WPA Windows Product Activation

13) Plus! Edition Extra: Partial Workaround For Product Activation
Hi Fred. One common problem arises when users need to reformat their drives and reinstall XP. This generally requires a reactivation of the OS (as you know, MS insists that XP is activated or via online or phone registration or it will cease to function after 30 days). For those who need (or like) to reformat fairly frequently this can, at the very least, be annoying. It may also lead to MS questioning the legitimacy of the reactivation, since individual copies of XP are restricted to single system use. But there is an easy - and legitimate - way around this problem. 


There is a file in your \windows\system32 folder named wpa.dbl. This "Windows Product Activation" file (actual a mini-database) contains information about the hardware installed on your system and the current state of your OS's activation. At every boot your hardware configuration is compared to the stored data in this file. If you change a piece of hardware that information is recorded in the wpa.dbl, but does not overwrite the original configuration it detected at the time the OS was first activated. If too many hardware changes are detected, the wpa.dbl will "tilt" and reset itself to the default size (the size it was prior to activation). This means that your installation will have to be reactivated.


However, it is perfectly legal (and smart) to create a backup of the wpa.dbl file. Save it to removable medium (floppy, zip, cd) and after a reformat just put it in the \windows\system32 folder, overwriting the existing file. One caveat - you need to remember to create a new wpa.dbl backup every time you change or add a piece of hardware, otherwise the copy you restore to the system will notice the difference and think it's been copied to a different computer. It will reset and you'll have to call Uncle Bill. --- Allan ( tweakxp forum administrator, http://www.tweakxp.com/idealbb )

Thanks, Allan. We covered this in "100% Legit, Partial Workaround For Product Activation" ( http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2002/2002-03-28.htm#1 ) but that was over a  year ago, and a *lot* of people have moved to XP in the interim. This is a handy trick to remember--- not a cure-all for WPA issues, but a help.

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1) 100% Legit, Partial Workaround For Product Activation
Don Lett was the first to send in this info. It's not a crack or a malicious way to foil Windows Product Activation (WPA), but rather is a way that legitimate users of XP software can avoid having to reactivate the software after a full install:

The trick is to copy and re-use the c:\windows\system32\wpa.dbl file. It's small--- mine is just 13K long--- so it will easily fit on a floppy. Or, you can copy it to another safe location on your hard drive. Once that's done, go about your reinstallation task normally.

After you've reinstalled XP, either boot to a DOS floppy or start in XP's Safe Mode/Command Prompt (i.e. hit the F8 key when your system "beeps" during the boot process). Then copy your original wpa.dbl from its safe location back into the c:\windows\system32 folder, and then reboot.

Because nothing on your system has changed--- it's the same BIOS, CPU, RAM, etc., and because you're installing the same copy of XP that was previously installed, the "old" WPA key should be accepted as valid, saving you the hassle of re-Activating the software.

Note that this won't work if you try moving the file to a different machine, so it's not a way to pirate software. But if you want to simply reinstall a valid and already-activated copy of XP onto the same hardware on which it was originally installed, this may save you from having to re-Activate the new installation.

Thanks, Don.

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