Changing the Windows XP product key may be necessary if you discover your current key is pirated or illegal but you don’t want to reinstall Windows XP to activate your new legal key.
Note: Changes to the registry are made in these steps. Take great care in making only the changes described below. I recommend that you backup the registry keys you’re modifying in these steps as an extra precaution.If you’re uncomfortable making registry changes, check out the tip at the bottom of the page.
Time Required: Less than 15 minutes
Here’s How:
1.Click on
Start and then
Run.
2.In the text box in the Run window, type
regedit and click
OK. This will open the Registry Editor program.
3.Locate the
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE folder under My Computer and click on the
(+) sign next the folder name to expand the folder.
4.Continue to expand folders until you reach the
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\Current Version\WPAEvents registry key.
5.Click on the
WPAEvents folder.
6.In the results that appear in the window on the right,
locate OOBETimer.
7.
Right-click on the OOBETimer entry and choose
Modify from the resulting menu.
8.
Change at least one digit in the Value data text box and click
OK. This will
deactivate Windows XP.
9.Click on
Start and then
Run.
10.In the text box in the Run window, type
“%systemroot%\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /a”
without double quotes and then click
OK.
11.When the
Windows Product Activation window appears, choose
Yes,
I want to telephone a customer service representative to activate Windows and then click
Next.
12.Click
Change Product Key.
13.Type your
new, valid Windows XP product key in the New key text boxes and then click
Update.
14.If you’re taken back to the previous screen and prompted, choose
Remind me later.
15.
Restart your PC.