WPA, odd little dillema

  • Thread starter Thread starter McGrandpa
  • Start date Start date
M

McGrandpa

Hello folks,

I have 2 desktop computers that have XP Pro (retail) installed from the same
CD. I have two XP Pro (retail) packages, one old and one new. The new XP
Pro hasn't been used/activated yet. The old computer is 'activated' and
the new computer is not. I want the old XP Pro on the old machine, and the
new XP Pro on the new machine. Is there a way to do this activation without
losing the current installation BUT using the new XP Pro package I have?
Like a repair install using the new XP Pro cd? And not lose all my
installed stuff and also auto activate over the net.
TIA,
McGrandpa
 
McGrandpa said:
Hello folks,

I have 2 desktop computers that have XP Pro (retail) installed from
the same CD. I have two XP Pro (retail) packages, one old and one
new. The new XP Pro hasn't been used/activated yet. The old
computer is 'activated' and the new computer is not. I want the old
XP Pro on the old machine, and the new XP Pro on the new machine. Is
there a way to do this activation without losing the current
installation BUT using the new XP Pro package I have? Like a repair
install using the new XP Pro cd? And not lose all my installed stuff
and also auto activate over the net.
TIA,
McGrandpa
Click to expand...

You do not need to do a repair install.

Log in as the local Administrator
Click Start / Run and type in Regedit and click OK.
Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\wpaevents

In the right side window, right-click OOBETimer and then click Modify. Change at least one digit of this value and click OK. This will deactivate Windows, close regedit.

Click Start / Run and type in: %systemroot%\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /a and click OK.
In the Activation dialog, click Yes, I want to telephone a customer service representative to activate Windows, and then click Next, Click "Change Product Key" (at the bottom). Enter your valid Product Key from the new retail version,
press Update and close the window.
 
McGrandpa said:
Hello folks,

I have 2 desktop computers that have XP Pro (retail) installed from the
same CD. I have two XP Pro (retail) packages, one old and one new. The
new XP Pro hasn't been used/activated yet. The old computer is
'activated' and the new computer is not. I want the old XP Pro on the old
machine, and the new XP Pro on the new machine. Is there a way to do this
activation without losing the current installation BUT using the new XP
Pro package I have? Like a repair install using the new XP Pro cd? And
not lose all my installed stuff and also auto activate over the net.
TIA,
McGrandpa
Click to expand...

If they're both retail XP pros, it doesn't matter which CD you use, as long
as you use different keys on each one. Older or newer doesn't mean much,
except that the newer one might have later service packs, but the old one
can be upgraded to the latest service pack level just by installing the
proper sp. You don't need to do a repair install, but you can certainly do
one any time you like. If it asks for the cd key, just enter the correct key
for that machine.
 
D.Currie said:
If they're both retail XP pros, it doesn't matter which CD you use, as
long as you use different keys on each one. Older or newer doesn't mean
much, except that the newer one might have later service packs, but the
old one can be upgraded to the latest service pack level just by
installing the proper sp. You don't need to do a repair install, but you
can certainly do one any time you like. If it asks for the cd key, just
enter the correct key for that machine.
Click to expand...
That's the problem, I did use the cd key of the old XP Pro. I didn't build
this one at home, but at the computer shop. Ran into a little problem with
getting any OS to boot till we got the BIOS updated. Left the shop with
the box about midnight and when I got home, I started right in, didn't get
some sleep first.... and just grabbed my original xp cd. Didn't even think
of the shiny new one I'd got from MS Store. It's kinda normal with like a
Linux or 98SE install to have some-THING get messed up or decide to
partition different or whatever and FDisk>Format C: is the norm :) . The
last time i had to install XP Pro was when I put a new HD in the old box,
about 3 years ago :-\ This install went great, all the drivers for vid,
sound, chipset etc. worked first time. Guess I should have just popped in
the new XP next day when I did realize what i did, but i thought there might
be a simple and easy way to get this fixed. Like you say, XP Pro is XP Pro,
the difference in this case is the cd key. And about 2 days of reinstalling
software and stuff :)
McG.
 
Thank you Ronnie, that worked just fine. After I changed the cd key to the
new one and closed the WPA window, I rebooted. When the Activation bubble
came up I then chose to activate over the internet, which was successful.
I just wanted to be sure I did not have the same copy (key) activated twice.
I'm happy, the right key is activated on each machine :)

That's a simple enough procedure, but I would not have known what to do on
my own.

I'm curious, is there any way that I can view the actual key used on each
system?

McG.

McGrandpa said:
Hello folks,

I have 2 desktop computers that have XP Pro (retail) installed from
the same CD. I have two XP Pro (retail) packages, one old and one
new. The new XP Pro hasn't been used/activated yet. The old
computer is 'activated' and the new computer is not. I want the old
XP Pro on the old machine, and the new XP Pro on the new machine. Is
there a way to do this activation without losing the current
installation BUT using the new XP Pro package I have? Like a repair
install using the new XP Pro cd? And not lose all my installed stuff
and also auto activate over the net.
TIA,
McGrandpa
Click to expand...

You do not need to do a repair install.

Log in as the local Administrator
Click Start / Run and type in Regedit and click OK.
Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\wpaevents

In the right side window, right-click OOBETimer and then click Modify.
Change at least one digit of this value and click OK. This will deactivate
Windows, close regedit.

Click Start / Run and type in: %systemroot%\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /a
and click OK.
In the Activation dialog, click Yes, I want to telephone a customer service
representative to activate Windows, and then click Next, Click "Change
Product Key" (at the bottom). Enter your valid Product Key from the new
retail version,
press Update and close the window.
 
McGrandpa said:
Thank you Ronnie, that worked just fine. After I changed the cd key
to the new one and closed the WPA window, I rebooted. When the
Activation bubble came up I then chose to activate over the internet,
which was successful.
I just wanted to be sure I did not have the same copy (key) activated
twice. I'm happy, the right key is activated on each machine :)

That's a simple enough procedure, but I would not have known what to
do on my own.

I'm curious, is there any way that I can view the actual key used on
each system?

McG.



You do not need to do a repair install.

Log in as the local Administrator
Click Start / Run and type in Regedit and click OK.
Navigate to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\wpaevents

In the right side window, right-click OOBETimer and then click Modify.
Change at least one digit of this value and click OK. This will
deactivate Windows, close regedit.

Click Start / Run and type in:
%systemroot%\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /a and click OK.
In the Activation dialog, click Yes, I want to telephone a customer
service representative to activate Windows, and then click Next,
Click "Change Product Key" (at the bottom). Enter your valid Product
Key from the new retail version,
press Update and close the window.
Click to expand...

Glad this helped, follow the link that Sir_George posted. This will show you the PK for a XP installation.

Enjoy,
 
Sir_George said:
Thanks for letting me know it worked for you.
Click to expand...
No problem, using that 'findkey 141" showed me the cd keys on the 3 machines
I have running are what they're supposed to be.
McG.
 
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