10/10/2017 Bypass Windows XP product activation - My *nix world

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Bypass Windows XP product activation Search

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I must state from the beginning that this article is not about cracking Windows
activation engine because we don't want to break our Windows EULA, do we?. This
article tries to show you ways to bypass Windows XP product activation for those
emergency situations. I will explain in details below.

Let's suppose that you have a licensed copy of an Windows XP but lately you have
installed-activated/uninstalled it for several times. At some point the Microsoft
Activation Server just get bored and says "OK, if you want me to activate your license
then please pick up the phone and call me!".

What if you get bored (or you are just lazy) to call Microsoft and to justify yourself
and to ask them "Please, can you activate the copy that I bought legally? Yes, I have
an invoice, in fact I have 10 invoices because it happens that I bought more copies
than I'm using right now. No, I'm not a software theft, I cross my heart and hope to
die!"

Well, in that situation (let me make myself clear: when you both have the legal right
to use that piece of software and you don't break the EULA) you could just try to
exploit one of the Windows XP weaknesses. In fact you could try to exploit more
than one, I'm sure about that (someone might think that I did it in the past; maybe
they're right).

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You could nd yourself in one of the following situations:

1. the 30 days has expired so you cannot access the Desktop anymore
2. you are within those 30 days time limit but you want to get rid of this issue
ASAP

Your 30 days has expired

So you've got a message like the one below:

Windows Product Activation - before log in

You could also get a message like the one below, I meet that situation several times
in the past, unfortunately I haven't tested to see if the trick works also for this
particular situation, I guess/hope it does:

Windows Product Activation - on hardware change

Anyway, so you either have exceeded those 30 days after the period when you have
been supposed to activate your copy of Windows or, lately, you have changed the
hardware such that the Windows has started to annoy you with the Windows Product
Activation dialogue.

No matter in which situation you are just press the Yes button, like you are willing to
activate your copy of Windows. A new window like the one below will be shown:

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Let's activate Windows - click WinKey+u

By pressing simultaneous "Windows key" and "u" (WinKey+u) you will open a window
called "Microsoft narrator" where you can click on some hyperlink called "Microsoft
web site" which in turn will open your default web browser (hopefully IE otherwise it
works but with one more step; we get to this soon).

Note: if by pressing WinKey+u it opens another window named "Narrator"

then, in order to get the "Microsoft narrator" window, you have to right-click
that window's title-bar and to choose "About narrator" pop-up menu.

So the "Microsoft narrator" window should look like this:

Microsoft Narrator - click the "Microsoft Web site" link

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At this point the idea is to get the IE browser opened because the browser has "an
issue" that we are going to exploit it. In case that your default browser is
Firefox/Chrome/Opera/etc we should do some extra steps in order to open your IE
browser because nally the IE is the one we are going to hack. If your browser is just
IE then skip the steps below and go to the "IE browser opened".

Non-IE browser opened

enter "C:" in your browser URL address bar; your browser should show the
content of C: directory
navigate to the C:WindowsSystem32 directory then click "taskmgr.exe" to
download it; after it have downloaded just run that application (taskmgr.exe)
on Task Manager choose File->Run then enter "iexplore.exe" and hit OK; that
will open your IE browser; nally you can use it (see below)

IE browser opened
In the URL address bar enter "C:" then hit OK. If you are not using IE8 then that
command should exploit a weakness of IE7 (or earlier) which in turn will "crash the
Windows" in that way that it will load the Desktop, the task bar, everything.

Note: for some reasons Windows keeps locking itself every 30-60 seconds so you
won't be able to see the Desktop nor the task bar. If that is happening just repeat the
step mentioned at the paragraph above (enter "C:" in IE browser URL bar). Hacking is
not always an easy job, isn't it?

So, you have gained a time frame for ~30-60 seconds of fully functional Windows
system, period when, hopefully, you will be able to launch whatever program you
want even if ~30-60 seconds later the Windows will lock it again (your application is
already up an running so you are happy; Windows has closed its Desktop, he think
it's clever, it's happy too; everybody is happy now, right?).

Notes:

1. I've seen that if you keep that "Windows Product Activation" window opened,
then the Windows Desktop doesn't lock automatically after those ~30-60s. So
for example I have had the IE opened and it has remained opened for an
unde ned period of time, but when I closed (chose OK button) the "Window
Product Activation" window then the Windows automatically logged me off so I
had to begin the whole process from the beginning. I think it's good to know
this "tips" upfront.
2. If you start your Windows in "Safe mode" then the Windows Product Activation
does not appear any more (regarding the safe-mode).
3. Some interesting info here (before check this website alert).

This trick just helps you to use your Windows copy in these emergency situations; I
would not recommend anyone working like this on the daily basis because it could
just prove to be a nightmare.

You are within those 30 days time limit

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In this situation you are reminded (frequently enough) that you have only 30 (or less)
days left for activation. The trick to bypass Windows XP product activation is the
simplest and the most effective one.

Windows activation reminder - 30 days left

open Registry Editor (Start->Run then enter regedit and push OK button)
open the registry key at the location
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESOFTWAREMicrosoftWindows
NTCurrentVersionWPAEvents
edit the OOBETimer key value and set its value to "ff d5 71 d6 8b 6a 8d 6f d5
33 93 fd"
right-click on the same key WPAEvents and select "Permissions"
select SYSTEM group/user and check all DENY options (we won't allow
XP to mess with us anymore, in fact we deny it rmly :o)
click Advanced button then uncheck "Inherit from parent the
permission...", press OK, when prompted at next step just answer with
"Copy"
in "Permission entries" select the SYSTEM then choose "Edit..."; check all
the "Deny" permissions the OK+Apply

It should not ask you anymore for software activation. In fact you could run Start-
>All Programs -> Activate Windows and you should get an response message like
"Windows is already activated". If not working then just try again, maybe you have
missed something on the way.

If you are interested on Windows Vista/7 license activation you could read also an
article I wrote about this.

[!] WARNING [!]

I would not recommend to anyone to try this procedure in order to gain the access to
use an unlicensed copy of Windows. In fact, when dealing with licensed software
(like Windows), I would strongly recommend you to contact your software provider to
ask it if you are allowed to do something like that or not. I wrote this article only for
myself for research/educational purposes so that in case of emergency to be able to
rescue my licensed system. When I have refereed the pronoun "you" or "we" I meant
"I".

Now, if you think that this article was interesting don't forget to rate it. It
shows me that you care and thus I will continue write about these things.

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4.49/5 ( 90% )
based on 75 ratings

Bio Latest Posts

Eugen Mihailescu
Founder/programmer/one-man-show at Cubique Software

Always looking to learn more about *nix world, about the

fundamental concepts of math, physics, electronics. I am also
passionate about programming, database and systems
administration. 16+ yrs experience in software development,
designing enterprise systems, IT support and troubleshooting.

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Tagged on: activation, bypass, window, xp

By Eugen Mihailescu | December 19, 2012 | Hacking | 71 Comments |

← Disable libvirt nw lter rules Bypass Windows Vista product activation →

71 thoughts on “Bypass Windows XP

product activation”
Gunsmoke
March 10, 2013 at 05:52

Thanks for Your Help Bro. your fully explained activation bypass method
beats those half done gimmicks that oftentimes fails to work, this is my third
yet successful attempt because i've must've done something right!!

Reply ↓

1. A.
Eugen Mihailescu
March 10, 2013 at 09:21

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I'm happy it helped. About those "half done gimmicks", I really know what
you mean. That's why I wrote this post in the rst place

Reply ↓

TheWayItis
March 17, 2013 at 16:27

Worked at rst. I used it for a couple weeks. Something must have updated on
XP on auto-updates. I have set the registry but now I still get the Activation
window and when I go into it, it says I'm already activated. When I look at the
registry key, it is as you suggested and permissions as you suggested. There
must be something else now.

Reply ↓

2. A.
Eugen Mihailescu
March 17, 2013 at 20:30

I'm pretty sure that the Windows activation mechanism is not trivial at all
and that it has more than a single protection gate. The only methods I've
tested were those mentioned in post, though.

Reply ↓

Shirley
September 22, 2013 at 13:16

I can't seem to nd SYSTEM. Can anyone tell me where it is? Thanks in

advance.

Reply ↓

3. A.
Eugen Mihailescu
September 22, 2013 at 14:45

I suppose you have WinXP, right?

Also make sure you are logged on with an Windows user that has
administrative rights on that system, otherwise I don't think you can see
the Permission submenu where you can select the SYSTEM user/group.
So, can you see the Permission submenu like in the image bellow?
https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/27400627/Screenshots/2011-10-25-
19h04m/Windows-XP-Professional.png

Reply ↓

LatinMcG
October 16, 2013 at 23:17

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i had google chrome as default . it worked to "dload" c:program lesinternet

exploreriexplore.exe then open it and it launched
then i typed c: and it let me run the darn driver install for LAN so i could
activate online.
IT WORKED..i set everything back in regsitry before doing online activation.
i had dloaded driver for it and saved to c: from hirensbootcd.org
Thanks.. sorta

Reply ↓

4. A.
Eugen Mihailescu
October 18, 2013 at 07:58

See? At least there exists something useful/positive about Windows :o))

Reply ↓

[email protected]
October 17, 2013 at 23:25

Thanks for the help this really helped me!

Reply ↓

5. A.
Eugen Mihailescu
October 18, 2013 at 07:56

Glad to hear that!

Reply ↓

Springz
December 11, 2013 at 07:39

Thanks great help. I had an old pc that i desperately needed to rescue some
stuff from. tried everything until this

Reply ↓

6. A.
Eugen Mihailescu
December 11, 2013 at 08:30

I'm glad it works :o)

Reply ↓

Sorin Acela
January 6, 2014 at 10:07

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The method had been described 2 years before this at

http://www.ehow.com/how_5463503_bypass-windows-xp-sp-activation.html.
It rarely works anyway.

Reply ↓

7. A.
Eugen Mihailescu
January 6, 2014 at 10:13

The method is described on a myriad websites. For some people it works,

for some people it don't. For me it worked exactly as I've described.

Reply ↓

8.
Alex H
January 27, 2014 at 15:51

Worked perfectly for me, and saved having to risk viruses / malware!

Reply ↓

J
January 29, 2014 at 11:33

I bought a second hand Windows XP to dual boot on my mac computer. I

would love to buy a brand new copy but of course it is far too old.
It installed and worked ne. The product key worked during installation.
However it won't let me activate it and now it says I need to activate it in 2
days to keep using it. This is despite having followed your methods above. All
I can think is I accidentally left the computer connected to the internet and it
did an auto update or something. It is really frustrating that I payed for a
copy of windows xp and now it has stopped working and I lost all my
installed programs. I can't get windows 7 or 8 as the programs I want to run
won't work and I don't even know if windows 7 or 8 would work well on my
mac.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Reply ↓

9. A.
Eugen Mihailescu Post author
January 29, 2014 at 11:55

If you are within those 30 days then the "You are within those 30 days
time limit" should tinker the thing. As long as you are withing that period,
if you block your registry (that key) then Windows cannot write to it
anymore. So even if those 30 days have passed, maybe it will bother you
with that nasty reminder but...it should not be able to do too much about
it.
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Reply ↓

Ana
October 3, 2014 at 11:54

Hi Eugen. Thank you for the information. I tried your method before the 30
days were up. The only thing that was unclear was the part with "edit the
OOBETimer key value and set its value to "ff d5 71 d6 8b 6a 8d 6f d5 33 93
fd""
The existing value had 2 lines with 0000 in front. I deleted everything and I
was left with a line of 0000. While imputing the new value, it started
generated numbers that I could not delete.
I inputed the value you mentioned and clicked saved. and continued to the
next steps, without a problem

After restart, the windows activation message prompted me again to

activated.
What do I do now? Wait for the 30 days to be over and see if it works? I see
you con rmed this in a message above, but can I do something to verify that
it won't block access to my windows in 2 days when activation period
expires?
Thank you!
Ana

Reply ↓

10. A.
Eugen Mihailescu Post author
October 8, 2014 at 15:47

That screen is divided in three columns:

- the 1st is read-only and is automatically calculated by Windows
- the 2nd is where you can input values in hexadecimal format
- the 3rd is the ASCII representation of those hexadecimal values (it may
be manually edited although not recommended)

So just ignore the columns in the left and just enter the correct values
into the 2nd column, as described above. I hope that you also have set
the permission to that registry key (namely WPAEvents) as described in
the article, otherwise XP will still prompt you with that alert message. By
setting the permissions as described in the article we don't allow
Windows to control/alter that key anymore so it will be unable to protect
itself. Why do you bother using Windows anyway? Linux is free and
believe me, it's faster, need fewer resources, and all the software you need
it's usually also free. If you are novice then start with Ubuntu Linux. It's a
"next->next->....-> nish" installation, it auto-updates automatically (just
like Windows) and ships with many applications by default (although you
will be able later to install tons of whatever apps you need).

Reply ↓

Ana

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October 3, 2014 at 11:57

One thing that changed now, is the icon in the taskbar with the keys: it's
missing now.

Reply ↓

11. A.
Eugen Mihailescu Post author
October 8, 2014 at 15:49

Perhaps you nally hack it! Good for you!

Reply ↓

mx
October 13, 2014 at 01:08

Everyone seems to forget the part Where you can not accept the Eula for
Microsoft genuine advantage or none of these will work. Someplace in the
update process this will try to install if you have already accepted it all these
hacks will fail.

Reply ↓

12. A.
Eugen Mihailescu Post author
October 13, 2014 at 06:49

You are perfectly right except the statement with "everyone seems to
forget the part with EULA". I explicitly mentioned in the article to not
break EULA and that the hack should be just temporarily (see also the red
warning

Reply ↓

13.
Bill
December 22, 2014 at 23:25

This does not work at all! It simply stops the activation message from
popping up. But after 30 days it will still lock you out. Nice try - no cigar.

Reply ↓

14.
Seth
August 20, 2015 at 01:43

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Hi Eugen -- I used your procedure with 28 days left on a fresh re-install of my

totally legal XP-Pro-SP3 32-bit OS as a brute-force solution to frequent blue-
screens. Microsoft is not activating XP at all these days, though I was able to
accomplish it online just a couple of months ago. I use XP on this old-but-
good PC as a simple server for my old-but-good printer and scanner, and as a
music server (juke box to my old-but-good vintage stereo system. As for
me, I'm just old! I use Win 7 - 10 64bit on a newer machine for everything
else, and Of ce Pro etc., so Microsoft is still getting its pound of esh from
me. Back to activation and not being adept at working with the registry, I ran
into the same issues/questions as "Ana" above. Your explanation to her
ultimately clari ed my own procedure, although your terms like "That screen
is divided into 3 columns . . ." left me uncertain as to what screen and how to
access it. It would have been helpful to lead me by the hand to right-click on
"OOBETimer" and so on. Respecting the power of the registry, I took my time
and slowly proceeded to follow what I inferred to be your intent. However,
there were various differences in the details all along the way. For instance,
at WPAEvents - Permissions - Advanced, TWO "SYSTEM " lines appeared, the
original one as well as a new one I just apparently created by the access
denials. I grabbed myself by the hoo-hoos and deleted the original, pre-
denial line. Somewhat to my surprise and de nitely to my satisfaction, it
works so far, in reporting that it is activated. I'll see what happens in 28 days
to seal the deal. Now I can use this old PC as preferred, again. I did take note
of your enthusiasm for Linux. I've intended to learn about it since I'm a blank
slate now. My really, really old-but-good PC would be a great test bed for this
well-regarded free alternative OS, and I think I'll go for it. Thanks very much
for your contributions to the horde of IT-challenged enthusiasts like moi! You
rock!

Seth

Reply ↓

Derrick Richards
September 15, 2015 at 18:52

Hi, been trying to log on for 3 days, get activation screen, click yes, brings up
another screen, click yes again, says I am already activated. So, I spent the
last 3 days trying to x this problem and nothing worked. So, I called up a
buddy at Microsoft nally yesterday, and he told me Microsoft is well aware
of this snag and has been for a decade. There is no way to get around it, he
said, and TBH, the above op's post didn't work at all. I think why a few people
got away with it is because they were accessing the registry stuff etc for the
rst time. Once you have tried to get around it, there is a builtin blockage,
from what I have been told, and nal note, Microsoft doesn't work with XP
anymore, so that is their escape policy, my 4 cents, DR

Reply ↓

15. A.
Eugen Mihailescu Post author
September 15, 2015 at 22:19

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Hi, Thanks for sharing this info with us. I recall that I was able to
reactivate again even after the rst registry hack. Actually after the rst
registry hack the problem never occurred again as the involved registry
key was set as read-only (not even Windows could overwrite its value).
Anyway it was long time ago so I don't remember all those small details.

Reply ↓

Arie
October 26, 2015 at 21:31

I tried this trick on 2 virtual machines. Both machines locked me out after 30
days.

Personally I don't need XP, I'm running Linux and Win7 in virtualbox. But a
friend of my needs to reïnstall his XP but lost his key. Key nder is not an
option, he allready did the reïnstall

Reply ↓

16. A.
Eugen Mihailescu Post author
October 26, 2015 at 22:28

Sorry about that. It is very important that the procedure is followed to the
smallest detail. If you miss something (a tiny step) the result may be
another. Anyway, try again the trick and check if you are able to unlock it
one more time. What I did was to set that registry key (see my post) to
read-only, that way I denied Windows to lock me again. But some newer
Windows XP updates may overcome this trick too.

Reply ↓

Iand Me
December 19, 2015 at 07:00

Thanks Eugen
I've reinstalled XP Pro and tonight applied the regedit method: key icon now
gone. Crossing ngers!

Here's a weird one back at ya. Previous installation was done over win 98 and
I never had a problem. This install has led to frequent Bad Memory Pool
BSOD. What stops that from happening is to have the XP (OEM) install disk in
CD drive. Could it be the lack of oppy as in your article I recently glanced at?
I was able to install several times without a oppy—trying various methods
for overcoming BMP BSOD.

Time for me to run through a few reboots and see if the key icon reappears.

BTW folks. You'll nd product key (of OEM faik) if you look at bottom of
XPOEMCD\i386\data6.cab\unattend.txt.

Reply ↓

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17. A.
Eugen Mihailescu Post author
December 19, 2015 at 11:00

I have used Windows for decades (literally). Started with Windows 3.x
(probably the most people don't know what it is) then '95. '98,etc. As far
as I know BSOD was always related to hardware-software con icts (what
you call Bad Memory I would call bad memory driver or just bad kernel,
thus BSOD). Probably with older version of Windows using a non genuine
license key (like those randomly generated but still valid as keys) it
triggers an software exception that is unintentionally handled,which for
you as end user will look like BSOD. The lack of oppy should never
trigger such error. It will only be a pain in the ass if you have to install the
Windows on a SCSI/RAID system (which means you have to have oppy
drive; if you don't then you can't install, unless you were lucky enough to
read this article rst).
The BSOD problem it's mostly generated by two things: bad drivers OR
bad hardware OR Windows just found out that somehow you managed to
hack it and it generates a software exception. When the cause of BSOD is
the latest then I suggest you reinstall the Windows (just take it easy,
follow each step as described, don't hurry because the order of steps
matter). Why are you still using Windows XP anyway? Nowadays you can
nd dozens of Linux distro much user-friendly and of course, free (no
licensing whatsoever).

Reply ↓

i.
Iand Me
December 24, 2015 at 01:08

I also have used used MS Windows OS for decades. On my shelf of old

software I see Win 3.0 along with multiple boxes of other DOS
software. I began learning programming when Gates and crew were
also still in school. I didn't stay in the art except as a hobbyist. On the
more recent OS shelf I see Win 95, 98, 98SE, W2K pro, XP Pro and Win
7 - all in of cial MS packages: CD, manual, etc. And here are 3
versions of the Posix based Linux and beside these sits two versions
of early BeOS. Here's VB and C++ from MS—ALL LEGITIMATE! How
many times have you enjoyed COMDEX?
Put your paranoia back in your pocket. I had gone through multiple
cycles of install and was still going against the problem. Now that
problem is solved, XP activated, No CD required. Next steps kept to
myself.
Did you not not notice the sideways shot I made in my side topic
comment?

All I really wanted was a way to temporarily shoot down the annoying
nag. Back to reading one of my hundreds of books, not the Linux
command manual next to SQL manual and a pile of other software
manuals—you do know that an OS is software right? Loop de loop.

Reply ↓
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18.
Tyler
January 8, 2016 at 05:22

Thanks for the tutorial. I have been trying to run a copy of windows XP on a
Virtual Machine for a little while, and no matter what I tried it wasn't
recognizing my product key, and I couldn't get it to activate at all. I followed
your tutorial, and it seems to have worked with one minor glitch. Whenever I
log on to the virtual Machine, it still brings me to the activation screen, but
the rst screen that pops up says "This copy of Windows is already active,
Click OK to exit", so I click OK, and it promptly logs me off. Any suggestions?

Reply ↓

Teaspoon
January 22, 2016 at 00:13

Following these steps (Activate Now) worked very well with one hiccup: I still
get the activation prompt every time - declares windows has been activated,
but click OK and it logs the user out immediately. I'm curious to know if
anyone has found a way through this.

Reply ↓

19. A.
Eugen Mihailescu Post author
January 28, 2016 at 08:51

That happened to me too as far as I can remember. Did you set the
permissions to DENY? In my opinion your XP doesn't "see the hack", thus
it considers that the XP is not activated.

Reply ↓

Damian
April 25, 2016 at 14:57

This is all well and wonderful and I have in fac used this method a number of
times, however, as soon as I set my date and time correctly the 30 day period
locks me out again -I would love a method of cracking XP that does not
involve the timer..

Reply ↓

20. A.
Eugen Mihailescu Post author
April 25, 2016 at 15:34

The timer is hard-coded within Windows .dll. So a method which does not
involve a timer would imply (I guess) to change the .dll code. However,
that would violate M$ license.

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Reply ↓

21.
charles
June 23, 2016 at 14:00

Very helpful.

much appreciated

Reply ↓

jigar patel
August 14, 2016 at 03:16

Hello Eugen,
so I have virtualized licence version of windows xp box and used your trick to
activate, and worked perfectly ne now since it's a VM ,user ac cess it's
through RDP and only problem is system times out means it doesn't ping no
RDP when i go the concole of VMWARE and click on vm then it activates and
ping and RDP works and as soon console times out both RDP and ping does
not work
have you ever heard this before??

Reply ↓

22. A.
Eugen Mihailescu Post author
October 11, 2016 at 13:46

The ping reply has nothing to do with the license. Probably a rewall
issue.

Reply ↓

23.
Richard Laughton
August 16, 2016 at 15:38

Thanks big time! Worked like a charm. Had to reactivate computer with
original XP and of course in August 2016 there is no support for XP so web
activation does not work. The instructions were clear (once I got the NT on
the WindowsNT line) and away it went.

Reply ↓

24.
Smoke
August 27, 2016 at 19:56

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Thanks for this. As you can tell, XP is sooo not supported anymore, but I keep
it for the Elder Scrolls series, Dawn of War series, Baldur's Gate and Icewind
Dale series, you get the picture. (I also still have a DOS computer and a 98se
beta computer. geek much? ) I knew there was a regedit activation
process, but forgot what key to mod. I have looked everywhere, and I have
nally found it again. Needless to say, not only am I saving this this time, but
I am also printing out several copies for my les, to hang on the wall, and I'll
laminate one and use it for a mouse pad. Thanks again.

Reply ↓

Matko
September 26, 2016 at 06:57

I made it work with this method! Thanks. My problem is that I can't sign in to
skype because it says that my ie is not updated! Can I turn auto updates on or
I will have a problem?

Reply ↓

25. A.
Eugen Mihailescu Post author
October 11, 2016 at 13:39

Updates could always undo what you did to make your Win to work. I
would stay away from updates unless you know what you are doing.

Reply ↓

26.
Matko
October 16, 2016 at 19:16

Thanks...

Reply ↓

Ken
November 5, 2016 at 14:33

Thanks from me as well, just trying to keep just one of a number of

computers in the house and of ce running, this one is my old business
machine that I am just using for some storage and access to my old
accounting software. I get bothered by Microsoft and their on going
protection of this old software. This issue just appeared one day, I have not
changed anything of note in the last year or so, but this just cropped up one
day. I have licenses on every copy on all my machines, including two new
ones, After spending over and over, it's painful losing valuable time xing
these issues.
Hopefully this problem is permanently sorted now

Cheers
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Reply ↓

27. A.
Eugen Mihailescu Post author
November 11, 2016 at 08:14

If you have a legit license the best option is to activate the license by
phone (call Microsoft License Activation service in your country). The hack
described here is for "emergency" situations.

Reply ↓

28.
Matko
November 8, 2016 at 11:31

My Windows copy stopped working and I'm trying to hack it again! But when I
press yes in the question of activating, it says windows already activated and
pressing ok brings me back to the login page! so I press enter to login and
the message for activation pops up again! So I'm trapped into this circle!

Reply ↓

Mike
November 10, 2016 at 17:34

Hi, wondering if you could help me? I have a genuine copy of windows that I
had to reinstall after replacing a bust hard drive. I got a message saying the
copy of windows may be fraudulent (after entering my product code)

I'm getting the rst error message but when I click yes, it logs me straight
out. I click the username and get the same message, same thing again. Any
ideas?

Cheers,

Mike

Reply ↓

29. A.
Eugen Mihailescu Post author
November 11, 2016 at 08:14

If you have a legit license the best option is to activate the license by
phone (call Microsoft License Activation service in your country). The hack
described here is for "emergency" situations.

Reply ↓

Steven W
December 5, 2016 at 15:10

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I have followed your guidance above. If I click activate windows it will show
"Windows is already activated. click ok to exit".
if I press ok then it will goes to welcome windows with the list of user
acount.
if i choose one of them it goes back to "windows Product Activation" which
ask me to activate windows again.
could you help to solve this issue?
Thank you

Reply ↓

30. A.
Eugen Mihailescu Post author
December 6, 2016 at 07:22

Depending on Win version, the installed SP and hot xes, some of its
vulnerabilities might be already patched so the method here might not
work by the book. Sometimes is even necessary to go one step further,
namely to boot from a Linux rescue disk (like Knoppix) and edit OFFLINE
the Windows registry. While online (ie. within the running Win) the
Windows monitors the registry changes and it just revert the change from
an in-memory safe-copy. Hacking is sometimes a mouse-cat game.

Reply ↓

i.
Steven W
December 6, 2016 at 15:45

thanks for your reply. i'm hopeless anyway. thinking to reinstall the
window

Reply ↓

Lawrence
March 10, 2017 at 01:40

I'm having the same problem, can you walk me through on how to x it?.

Reply ↓

B. i.
Eugen Mihailescu Post author
April 1, 2017 at 14:17

I only documented what I've done, I cannot assist you with that

Reply ↓

31.
Gogu Motociclistu

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March 3, 2017 at 10:57

start narrator (windowskey - U)

select the link where it says "microsoft web page"
it will start internet explorer - write the address "c:\windows\explorer.exe"
click on start - run - regedit
remove everything related to oobe and wpaevents, all keys
restart windows, boot with hirens boot cd to access drive C
go to c:\windows\system32\oobe, replace msoobe.exe with
c:\windows\explorer.exe
restart windows xp
sometimes it will prompt you for 30 days activation. when click on the
prompt, an error message will say there's no such /a path.
This works if you make signi cant hardware changes (a new motherboard) on
the same windows xp system.
voila, no more trial activation.

Reply ↓

Alfred M
March 14, 2017 at 15:03

Eugen, it worked for me!!! Thanks

Reply ↓

32. A.
Phil P
April 1, 2017 at 13:05

If you mean the registry hack that stops Windows asking to be activated,
could you verify that it continues to work after 30 days?

Reply ↓

Phil P
March 31, 2017 at 15:39

I recently installed an old, entirely legal copy of Windows XP in a virtual

machine, and it refused to activate via the internet, so I tried the registry
hack described above. As others here have said, it only prevents the
activation prompt at start-up without actually activating Windows. After 30
days, it still stopped working. I used telephone activation in the end, which
wasn't as painful as I expected it to be.

Out of curiosity, I thought I'd test the hack more thoroughly. My Windows
installation disc is a Service Pack 1 version, so I decided to make multiple
installations (5 of them): XP SP1 with no updates, XP SP2, XP SP3, and XP
SP3 with all automatic Windows Updates (the ones that happen in the
background when you enable automatic updates), and nally XP SP3 with

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every possible update, including optional ones: notably Windows Genuine

Advantage.

I applied the hack to each of these installations (making absolutely sure I

followed each step), and left them unused for 30 days. They *all* stopped
working after that 30 day period.

If this hack ever worked (which I doubt), it must have been patched in Service
Pack 1.

Reply ↓

33. A.
Eugen Mihailescu Post author
April 1, 2017 at 14:21

Oh, but it works and worked for me and other hundred people. The
problem is that each system is different (I don't know what could be so
different that sometimes it doesn't work) and thus we should expect
different results. I did my best to document what I've done with the hope
that some people in the same situation might nd it helpful.

Reply ↓

Phil P
April 1, 2017 at 22:08

You said in a reply above (Sep 15, 2015) that you tried this a long time
ago and don't remember all the details, but can you remember
whether your version of XP was earlier than the Service Pack 1
release? Did it de nitely continue to work for you after 30 days?
Please don't think that I don't believe you - it's just that I've seen
this hack posted in various places on the internet, and I suspect that a
lot of the people who claim that it works haven't waited for the full 30
days, and just didn't bother to return and retract their claims after it
stopped working.

My installation disc is for XP Home Edition, version 2002.

To anyone else who reads this reply and tries the registry hack: I'm
sure it would be useful to others if you could say which version of XP
you have, and ensure that you wait for the full 30 days before
deciding that it works.

Reply ↓

i. a.
Eugen Mihailescu Post author
April 13, 2017 at 07:13

The hack was post-SP1. It's hard to prove it now without retesting
the whole thing again, which unfortunately I cannot afford it right
now due to lack of spare time.

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Reply ↓

Tuyen
May 10, 2017 at 11:32

when i followed your steps i had another 30 trial days. i have repeated these
steps around 4 or 5 times to get more days accessing windows (total days
>120). and now i can not apply these step anymore. any guide for me ?

Reply ↓

34. A.
Eugen Mihailescu Post author
May 10, 2017 at 12:36

Sorry, probably the Windows devil slashed its tail. It is always a good idea
to disable the Windows Update service because sometimes Windows uses
that to download and install some " xes", but now I guess it's too late,
right?

Reply ↓

35.
Iliyan Ganchevski
June 7, 2017 at 09:00

I just want to thank you for sharing and explaining this, i accideantly
triggered the activation by installing daemon tools("newhardware"). It was a
buiseness computer, used for work and your post saved it before the three
days deadline. Thank you for helping !

Reply ↓

chris
August 1, 2017 at 10:17

i followed all yo steps ... now i cant log on. it shows me the small Windows
Activation window ... asking if i must activate now.... yes/no.
if i click YES. it logs off.
(and NO obviously also logs off)

caught in a continuous loop

Reply ↓

36. A.
Eugen Mihailescu Post author
August 1, 2017 at 10:44

Well, the solution sometimes works, sometimes it doesn't. Every Windows

is different although it's only Windows. You might have some security hot

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xes installed, I might not, and thus although it looks like we have the
same Windows we have different environments/setup.

Reply ↓

i.
chris
August 1, 2017 at 11:22

yip... must be the silly XP Home Edtn....

tried with XP Pro .... and ALL GOOD.

THNX

Reply ↓

37.
o me o meooo
September 4, 2017 at 07:41

I have 3 copies of xp home. some of my older games will only install under
32 bit or < installers.

only way around this is xp. tried several times to activate it legitly.

thank you sir. exactly what the doctor ordered!

Reply ↓

Ricks Radio
September 6, 2017 at 19:34

Well, I got it to work. I need XP to grab old video on mp3 streaming from a
Sony and I like the moviemaker on it. You did good and it works! I will let you
know if it continues to work. I am on SP2

Reply ↓

38. A.
Ricks Radio
September 6, 2017 at 19:35

BTW, I have a legit copy since it came out.

Reply ↓

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