Hold off on activating Windows or patching for a few days

If you haven't already heard, WGA is having problems

But it's for your own good, honest

 

They probably tried a new technique that created many false positives. I know I been having a problem with my Office Updates lately.

 

+1 Rep Point to the OP...Microsoft indeed is having some WGA problems and so users should not do anything which requires validation of any sort for at least the next 3-4 days. I just found this out, after downloading a hotfix from Microsoft. Thank goodness nothing happened (No WGA annoyance).

 

I've downloaded a couple of updates yesterday or the day before, worked w/o a hitch..

 

I saw that on SlashDot via RSS.

Probably should be sticky or front page for awhile?

 

Lost $4K in music I now have to try and recover from this ****.....

 

According to Engadget, Microsoft has " fixed the problem." Enjoy Vista, everyone.

Matt

 

That's not a fix, that's a workaround. Using the standard method will still fail for many people, from my understanding. Still a good link to have though, thanks!

 

Yeah, that's why I put it in quotes.

No problem, though.

Matt

 

One of our computers is now showing this WGA notice but nothing was done which required validation of any sort. However this is not the same WGA notice I was getting from about August 2006 until a few days ago.

This one, just showed up about an hour ago, says we have 3 days to activate Windows. When clicking for details, it takes me to the same $149 WGA Kit page.

Just for clarification, this is not my desktop, but another desktop in our home, and its showing a notice to activate Windows XP in 3 days or else...I dont know what happens if we dont take action. I thought you can legally use a non-activated copy for 30 days.

What should I do?

 

Call Microsoft and tell them to sort out their servers if they insist on your computer requiring them to be online.

Seems to me they're not providing the service you pay them for.

 

Its fixed now right?

 

Haven't tried, but last I heard was that they expected to have a fix in place for tuesday.

 

Well yes but the notification is 3 days only. 3 days from now is Wednesday. If they dont get it fixed by Tuesday, what happens when the 3 days are up?

 

Installed Vista on my desktop yesterday (Used a Dell Vista OEM) and it kept getting rejected. Did call MS (India) and was manually activated.

 

Wow... I guess you were glad they fixed the problem early then.

 

If you get these WGA errors, the first step is DON'T REBOOT. Don't try to update anything (I'm still getting errors even on a valid XP copy), but if you DID try to update and failed the WGA check, don't reboot, as it will disable your functionality, and probably put you in the 3-day period mentioned above. Keep the computer running and test WGA periodically if you've been bitten.

vaio2k7, I'd highly suggest calling Microsoft and asking them what they're going to do about your system.

 

Yet another reason why WGA shouldn't even be legal...

 

Naah. Yet another reason to just not use Windows. It's perfectly legal, it's just your choice to let them control your computer, or take control back for yourself.

 

Thanks, that makes sense too. I was actually cleaning a lot of stuff off the computer, disk cleaning, compressing files to save space, removing unused applications, and then I restarted the computer for all the new settings to take effect and the 3 day notification thing showed up. This was Sunday so Wednesday is the 3rd day. I think Microsoft said that the WGA issue should be fixed today. I will call in any case. Thanks again.

 

I was unaware of this problem when I received my laptop yesterday, but I updated Vista last night and had no problems with WGA authentication, so hopefully it's fixed.

 

Looks like Microsoft held their word when they said they would have it fixed by Tuesday. As soon as I signed into our infected computer this morning, a prompt asking to validate Windows appeared. I clicked it and within seconds it was validated. Nothing lost, no compromise in anything.

 

Could this problem be related to the problem I had with Office 2007 the other day when it stopped working (i.e. functionality lost) - I had to uninstall it and replace it with my Office 2003

 

yes, office was also affected

 

I installed 2 driver updates last night and 5 Vista updates this morning and all is OK (for now).

 

Were you able to install the update from this page?

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/931573

 

Yes, long ago. See the attached screen print.