XP Pro product key....

A friend of mine bought a laptop w/ WinXP Pro preloaded, and there's no product key on it. He has a product key and XP Pro CD. How do we change the key to his 'legit' key w/o having to reload Windows? We can't get any updates due to the WGA problem. I read somewhere that you can change some 'msoobe' registry settings to 'trick' windows into thinking that it's not yet been activated, and can then change the key. Any help will be appreciated.

hopperdave2000

 

Check this out Hopper:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/Windows_XP_Product_Key_Modifier_d2745.html

 

Far as I know the system does not care about what cd/dvd you use as long as it is the same version (home-home pro-pro)

As far as I know each registration is machine dependant so no you cannot (short of those Illegal) trick windows.


Sounds like a perfect oppurtunity to explore the world of Linux(shameless plug )

 

Has anyone used this? Does it work? If memory serves me correctly (my brain is like swiss cheese), I tried this tool once about 2 years ago. It said that everything was OK, I rebooted, and checked the w/ Proudkey and the key hadn't changed....
I found an article in the MS knowledge base but it only mentions volume license keys. Will their procedure work on non-volume keys? Here's the link:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/328874/en-us
Any feedback about the link or BirdBath's link will be greatly appreciated!
Thanx for the rapid response!

 

Did you read the bottom line?

- If you use an invalid product key, the program will NOT know the difference. It will report success even though your key has not been changed!

Not saying this is why it did not work for you but It does work.

 

Cool. I'll download it now. In the meantime while I'm waiting for my friend to come over, does anyone have any input about the Microsoft link I posted above? Or any info about the tool linked to above by BirdBath? No offense Mr. BB, but I just want to know if people have had positive experiences with that program; I do see that it's got a pretty high rating tho'... Maybe I'll try it on a different PC w/ known good keys to see how it works.

Thanx again!

hopperdave2000

PS- to Petaluma: you and your shameless Linux plugs

 

Thanx for all the help folks! We got his legally purchased key on the PC and the updates and validation went perfectly. Thanx for the help and the links. BTW- BirdBath, the app you linked me to is what we used, and it worked just as advertised! Thanx man...

hopperdave2000

 

No Sweat.