thanks!

 

that's the same as mine...

 

If you think it would help I can send you a series of snapshots that shows my full VM config (14 windowed screen shots in all) for you to compare against. Just shoot me a private message with an email I can send to.

As an additional FYI, I was messing around with boot camp under VMware fusion and it changed my config enough that I had to reactivate again. I first reactivated under my Parallels BC VM and then had to reactivate again when I started BC in native mode. Needless to say I am not starting fusion again for BC. I can now switch between my two Parallels instances again without any reactivation messages. Point being that I did have to reactivate on both sides (vm and native).

I also posted a full FAQ from MS that discusses everything that XP checks for and how the whole reactivation thing is weighted.

http://forums.parallels.com/thread13696.html

What are the 10 hardware characteristics used to determine the hardware hash?

The 10 hardware characteristics used to determine the hardware hash are: Display Adapter, SCSI Adapter, IDE Adapter, Network Adapter MAC Address, RAM Amount Range (i.e. 0-64mb, 64-128mb, etc), Processor Type, Processor Serial Number, Hard Drive Device, Hard Drive Volume Serial Number, CD-ROM/CD-RW/DVD-ROM.


Cheers and I hope this helps!

Tim
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