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Reinstall Windows XP without product activation

  • 23-11-2004 3:55pm
    #1
    Capt'n Midnight
    Moderators, Recreation & Hobbies Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators, Technology & Internet Moderators Posts: 92,385 Mod ✭✭✭✭


    Found this - might be of some use to someone....
    http://sniptools.com/vault/reinstall-windows-xp-without-product-activation.htm
    If you have successfully activated the OS already, and if you are reinstalling it on the existing hardware, this trick should do just fine. Here it is:

    1. Copy the file c:\windows\system32\wpa.dbl to a floppy.
    2. Reinstall Windows XP.
    3. Boot to a DOS disk if you are using FAT, or to the Recovery Console if using NTFS.
    4. Copy the file from the first step above back to c:\windows\system32.
    5. That's it - because all of your hardware is the same as before, your copy of WinXP is still valid according to the previous activation.

    :Batch file to Backup Activation codes.
    md wpa
    net view | find "\\">NetView.txt
    for /F "delims=\ " %%i in (NetView.txt) do Copy "\\%%i\admin$\system32\wpa.dbl" wpa\%%i.dbl


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