Wasted another hour trying to get Windows XP to work again (while avoiding totally shady stuff). Not much success.

Windows XP has scarred me for life. 😂 I bought this thing, cost me 140 bucks, but I can’t use it anymore because Microsoft says so. Screw that.

I won’t buy commercial software anymore and haven’t done so in a long time. You want an online activation or, better yet, some sort of subscription? Screw that.

Up until the end of the 1990ies and very early 2000s, it was okay to buy commercial software. Things like StarOffice 3.1 still work just fine today, because you can just install it, done.

Free/libre software is the way to go.

(To be fair, I could have seen it coming back then. It was well known that you have to activate Windows XP. I still “bought” it. Lesson learned: It was a rental, for a limit period of time.)

For now, I removed the BIOS battery from the PC in question. 😂 I just want to play some older games, that’s it. Let’s see how long it’ll work that way.

@movq@www.uninformativ.de

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@movq@www.uninformativ.de FCK GW-RHQQ2-YXRKT-8746W-28798.

???

Windows XP Pro 32bits volume license media: DKPRM-Q68HX-FRKCJ-MT88X-7QKBB

@tkanos@twtxt.net @bender@twtxt.net Thanks, but the thing is that Microsoft has blocklisted these well-known keys in their Service Pack installers. So, yeah, it works, but only for a basic installation of XP – and some games demand a Service Pack being present. 🫤

I don’t remember having seen bender’s key, though. Maybe that one works. I might give it a try some day, when my motivation is back up. 😂

@movq@www.uninformativ.de which games ?

@tkanos@twtxt.net You’re right, it appears to be quite rare. 🤔 I checked a couple of my boxes and only Supreme Commander and FEAR want to see a service pack. I didn’t try installing them, yet.