Cannot get XP Activation or msconfig to appear

[MSgherzi]

I copied my XP CD with ImgBurn and I formatted a client's PC. It had issues finding "tourW.exe" so I skipped it. Well, Windows activation appears in the system tray saying I have 30 days to activate and to click on the balloon, but when I do it disappears and nothing shows up. I tried running "oobe/msoobe /a" in the Run dialog but it says it doesn't exist. Well I used my actual genuine OEM CD from Microsoft to repair the installation and I get the same problem and now "msconfig" gives me the same error saying that it cannot find it. CMD and RegEdit and what-not work but this is really frustrating. Should I just re-format the PC with the genuine CD or what? I tried installing Service Pack 2 but it didn't solve anything.

Thanks in advance

PS: This is a custom built machine by the looks of it and this is Windows XP Professional.

 

[Crgky127]

Just reinstall. Did you use ImgBurn at max speed?

 

[frostbyte5014]

Just a hunch but try a good hardware scan first.

 

[MSgherzi]

Just reinstall. Did you use ImgBurn at max speed?

Yes. How did you know?

I repaired it with a genuine disk. Wouldn't that have fixed the problem if the issues are with damaged or missing Windows files that are required for those services to operate properly?

 

[MSgherzi]

I just formatted with the genuine XP disk and again I'm having the same exact issues. No activation will show when I click it, and msconfig is still missing. What the heck is the problem here?

One thing to note, when installing Windows I get prompted to put in the Service Pack 2 CD. I never got a SP2 CD when I bought this XP disk off Amazon. I actually have a SP2 CD from Microsoft I got for free (when they were giving out free disks) some years ago and I put that in but nothing, it won't continue. It apparently is looking for an exe, I think "iexplore.exe" which is normally IE so I'm not sure why it would need SP2 to install that. I also noticed that after formatting IE is missing and is never installed. Is there some place that I could get a SP2 CD like that that would include the "iexplore.exe" file so I can correctly install that portion? I'm sure that's probably the issue here.

I've tried all 3 disks and it doesn't find the .exe it's looking for. The 3rd disk gives me some updates but even trying to extract that .exe leaves me with an error when in Windows.

 

[frostbyte5014]

I have had this problem twice before. Once was bad memory and the other was bad hard drive.

 

[thor999]

Doesn't install IE7? What's wrong with that?

 

[MSgherzi]

Haha, yeah.

I figured out the problem. Googled it and found my answer here:

http://www.avforums.com/forums/windows-media-center-edition-mce/425794-wmc-wont-install-properly-looking-service-pack-2-cd.html

Apparently the disk they're asking for is CD 1. They just labeled it in a really bad way to make you think it's a SP2 disk.

 

[rbwarp13]

Windows XP is not the same as Windows Media Center 2005

Did you burn Windows XP Pro or Windows Media Center 2005??

 

[MSgherzi]

Windows XP is not the same as Windows Media Center 2005

Did you burn Windows XP Pro or Windows Media Center 2005??

I realize that. It's weird because it says "Windows XP Professional" but sometimes it'll say "Media Center 2005" but the look and feel of it is Media Center. Doesn't matter as all is well now and that's all I care about.