Desktop MS Reader Activation Components

[Chris Spera]

I am out of Activations. I have asked for a quota increase, but have yet to hear anything back yet...

Does anyone know what files are downloaded to desktop reader to activate the client? I am having an IE problem on an activated machine and can copy over the files if I know which ones to grab. I have an e-book at fictionwise that I bought and need to download...

Thanks!

[ChristopherTD]

I must have been one of the first people to ever activate the desktop Reader and have managed also to run out of quotas.

While I wait for Microsoft to grant me another one (we live in hope), did you make any progress with this?

I have just purchased a new laptop and I can't activate Reader on it...

[Chris Spera]

Yes, I did. When I ask for new activations, they usually send an e-mail telling me yea or nay to my request. The added to my quota. I was able to activate one of my new desktop PC's; but they never sent any communication telling me that I could activate the new PC.

You should be able to activate a new device every 6 months or so, regardless of quota status. This is what MS told me about 8 months ago when I ran into a similar problem.

[ChristopherTD]

I think the free activation every 6 months happens silently and automatically. It is only when you need an additional one within six months from that one that you get denied.

It isn't the end of the world, as I can still download books to read on my work PC and transfer them to the iPaq.

Still very frustrating (the whole process of rebuilding a PC is a nightmare)

[Nurhisham Hussein]

I've no idea whether this will work or not but if you look through the registry (this is on win xp sp1), you should find the location of the activation files at:

HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-579087225-1124479120-1854952973-3282\Software\Microsoft\DRM
"SecRepLocation"="C:\\Program Files\\COMMON~1\\MICROS~1\\DRM\\a1b6e31a.dll"
"EncryptedCertLocation"="C:\\Program Files\\COMMON~1\\MICROS~1\\DRM\\a1b6e31a.dat"
"CertLocation"="C:\\Program Files\\COMMON~1\\MICROS~1\\DRM\\a1b6e31a.xml"
"ActivationID"="BJ/xHg6mVgO94cSe+zWSWQ=="
"Version"="2.0.1.3184"

and

HKEY_USERS\S-1-5-21-579087225-1124479120-1854952973-3282\Software\Microsoft\DRM\SecRepLocation
@="C:\\Program Files\\COMMON~1\\MICROS~1\\DRM\\a1b6e31a.dll"

The specific files might not be the same for you, and i think the S-1-5... stuff is a user reference. So the specific files (for my office computer at least) are:

a1b6e31a.dat
a1b6e31a.xml
a1b6e31a.dll

When i get home tonight, i'll check this against my home computer and see if it's the same. I've never had an opportunity to check whether adding the registry entries or the files would preserve your activation, so i'd love to know if you can manage it.

[ChristopherTD]

I have just got back from a weeks holiday and tried to activate again, this time successfully. MS never got back to me, but they must have added an extra device to my account quota and it all works now!

[Kurt Hunciker]

I had the same experience.

After I reached my quota and requesting additional activations, I was unable to activate and heard nothing from Microsoft for several weeks. I decided to give it a go one last time, and to my surprise, my Axim X50v activated.

Clearly, Microsoft has priorities that go beyond granting additional activation. If you have requested additional activations, be patient -- it can take a substantial amount of time.

[ChristopherTD]

Maybe they just grant the activation silently and don't tell you.

If a device can be activated, then it is common politeness to allow you to deactivate it. This doesn't help when a device is lost or dies, but in the case of migrating to a new device then vendors should provide a means of coping with this.

In the course of the same migration to a new laptop I had to activate/authorise my Audible books. It told me I couldn't so I went back to the old machine and de-authorised it. Then I was able to authorise the new one. It was even simpler to transfer iTunes, I simply copied the entire library (iTunes.itl, iTunes.xml and all music files) then entered my appleid and password.

I had also purchased some games from TryGames and had to request a new certificate for the new machine but this was painless, simple and worked instantly.

eReader's scheme is still easiest to manage because it is not dependent on an Internet connection or the company still being in existence.