I Have to Phone-In to MS to reactivate my WinXP under Parallels... When you change too many setting for Parallels Guest OS - like Network MAC address... you will have to Activate Windows again due to too many changes happening... I know this lame... as even Network cards in Real PC's force this re-activation. Any way Attached is a Pic of the Windows Activation Screen... All the Pics will not load up in the Activation Program and the problem is very evident! - I cannot activate if I cannot read the Numbers!!! (non-affected Numbers have been manually scrubbed out) Help! BTW: IE works fine and images all load - so net access is OK.
Wel, regretfully, those of us who have read this haven't run into the same problem. Wish I could help.
I think that if it were me, I'd call Microsoft, get a human, and complain about being unable to read the numbers. They might have a solution for you. Frankly, I'm amazed the world puts up with this activation nonsense. Corporate versions don't need activation, and I'm not using XP (for many reasons, but that's one of them -- I really don't like being required to prove I'm not a criminal before I can use something I've bought.)
Just did a test with another HD Image under Parallels 1848 = Activated Clean WinXP, No Antivirus I Ran the Windows Activation Program (Start > All Programs > Accessories > System Tools > Activate Windows) And guess what... No images either! Just RED X BOX's! Bah! Can anyone else confirm that they get this problem?
