Play .MKV’s in Windows Media Center (WMC)

For a long time I had resisted converting my DVD and Blu-Ray disks into any other format because I didn’t want to lose any quality.  I had lived by this rule for a long time, and thankfully companies like QNAP and Thecus came to my storage rescue.  However, the day has come where the cost of storing all the extra garbage that comes along with these movies has opened my eyes to benefits conversions.  With that, I have began converting my movie collection to a format that allows me to lose all the excess fat, but keep my movie loss-less. Read More…

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I don't understand why things just can't seem to work seamlessly.  Especially when you are talking about Microsoft Products.  You would think that one Microsoft product would work without issue with another, and you would think that you are pretty much guaranteed that this would be the case when the Microsoft Product in question is installed through Windows Update.  Enough of the babbling and on to the point... When installing updates for Windows Server 2003, I was pimp slapped with another error "The Requested Lookup Key Was Not Found In Any Active Activation Context". 

However, this time the culprit is a bit easier to determine.  The error started appearing after Windows Update and only occured when trying to use anything that referenced the Windows Browser.  I always held off on doing browser updates on my servers, but I decided to let Windows update install IE8 this time around and this is what I get for it.

The error is the result of a borked IE8  or IE7 install and out of all the suggestions I found to fix it, only one worked.  The fix you ask? Uninstall it.  These apply to Server 2003 and Windows XP

Step 1: Uninstall Internet Explorer 7/8

  1. Click Start, and then click Run.
  2. In the Open box, type appwiz.cpl, and then click OK. It may take several seconds for your computer to compile a list of programs.
  3. Scroll down through the list and click Windows Internet Explorer X, and then click Remove.

Step 2: Verify that Internet Explorer 6 is restored

To verify that Internet Explorer 6 is restored, follow these steps:

  1. Click Start, and then click Run.
  2. In the Open box, type iexplore. Windows Internet Explorer opens.
  3. On the Help menu, click About Internet Explorer. The About Internet Explorer window opens.
  4. If the Version number begins with 6, you have successfully uninstalled Internet Explorer 7 and restored Internet Explorer 6.

If this method did not work for you, try method 2.

Step 1: Make hidden files and hidden folders visible

  1. Click Start, and then click My Documents.
  2. On the Tools menu, click Folder Options.
  3. Click the View tab.
  4. In the Advanced settings list, under Hidden files and folders, click Show hidden files and folders, and then click OK.

Step 2: Uninstall Internet Explorer 7/8

To uninstall Internet Explorer 7/8, follow these steps: (substitute 8 where necessary)

  1. Click Start, and then click Run.
  2. In the Open box, type %windir%\ie7\spuninst\spuninst.exe, and then click OK.
  3. Follow the wizard instructions to uninstall Internet Explorer 7/8.

Step 3: Verify that Internet Explorer 6 is restored

To verify that Internet Explorer 6 is restored:

  1. Click Start, and then click Run.
  2. In the Open box, type iexplore. Windows Internet Explorer opens.
  3. On the Help menu, click About Internet Explorer. The About Internet Explorer window opens.
  4. If the Version number begins with 6, you have successfully uninstalled Internet Explorer 7 and restored Internet Explorer 6.
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Joe DiFiglia has written 226 Articles at C.O.D.


In early 2000 I became increasingly frustrated with hardware review sites praising less than satisfactory products. The saying: “if you want something done right, do it yourself” applies here. I wasn’t satisfied, so I did it myself; and here we are years later.

4 Responses to The Requested Lookup Key Was Not Found In Any Active Activation Context

  1. Radicor says:

    I had a weird problem after installing XP sp3 over a bad copy of sp3.

    Kept getting prompted to activate but nothing would happen. I called Microsoft and they bounced me around literally for hours.

    I left my pc on stuck for weeks.

    Lucky break.. Norton monthly report popped up tonight. I was able through a "find file" option in Norton insight to briefly access windows long enough to try to force activation and got this error…did a look up and found this and other posts …didn't think it fit what was happening but I tried the fix anyway and rebooted…

    What had happened…. the fresh install of xp sp3 came installed with IE 6 when the old install had IE 8 and some of the files and registry tags for IE8 were still there.

    so doing the fix restored ALL the files and registry entries back to IE 6 and I was able to get in… doing windows update now…

    YAY!!!

    THANK YOU!!!

  2. Goretex says:

    Bloody Micro$oft wasting my life with this tut might find unbuntu going on instead

    your article worked 100%

    Ta

  3. chriss1 says:

    solved 100%.Ur a genius.Thanks alot.

  4. chriss1 says:

    The article has given me a 100% solution.You are a genius,i can now browse using my IE without any errors.