Frustrated with a Virtual Machine running XP Pro

[RogerMaris]

I setup a Virtual Machine running Windows XP Pro. I purchased both Virtual Box and Windows XP Pro. At first I couldn't access the internet then I downloaded Google Chrome, and I thought all was solved. However, even though I can surf the net, XP claims I have no internet connection and I only have 25 days to activate Windows XP. I already did the latter by phone - and I have the installation ID, the product key and the confirmation ID!!! The funny thing is I just want to run some old software my late Uncle and I had a blast with. Outside of activation I have NO need for the internet. My actual machine OS is Windows 10 Professional.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

RogerMaris

[socratis]

I purchased both Virtual Box and Windows XP Pro

I can understand buying WinXP (from where, they're not on sale, except eBay), but if you paid any money for VirtualBox, you've been scammed. VirtualBox is free, both in source and in price.

XP claims I have no internet connection and I only have 25 days to activate Windows XP

Yes, it's rather difficult to get WinXP to believe that it has internet access in 2001. And it would be even more difficult to find a Microsoft server to activate it, since WinXP ended its life on 2014-04-08, about 5 years ago.

I already did the latter by phone - and I have the installation ID, the product key and the confirmation ID!!!

Great, I was about to suggest that the only way to get this going is by phone.

I can surf the net

I have NO need for the internet

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Any help with what exactly?

[mpack]

This web page looks interesting:
https://msfn.org/board/topic/177534-how ... e-in-2018/

You say that you purchased VirtualBox (obviously not true) and XP Pro. However the latter is not a single product, it was available in a variety of forms, not all of which can be activated. Microsoft is the best source for Microsoft product activation rules, but in summary: branded OEM installs may not activate at all. Retail XP editions always require activation, and generic (non branded) OEM editions sometimes didn't, especially late edition (i.e. post the retail era).

IMHO if phone activation didn't work then either you are doing it wrong, you are undoing the activation using immutable drives or reverting a snapshot or somesuch, or you have a branded OEM license that will not activate on wrong brand hardware (your VM does not have an HP or Dell motherboard).

[RogerMaris]

I did purchase VirtualBox from Ebay, as I did Windows XP Professional. I have absolutely no reason to make anything up. Obviously, I was scammed in relation to the former, and maybe even the latter. I bought XP Pro and Virtual Box only because I wanted to run some old programs that required a 32 bit OS system to even install them.

I activated Windows XP by telephone with the help of an Microsoft Representative. Regardless, shortly after I start the XP virtual machine it tells me I have so many days to activate Windows and when I select the activation icon it says that I have no internet connection. However, I can surf the net on my virtual machine using Google Chrome!

Now, something was mentioned that I found interesting. My desktop system is an HP and the copy of Windows XP I received has a Dell sleeve with the activation key. The Microsoft Rep had no issues when he went to activate it, and he gave me the verification ID numbers.

My problem is that Microsoft can't seem to recognize and use the internet to activate the XP operating system. Would it have to do with my desktop unit being a HP? Well, at least I hope that I explained the issue a little more clearly.

[mpack]

My apologies, I didn't believe anyone could be brazen enough to sell open source software on eBay, but I just did a search on the UK site and did indeed find someone selling VirtualBox, even claiming to be a licensed retailer!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/VirtualBox-R ... SwR~pc1Bqq

The "licensed retailer" claim is pretty dumb: Oracle makes whatever money from VirtualBox by selling expensive support contracts to businesses, not ... I don't even know what to call this. I'm afraid that this hasn't bought you anything, not even consumer rights, since Oracle didn't sell you anything.

p.s. If you scroll all the way down their listing you see this lovely quote :-

Please Note: We have been authorized under the developer’s GPL license agreement to provide a service to buyers by offering this software in a CD, DVD or USB format as defined in this listing. This is great news for individuals, companies and organizations who prefer the convenience and portability of software on a CD/DVD/USB, that may not have an internet connection to download the software, prefer the install file to be on a CD/DVD/USB for easy distribution to other computers, and many other reasons.

In other words "licensed retailer" means licensed under the GPL. LMAO!! What a slimeball.

This might have made sense if VirtualBox was available in source form only, didn't have an installer, and required expertise to install. It makes absolutely no sense to download the standard installer executable, write this to a data DVD and charge money for it. And £10 (11EUR, $12) is not cheap either: you can buy actual useful software for less than that (not saying VirtualBox isn't useful, just that it isn't sold as such).

[socratis]

@RogerMaris
The puzzling part is that you activated (or tried to) via phone, so I don't understand why XP needs to activate via the internet as well. Are you sure you're not missing something? I've done the same thing, but it was too many years ago.

I would suggest to retry the Activation process again, I'm sure that there's a "Activation by phone" option, where you need to plug in the activation codes given to you by Microsoft. And there's got to be an activation-by-phone option, for cases where the WinXP machine didn't have any internet access.

@mpack
But... but... but... at 9.99 £ it's practically a ... steal!