I own a harddrive for my laptop to be precise going bleak. I am replacing the harddrive and I will re-install my Windows XP Professional on it. I once read in a magazine that in attendance is a lasting record that I should copy and afterwards replace (assuming in the registry)once I reinstall window so that I don't enjoy to step through the activation process again. Does anybody know how to do this ? If you enjoy a tech insinuation, please provide.
Answers: Ok, here's the legitimate business deal! Everyone else's answers are lame!
When you initiate Windows XP, Microsoft stores the information contained by the Windows Product Activation database files wpa.dbl and Wpa.bak in the folder %systemroot%\system32. If you metamorphosis the motherboard or bring in significant hardware change, XP will require you to reactive. But if you plan to reinstall XP on one and the same hardware, you can vertebrae up the activation status and after restore it after you reinstall and avoid the activation process. You can backup the Windows Product Activation database files to diskette. They are immensely small. A directory information bank from my XP Pro workstation:
C:\WINDOWS\system32>dir wp*
Volume contained by drive C have no sticky label.
Volume Serial Number is xxxx-xxxx
Directory of C:\WINDOWS\system32
10/24/2001 08:28 PM 12,584 wpa.bak
01/14/2002 09:05 AM 12,642 wpa.dbl
After you reinstall XP, to restore the Windows Product Activation database files:
Start XP to Minimal Safe mode
Change directory to the \%systemroot%\system32 folder
Rename the just now created wpa.dbl to wpa.nonactivated and wpa.bak, if it exists, to wpabak.nonactivated.
Copy your back up wpa.dbl and wpb.bak files to the system32 folder
hello,
http://helpdesk.its.uiowa.edu/windows/in...
honourable luck.
SB
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