Machine is a Dell XPS 8100, purchased Sept. of 2010, that came with Windows
7, sans SP1, which was updated when SP1 was issued.

A few months ago, I cloned my still working,original (Seagate 2010) Windows
7 drive to a fresh hard drive. The original drive was starting to go
south, and I figured I'd just switch over to the cloned drive when the
original drive appeared to be on it's last legs.

All went well with the cloning, and the drive showed actived, so I put the
cloned drive back in the machine, but didn't connect it to the motherboard.

Last week, the working hard drive wouldn't boot. I could hear the heads
clicking as the drive spun up, while the cursor in the upper left corner
blinked away. Eventually, white letters on a black screen:

SATA 1 Not Present (Original drive)
SATA 2 Not Present (Clone drive, not connected)

(SATA 3 and 4 are CD/DVD drives)

BIOS utility also shows there is no drive in SATA 1.

All cables are tight, and I moved the original hard drive to SATA 2 just to
test. No luck.

So, I can't boot from the original hard drive.

I connected the cloned drive to SATA 1, and it boots up fine. But after a
few minutes, a Microsoft window pops up saying the OS is not activated.
Odd, because a right click on the desktop's Computer icon>Properties shows
the OS is activated.

https://postimg.cc/zbCqqFxK

The window that shows, "Resolve online now" only takes me to questions and
answers about activation. There's no link to 'resolve'.

I can use Macrium Recovery or Explore Image, or connect the original hard
drive as an external USB drive and get all the data I need, so there' sno
loss except for time.

Any suggestions as to how I can get this cloned drive activated. I suspect
that when I cloned it, and tried it out, and it showed activated, if I had
left it running for a little longer, I would have gotten the same Microsoft
pop up that's it's not genuine.

By the way, I've made no hardware changes since 2010, other than adding
memory, long, long ago.

I'd like to get this running to put in another room, but if not, no big
deal. I have a Windows 10 desktop, and a Windows 11 desktop on the way,
and two Windows 10 laptops. (And two XP machines still running.)

Thanks for reading this far.

On 9/8/2022 10:26 PM, Boris wrote:
> Machine is a Dell XPS 8100, purchased Sept. of 2010, that came with Windows
> 7, sans SP1, which was updated when SP1 was issued.
>
> A few months ago, I cloned my still working,original (Seagate 2010) Windows
> 7 drive to a fresh hard drive. The original drive was starting to go
> south, and I figured I'd just switch over to the cloned drive when the
> original drive appeared to be on it's last legs.
>
> All went well with the cloning, and the drive showed actived, so I put the
> cloned drive back in the machine, but didn't connect it to the motherboard.
>
> Last week, the working hard drive wouldn't boot. I could hear the heads
> clicking as the drive spun up, while the cursor in the upper left corner
> blinked away. Eventually, white letters on a black screen:
>
> SATA 1 Not Present (Original drive)
> SATA 2 Not Present (Clone drive, not connected)
>
> (SATA 3 and 4 are CD/DVD drives)
>
> BIOS utility also shows there is no drive in SATA 1.
>
> All cables are tight, and I moved the original hard drive to SATA 2 just to
> test. No luck.
>
> So, I can't boot from the original hard drive.
>
> I connected the cloned drive to SATA 1, and it boots up fine. But after a
> few minutes, a Microsoft window pops up saying the OS is not activated.
> Odd, because a right click on the desktop's Computer icon>Properties shows
> the OS is activated.
>
> https://postimg.cc/zbCqqFxK
>
> The window that shows, "Resolve online now" only takes me to questions and
> answers about activation. There's no link to 'resolve'.
>
> I can use Macrium Recovery or Explore Image, or connect the original hard
> drive as an external USB drive and get all the data I need, so there' sno
> loss except for time.
>
> Any suggestions as to how I can get this cloned drive activated. I suspect
> that when I cloned it, and tried it out, and it showed activated, if I had
> left it running for a little longer, I would have gotten the same Microsoft
> pop up that's it's not genuine.
>
> By the way, I've made no hardware changes since 2010, other than adding
> memory, long, long ago.
>
> I'd like to get this running to put in another room, but if not, no big
> deal. I have a Windows 10 desktop, and a Windows 11 desktop on the way,
> and two Windows 10 laptops. (And two XP machines still running.)
>
> Thanks for reading this far.
>

Yeah, that's the Windows Genuine Disadvantage software that Windows adds.
It can be picked up as a result of doing Windows Update.

slmgr /dlv # should show activation status. A square with rounded corners
# pops up and shows "License Status: Licensed". The problem is more
# likely to be a poorly written state machine in WGA, unable to deal
# with broken Microsoft-end details.

*******

I can think of a couple shaky issues.

1) Internet Explorer (if used with an ActiveX plugin), cannot
do https worth a damn. Internet Explorer is broken.

2) SHA2 (SHA256) signing change to Windows Updates. If the WGA tries
to update itself, it won't have the tools to deal with the signing,
it will see the Windows Update info as invalid. WGA will likely think
it is being tampered with.

Now, I haven't a clue what all the things are that WGA checks.

However, I do have several Win7 WSUSOffline builds here,
and these allow patching up Windows 7. This takes around
five reboots. The WSUSOffline installs updates in a particular
order. It makes sure that Windows Update stops spinning in
circles, by installing five particular updates. It tries to
get the SHA2 signing patch in early. Then, when it installs
170 updates later, the signing is all working. In other words,
it's an intelligent approach to updating, that places a priority
on fixing the broken stuff first. So the actual patches go in
smoothly.

I think it can do that offline, with the network disconnected.
I don't know how long WGA will tolerate not being able to call
home.

This is not a hack or a crack, it's simply a way of using
downloads coming from the Microsoft server, and applying
them in the *right* order.

The download page here, includes version info.

https://download.wsusoffline.net/

Modifications in version 11.9

- NOTE: This version will be the last one supporting Windows 7 and Server 2008 (R2)

I used version 11.8.0 to make the following pictures of a Win7 capture.

[Picture] If picture frame empty, right click and select "Reload"

https://i.postimg.cc/44vtKkDz/WSUSOffline.gif

The idea is, you use your working technician machine (say a Win10),
and run the collector interface on WSUSOffline. This downloads
the 170 patches (and SP1 if you don't have it, and have selected that too).
The version of Windows is not particularly important to the process,
but the copy of Windows does need sufficiently modern comms so
the collecting process will work.

The curators of WSUSOffline, avoid things like KB971033. They also
would not toss in the "End of Life" warning for Windows 7.

You have to be careful, to not install KB971033 in any case.
It's there now, and I don't know from your description whether
it was in the original disk image or not.

But due to the age of the image, the WGA is probably having
a comms problem, and it hasn't found a "fault" with your install,
it just doesn't like that the interface to Windows Update is
broken at the moment. If the SHA2 patch can be jammed in,
before WGA gets pissed, you may be able to tip it upright.

A WSUSOffline USB key, run on a cleanly restored disk, with
network cable disconnected, could be enough to prevent
WGA from getting tied in knots when it does gain network access.

You don't even need to run the collection process on a USB key
or on a DVD blank. You can collect the materials on a hard
drive folder. You copy the folder across to the USB stick, as
the last step, just so you can "walk" the USB stick to the
broken machine.

While you could run MGADIAG, I don't know if there is anyone left
to read the output. It shows lots of error numbers if run today,
and who knows, maybe the output is no longer considered valid
due to the same sorts of comm problems.

Purely a guess,

Paul

Paul <nospam@needed.invalid> wrote in news:tfeq3b$103rs$1@dont-email.me:

> On 9/8/2022 10:26 PM, Boris wrote:
>> Machine is a Dell XPS 8100, purchased Sept. of 2010, that came with
>> Windows 7, sans SP1, which was updated when SP1 was issued.
>>
>> A few months ago, I cloned my still working,original (Seagate 2010)
>> Windows 7 drive to a fresh hard drive. The original drive was
>> starting to go south, and I figured I'd just switch over to the
>> cloned drive when the original drive appeared to be on it's last
>> legs.
>>
>> All went well with the cloning, and the drive showed actived, so I
>> put the cloned drive back in the machine, but didn't connect it to
>> the motherboard.
>>
>> Last week, the working hard drive wouldn't boot. I could hear the
>> heads clicking as the drive spun up, while the cursor in the upper
>> left corner blinked away. Eventually, white letters on a black
>> screen:
>>
>> SATA 1 Not Present (Original drive)
>> SATA 2 Not Present (Clone drive, not connected)
>>
>> (SATA 3 and 4 are CD/DVD drives)
>>
>> BIOS utility also shows there is no drive in SATA 1.
>>
>> All cables are tight, and I moved the original hard drive to SATA 2
>> just to test. No luck.
>>
>> So, I can't boot from the original hard drive.
>>
>> I connected the cloned drive to SATA 1, and it boots up fine. But
>> after a few minutes, a Microsoft window pops up saying the OS is not
>> activated. Odd, because a right click on the desktop's Computer
>> icon>Properties shows the OS is activated.
>>
>> https://postimg.cc/zbCqqFxK
>>
>> The window that shows, "Resolve online now" only takes me to
>> questions and answers about activation. There's no link to
>> 'resolve'.
>>
>> I can use Macrium Recovery or Explore Image, or connect the original
>> hard drive as an external USB drive and get all the data I need, so
>> there' sno loss except for time.
>>
>> Any suggestions as to how I can get this cloned drive activated. I
>> suspect that when I cloned it, and tried it out, and it showed
>> activated, if I had left it running for a little longer, I would have
>> gotten the same Microsoft pop up that's it's not genuine.
>>
>> By the way, I've made no hardware changes since 2010, other than
>> adding memory, long, long ago.
>>
>> I'd like to get this running to put in another room, but if not, no
>> big deal. I have a Windows 10 desktop, and a Windows 11 desktop on
>> the way, and two Windows 10 laptops. (And two XP machines still
>> running.)
>>
>> Thanks for reading this far.
>>
>
> Yeah, that's the Windows Genuine Disadvantage software that Windows
> adds. It can be picked up as a result of doing Windows Update.
>
> slmgr /dlv # should show activation status. A square with rounded
> corners
> # pops up and shows "License Status: Licensed". The
> problem is more # likely to be a poorly written state
> machine in WGA, unable to deal # with broken
> Microsoft-end details.
>
> *******
>
> I can think of a couple shaky issues.
>
> 1) Internet Explorer (if used with an ActiveX plugin), cannot
> do https worth a damn. Internet Explorer is broken.
>
> 2) SHA2 (SHA256) signing change to Windows Updates. If the WGA tries
> to update itself, it won't have the tools to deal with the
> signing, it will see the Windows Update info as invalid. WGA will
> likely think it is being tampered with.
>
> Now, I haven't a clue what all the things are that WGA checks.
>
> However, I do have several Win7 WSUSOffline builds here,
> and these allow patching up Windows 7. This takes around
> five reboots. The WSUSOffline installs updates in a particular
> order. It makes sure that Windows Update stops spinning in
> circles, by installing five particular updates. It tries to
> get the SHA2 signing patch in early. Then, when it installs
> 170 updates later, the signing is all working. In other words,
> it's an intelligent approach to updating, that places a priority
> on fixing the broken stuff first. So the actual patches go in
> smoothly.
>
> I think it can do that offline, with the network disconnected.
> I don't know how long WGA will tolerate not being able to call
> home.
>
> This is not a hack or a crack, it's simply a way of using
> downloads coming from the Microsoft server, and applying
> them in the *right* order.
>
> The download page here, includes version info.
>
> https://download.wsusoffline.net/
>
> Modifications in version 11.9
>
> - NOTE: This version will be the last one supporting Windows 7
> and Server 2008 (R2)
>
> I used version 11.8.0 to make the following pictures of a Win7
> capture.
>
> [Picture] If picture frame empty, right click and select "Reload"
>
> https://i.postimg.cc/44vtKkDz/WSUSOffline.gif
>
> The idea is, you use your working technician machine (say a Win10),
> and run the collector interface on WSUSOffline. This downloads
> the 170 patches (and SP1 if you don't have it, and have selected that
> too). The version of Windows is not particularly important to the
> process, but the copy of Windows does need sufficiently modern comms
> so the collecting process will work.
>
> The curators of WSUSOffline, avoid things like KB971033. They also
> would not toss in the "End of Life" warning for Windows 7.
>
> You have to be careful, to not install KB971033 in any case.
> It's there now, and I don't know from your description whether
> it was in the original disk image or not.
>
> But due to the age of the image, the WGA is probably having
> a comms problem, and it hasn't found a "fault" with your install,
> it just doesn't like that the interface to Windows Update is
> broken at the moment. If the SHA2 patch can be jammed in,
> before WGA gets pissed, you may be able to tip it upright.
>
> A WSUSOffline USB key, run on a cleanly restored disk, with
> network cable disconnected, could be enough to prevent
> WGA from getting tied in knots when it does gain network access.
>
> You don't even need to run the collection process on a USB key
> or on a DVD blank. You can collect the materials on a hard
> drive folder. You copy the folder across to the USB stick, as
> the last step, just so you can "walk" the USB stick to the
> broken machine.
>
> While you could run MGADIAG, I don't know if there is anyone left
> to read the output. It shows lots of error numbers if run today,
> and who knows, maybe the output is no longer considered valid
> due to the same sorts of comm problems.
>
> Purely a guess,
>
> Paul
>

Thanks for the reply.

I was able to follow the directions to download the UpdateGenerator and
then the UpdateInstaller on a Win10 machine. I put it on a USB stick and
took to the Win7 machine. I clicked it off, ethernet unattached, and the
first thing it wanted to do was to install IE 11, which was not installed
on the drive. I could not get IE 11 installed way back when, buit IE10
was installed. And eventhough the script said that IE11 was successfully
installed, it was not. I rebooted (cold restart) three times, whenever
it told me to do so, and on the third reboot, it wanted to install IE 11
again. I have some ideas as to what is going on, but I don't care to
continue with the WSUSOnline thing. Doesn't seem to be working, but like
you said, "Purely a guess."

Oh, I did find a link for Dell's MGADIAG (this is a Dell XPS), but all
the link gave me was a 404.

I may try reinstalling Win7 (sans SP1 from OEM cd, and later SP1 via
updates), and see if I can get it to work. The problem was that Win7
without SP1, my OEM cd, does not have the drivers needed to install
itself to newer hard drives. I have to use an older SATA hard drive that
doesn't need the driver missing on the OEM Win7 sans SP1. I was
successful once (you helped), so I'll try again. If I fail, no biggee.