The Genuine Article

How to Convince Windows that It's Street Legal

One of the disconcerting things about various versions of Windows, including Server 2008, is that it occasionally (and seemingly randomly) decides that “This version of Windows is not genuine,” and makes that embarrassing statement right on the lower-right corner of your desktop.

Now this is a serious thing, not only because it makes you look like a pirate when in truth you are good and virtuous, but it limits your ability to download cool stuff like Defender updates and Calculator Plus. (I love Calculator Plus. If you don’t have it, go get it. As soon as you’ve convinced Windows that it’s genuine, that is.)

You can usually fix this by visiting www.microsoft.com/genuine and clicking the “Validate Windows” button. An ActiveX control download will be required. (There’s also a “Validate Office” button if Office gets a similar identity crisis.) It seems to take a reboot or two for the annoying desktop message to get corrected.

If that doesn’t fix things up, visit http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=56062 and run the tool MGADIAG.EXE. It will give you more details about your Windows license, at which point you probably have enough information to figure out what’s wrong – or, at least, open up a ticket with the Microsoft help desk. (Activation questions are free.) Good luck!

• Microsoft
• activation 2.0
• Server 2008
• Vista
• WGA
• Windows Genuine Advantage