Can't authenticate, can't get at files, please HELP!

[wilbefast]

Sorry for the panic but I'm panicking here - I stand to lose a lot of work

I got XP with my Dell laptop, even though I use Ubuntu, and a couple of weeks ago I installed it through VirtualBox so I could update a few old Gamemaker games. Internet worked fine when I started but I turned it off (in VirtualBox) because I don't have any virus protection. My 14 days went by with me (stupidly) ignoring the activation thing, and now it's not letting me in at all until I do.
Trouble is having turned off the internet connection earlier, I can't get it to turn back on! All I did was to uncheck the "Enable Network Adapter" box, but rechecking it doesn't work!



I get this screen - then it tells me it's checking the network connectivity, then it says "was unable to establish connection".



Doing it by phone doesn't work any better because it expects me to have an identification number when I call, but doesn't give me one, because the activation code Dell gave me gets rejected (this makes me very angry). And I tried going to the specified internet help link (through the host machine) but it's dead. I can't fiddle with configuration or anything because it won't let me in - I can't get past the screen at the start!

Is there any possible way I can:

A - Reactivate the internet on the Windows Virtual Machine, or
B - Get at my files some other way?

I'd talk to Microsoft or Dell, but I doubt they're going to be that understanding of the whole "Virtual Machine" thing


Please help!

William


PS - you're probably thinking "this guy pirated Windows and now he's paying the price." The sad thing is that I actually do have a legal copy (a rather annoying French copy, because I bought it in France), but for one reason or another I'm unable to activate it through VirtualBox.

[vbox4me2]

Attach the VDI as a second disk to a linux or other windows VM and copy your files.

[wilbefast]

I like this idea, but how would I go about doing that - having created the new virtual machine I mean.

edit: managed to get in using Safe Mode, but can't use the shared folder or access the internet

William

[vbox4me2]

Create a ubuntu VM, then attach this xp vdi as second disk, copy files, done.

[wilbefast]

What I meant was how do I do the attaching - I created another XP VM - my bad Should I create a Ubuntu one or can I attach the old VM to the new one?

[MarkCranness]

Select the 'Attached to:' dropdown and select 'NAT' will give the VM internet access.
BUT the activation will likely fail anyway, because you are (I think) attempting to install Dell OEM XP on a non-Dell machine (the VM is not Dell, even though it is running on a Dell host).

You might try the instructions here:
http://forums.virtualbox.org/viewtopic. ... 697#p37931
... to set the VM DMI information to be the same as your Dell laptop host, which might help the activation or might not.

Take a snapshot and do the DMI above first before allowing the VM online to activate.

[wilbefast]

the activation will likely fail anyway, because you are (I think) attempting to install Dell OEM XP on a non-Dell machine (the VM is not Dell, even though it is running on a Dell host).

Damn - yeah, I checked the activation code with Dell and it's the correct one for XP. That's really annoying: either I reinstall the VM every 30 days or I find some way of hacking around with it (either through your method or some sort of crack). Why can't activation codes work for everything? A legal distinction exists between software and hardware (did you know that it's *illegal* for them to force you to buy an OS when you buy a computer?). And I can't use the English version of XP either, because I bought it in France...

Sometimes there seems to be a chasm between what is "legal" and what is "just"

Thanks for all the help though guys - I really appreciate it! I've linked the two VMs and moved the files to the new one, so at least they're safe (for the next 30 days)