Transferring Windows XP Activation Information

Transferring Windows XP Activation Information
http://netsecurity.about.com/od/win...xp0829.htm


Windows XP Tip
How to Reinstall Windows XP Without Having to Reactivate With
Microsoft
To tell you the truth, I have never understood what the big deal is
with product activation. The fact of the matter is that software
piracy is fairly rampant and that Microsoft is the target for a large
percentage of the piracy due to their dominance in the operating
system and office productivity software markets. They have a right to
try to stop or at least control that privacy and the product
activation seems to be a fair way of ensuring that only legitimate
software owners get to benefit from using it.

All that said, I know that there are many users who abhor the process.
It may be because they have had problems activating and have had to
call the toll-free number and wait to talk to a Microsoft support
agent who then read them some 278-character long (okay- it's a slight
exaggeration) activation code. Or maybe they just feel that it is some
sort of invasion of privacy or that Microsoft is acting as "Big
Brother" and monitoring their actions.

No matter the reason, there are plenty of users who would rather never
go through the product activation process again. Unfortunately for
those users, they may very well run into a situation where they do.
Product activation monitors the system configuration. If it detects a
major hardware change or even too many minor hardware changes within a
set number of days (I believe it's 180 days before it resets) then it
crosses the threshold and requires reactivation.

Users who reformat their hard drive and perform a clean installation
of the operating system will find that they need to reactivate the
product. But, as long as the new installation is on the same system
and there won't be any hardware changes it is possible to transfer the
existing product activation and skip having to go through the product
activation process again. Follow the steps below to save the
activation status information and restore it once your system is
rebuilt:

1. Double-click My Computer
2. Double-click on the "C" drive
3. Go to the C:\Windows\System32 folder (you may have to click on
the link that says "Show The contents of this folder")
4. Find the files "wpa.dbl" and "wpa.bak" and copy them to a safe
location. You can copy them on a floppy drive or burn it onto a CD or
DVD.
5. After you have reinstalled Windows XP on your reformatted hard
drive, click "No" when asked if you want to go ahead and go through
the activation process
6. Reboot your computer into SafeMode (you can either press F8 as
Windows is booting up to see the Windows Advanced Options menu and
select SAFEBOOT_OPTION=Minimal or follow the instructions in Starting
Windows XP in SafeMode
7. Double-click My Computer
8. Double-click on the "C" drive
9. Go to the C:\Windows\System32 folder (you may have to click on
the link that says "Show The contents of this folder")
10. Find the file "wpa.dbl" and "wpa.bak" (if it exists) and rename
them to "wpadbl.new" and "wpabak.new"
11. Copy your original "wpa.dbl" and "wpa.bak" files from your
floppy disk, CD or DVD into the C:\Windows\System32 folder
12. Restart your system (if you followed the directions in Starting
Windows XP in SafeMode you may need to go back into MSCONFIG to turn
off booting into SafeMode)

Voila! Your Windows XP operating system is now reinstalled on your
reformatted hard drive and you are all activated without having to
actually go through the product activation process!

Remember though. This won't work for transferring activation
information from one computer to another or if you alter the hardware
because the information contained in your "wpa.dbl" file will not
match the configuration of the computer. This trick is only for
reinstalling Windows XP on the exact same computer after formatting
the hard drive.