In Windows XP Home Edition, Professional Edition and Windows Server 2003, all Standard, Enterprise, Web Edition, users may encounter a strange error where Windows system will prompt users to activate Microsoft Windows XP or Microsoft Windows Server 2003 every time users start the computer, even though the system has been successfully activated previously. Worse still, if users answer Yes in order to activate Windows again, system will display message saying that Windows or Server is already activated and then logout users.

This problem occurs because a script or its associated files such as reset5.exe, reset5.dll, reset5.dat, reset5.dt*, reset5.bat, resetserver, resetpath, srvany.exe and etc that interferes with Windows activation is running on the computer. (Note: Reset5 is Terminal Services Reset Utility).

For resolution to fix the non-stop activation loop problem, Microsoft has prepared a Guided Help to remove the script that interferes with Windows activation, and also detailed a step-by-step guide to manually remove the script that interferes with Windows activation from registry and local hard disk drive. To download the Guided Help or view the instructions, visit KB312295.