help - stuck in activation loop in xp, but already activated

Hi I'm running XP in a virtualized environment (fusion for mac)

Its been working fine , activated succesfully and running smoothly for many
months until last night it did an automatic security update, now after it
rebooted, it says i must activate windows before i log on. if i click YES, it
says windows already activated, click OK but it then brings me back to the
first message saying I need to activate.

If I click no, it just brings me back to the same message. If I start in
safe mode, it says I need to activate but cannot in safe mode, click ok, but
brings me back to same message.

Basically I'm stuck in a loop, and i can't get into windows. this all
happens before i can access anything. PLEASE someone help!!
Thanks
Mike

"mikeyp" <mikeyp@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:A3DA7F1F-09C1-4F9C-846B-250A18D0C11A@microsoft.com...
> Hi I'm running XP in a virtualized environment (fusion for mac)
>
> Its been working fine , activated succesfully and running smoothly for
> many
> months until last night it did an automatic security update, now after it
> rebooted, it says i must activate windows before i log on. if i click YES,
> it
> says windows already activated, click OK but it then brings me back to the
> first message saying I need to activate.
>
> If I click no, it just brings me back to the same message. If I start in
> safe mode, it says I need to activate but cannot in safe mode, click ok,
> but
> brings me back to same message.
>
> Basically I'm stuck in a loop, and i can't get into windows. this all
> happens before i can access anything. PLEASE someone help!!
> Thanks
> Mike

I would ring the nearest Microsoft office. This will be a free call.