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How to reinstall Windows without
reactivating |
If you format your hard drive and reinstall XP, but
don't want to have to go through the product activation
process again, you can save the activation status info
and then restore it after you reinstall the operating
system, as long as you haven't made any changes to the
hardware.
Before reformatting, open My Computer, double click the
drive letter on which you installed XP, and navigate to
WINDOWS\System32.
Click "Show the contents of this folder" if necessary.
Copy the following files to a floppy, USB drive, CD/DVD
or network location: wpa.dbl and wpa.bak.
After reformatting and reinstalling XP, select NO when
asked if you want to activate Windows now.
Restart in Safe Mode.
In My Computer, open the WINDOWS\System32 folder and
rename the existing wpa.dbl and wpa.bak files (if you
have them).
Now copy your old wpa.dbl and wpa.bak files to the
System32 folder.
Restart and you should not be requested to activate
again. This only works when you reinstall Windows on the
same computer and the hardware remains the same.
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