Re: Can't Activate Windows XP Pro - Infinite Activation Loop

JP wrote:
This problem is just one reason why I curse M$ for their activation policy. Read on for my newest & most excellent computer nightmare:

I booted my computer the other day just like I do every morning to check my email and low & behold - I get a message saying my copy of WinXP needs to be activated. OK - nothing new, but extremely annoying since I've already activated my copy more times than I can count. I click OK to start the activation process and proceed to the next window, which says my copy of windows is already activated. OK great. I click OK and I am logged off! NOT GREAT!! This entire process repeats itself so I am stuck in an infinite activation loop that has no solution. Oh the fun! You can imagine how I'm loving M$ right now...


OK, in order to salvage my current settings and not have to reinstall all my software, I'd like to hack my registry hives so WinXP thinks it hasn't been activated. I've done a few things

1) I moved all my old [root\WINDOWS] files and [documents & settings\user files] to a backup drive. I did this to backup my old settings and allow a fresh WinXP installation.

2) I reinstalled WinXP, so now I have new settings on the drive which hosts my OS and the old settings stored on my backup drive.

3) I've been using BartPE to try and copy the old hives to the drive with the clean installation in order to salvage my settings, but I've been getting some serious errors when I do this. Turns out I'm going to need to access the old hives and wipe all activation activity to do this.


I need to know a few things:

1) Which registry keys does the activation of WinXP mess with?

2) How can I open my old backup hives in regedit or some registry editor without importing them into my new registry?

I agree that activation only inconveniences paying customers but, that said, you should have opted for the phone activation.

Alias

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