How to avoid having to reactivate Windows XP after fresh install

Posted on August 29, 2008 at 5:19 am

Has your computer reached the point where you are forced to reinstall Windows? It’s a painful point to reach, but it happens to just about everybody! Whether it is uncontrollable spyware, a deadly virus, or simply too many programs installed over the years, a fresh install of Windows can make things a million times better.

Working in IT myself, I find that I have to reinstall Windows at least every 6 months to a year. It simply gets too slow because of all the registry changes and modifications. And it’s also great if you got a used computer from somewhere and you would rather wipe it clean and start fresh.

The only issue with re-installing Windows is that you have to be careful about the reactivation process. By default, if you use the OEM CD that came with your computer when you first bought it, re-installing Windows should be a breeze and you won’t have to reactivate.

However, this may not always be the case. If you don’t use the original CD that came with the computer, you may have to re-activate. Also, sometimes even when you use the same CD, it may not force you to re-activate XP.

You can avoid having to reactivate XP by simply copying a file from your Windows directory and saving it on a USB stick, floppy drive, or CD. When you first activated Windows, XP creates a file called “WPA.DBL” and stores it in the C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32 directory.

Now copy this file to some sort of external storage device and keep it in a safe place. When you go to reinstall Windows, you’ll reach the point where you have to activate. Decline the activation and complete the installation.

Now you’ll need to restart your computer in Safe Mode by pressing F8 on startup to get into the Advanced Boot Options menu.

Go to C:\Windows\System32 and you should see a file called WPA.DBL already there. Simply rename it to something like WPA.BACKUP and then copy your backup version of WPA.DBL to the current location.

Restart the computer and Windows should now be activated and working fine. Remember that this will only work if you use the WPA.DBL file on the same computer that it was originally activated on. If you install XP on a different machine and try to copy the WPA.DBL file there, it won’t activate. Basically, XP looks at the hardware of the computer to create a unique profile for just that one computer. Enjoy!

» Filed Under Computer Tips

Comments

21 Responses to “How to avoid having to reactivate Windows XP after fresh install”

daniel said on : August 29th, 2008 at 7:11 am

this is a great tip!!!
we offer free tech support to the community at my church and this would be helpful for those that bring in their computer without their restore CD.

one question though, is it legal to use a different windows cd (i.e. one that DIDNT come with the computer but the same version as the installed) to install the OS but use the original activation/product key?

Keith Dsouza said on : August 29th, 2008 at 11:48 am

Cool tip, will definitely save a lot of time and patience to reactivate Windows.

Dave Naffziger said on : August 29th, 2008 at 12:49 pm

Is there an equivalent for Vista?

Blake said on : August 29th, 2008 at 1:05 pm

Nice tip. I don’t see that file though in Windows Vista. Any ideas?

gnonide said on : August 29th, 2008 at 4:17 pm

Thank you man, I loved this tip.

Offtopic:

What is that shell extension that you’re currently using in your windows XP? (That showing the folders in address bar like in Windows Vista)

Michello said on : August 29th, 2008 at 4:55 pm

Very useful. Thanks for tip!

Wyatt said on : August 29th, 2008 at 8:16 pm

Um, The Advanced Boot Options screen you show is for Vista…
Does this work for Vista as well?

KnightOwl said on : August 29th, 2008 at 8:39 pm

This article may explain why formatting the hard disk could result in reactivation. Copying over the WPA file will not work. Scroll down the page …

http://aumha.org/win5/a/wpa.php

Matt said on : August 29th, 2008 at 9:14 pm

It is valuable to back up the two files WPA.DBL and WPA.BAK from the Windows\System32 folder.Then, should they get damaged, or should you do a ‘Repair’ reinstallation of Win XP, these files can be copied back to restore the prior activation status.

However, this only works in those limited circumstances. The contents of these two files is matched to the specific Windows setup; therefore, contrary to what many journalists and members of the user community have written in recent months, restoring these files will not restore your activation status following a reformat and clean install.

McJoe said on : August 29th, 2008 at 9:29 pm

Good tip, but I think the days of reinstalling every six months belong to the Win95 era. I very much doubt that a bloated registry would have any noticable affect on the performance of a reasonably modern PC. It’s much more likely your computer is slowing down because of all the trojans and spyware installed by all the pirated software you use.

f2x said on : August 29th, 2008 at 9:35 pm

If MS (or anyone else) had disclosed this early on, it could have dispelled a LOT of animosity. Only recently have I installed XP on my computer due to work related issues. The Windows Activation “feature” was a real turn off for me because I was extremely concerned about losing my ability to re-activate on subsequent re-installations. Had I known this trick, I would have purchased XP years ago. Then again, I probably wouldn’t have become quite the Linux geek I am today had it not been for the onus of “remote rejection”.

Guss said on : August 29th, 2008 at 9:41 pm

Tried with Windows XP pro SP3 (using the same machine),after the re install the above method does not work …

Mark said on : August 29th, 2008 at 10:00 pm

@daniel:
Yes, you can, as long as you have a legal license key with which to activate the O/S.

John Higdon said on : August 30th, 2008 at 12:09 am

This only sometimes works. If you’ve upgraded your machine with the magic number (7) of changes you still have to call Micro$loth to have your activation completed or you will get the new nag screen.

Syed said on : September 1st, 2008 at 2:07 am

Terrific!!!!!!!!! I work for an IT company and normally we do heaps of fresh re installation for our clients. I’m hoping I don’t need to do any more phone activation. Great tips. Thanks

james said on : September 4th, 2008 at 8:33 pm

Hi there , i have a chinese XP (legal one) and i know a friend of mine told me we can change the language of XP on microsoft site.He did it from english to french and vice versa. I work in china but i cannot read chinese yet and would like to change mine to either english or french.Can i do the same?

andy said on : October 14th, 2008 at 5:49 pm

i had a problem with my orange broadband which i couldn’t fix……i risked a clean install of my genuine Xp home SP3 OEM i bought a week earlier (60£)…..great to say it installed and re-activated over the internet….i didnt do any changes to the system components though….

Merlin said on : November 22nd, 2008 at 2:24 pm

How should we deal with the following situation:

We have about 16 Win XP-pro licenses, most are SP2, but some are also SP3 CD’s

We have started to upgrade all our PCs with dual processors and S-ATA disks ( for speed and performance)

Guess what happens:
Right ! message “too many installations” pops up and we cannot continue without calling MS. ( TOO MANY ?? its only the second time
Is this the really right way to treat companies that have purchased genuine licenses ??

//I’m really tired of MS and their spyware//

Does anyone have any advice please ?

Merlin

GdubMSNinja said on : December 15th, 2008 at 10:16 pm

With some installations, you need to also copy the wpa.dbl, and the wpa.bak files and proceed to replace as instructed above. Some installations only have the wpa.dbl, but you will see which ones it has in the system32 file to be certain. Also, if you do need to call microsoft and have a volume license, you need to tell the agent the whole situation and mention how many computers you currenty have it installed on (not the ones you havent upgraded yet) and tell them you need to reactivate the software on the remainder machines. The do have at their power to reset the system so you can activate the rest w/o hastle…but dont be a dick to them!! Most struggle to comprehend basic english, so speak slowly in “laymens” terms and repeat your technical goals many times through the call!

Sunil Jain said on : July 6th, 2009 at 10:09 pm

i think this might help if you want to activate Windows without a product key:

http://www.gupshupblog.com/200.....oduct-key/

John said on : October 9th, 2009 at 10:16 pm

I’ve reinstalled win98 every 6 months ever since I’ve had it. My system becomes increasingly unstable and liable to crash. I doubt it’ll be different with windows xp – which I’m about to install now. REformatting fixes my problems 99% of the time and has been an invaluable tool at my disposal. Putting a limit on the number of times you can reactivate is stupid. The important thing to make sure is that this LEGAL copy of windows xp sp3 is on only ONE machine. That’s what’s important, not how many times you’ve installed/reinstalled!!!!