How exactly does windows product activation work?

[coolred]

I have been doing a lot of tinkering lately and have reinstalled Xp 3-4 times in the past couple weeks. Each time I call MS, they ask me to make sure I am only using it on one computer, then happily activate it for me every time. It seems to me that you could just keep doing this for multiple systems. I can't believe thats all there is to it, but I don't know. I thought it had somethign to do with some peices of hardware.

 

[TechnoPro]

Here's my take:

Assume I were to leak my product key onto the net... So all these warez people download this product key to install XP. Should they be foolish enough to activate Windows, the activation server will eventually detect that said product key is compromised and will prevent futher activation even if you call the 800 number. This would clearly not be beneficial to me as the original "pirate" as now my own copy is worthless.

So while it doesn't discourage casual copying that much, it prevents mass copying efforts.

On another note, you have a 30 day grace period to activate XP. Why waste your time after each reinstalltion if you are continually tinkering? Seems silly to me...

 

[skyking]

Yes, by all means wait the full 30 days!! There is no need to rush off, just learn to ignore the prompts till you are sure you have your system sorted out.

 

[coolred]

Ah, I didn't know that. I didn't really think that i would have to reinstall so many times anyways though.

 

[spyordie007]

If you're doing frequent reinstalls on the same hardware just make sure to grab the wpa.dbl file in your %systemroot%/system32 directory (typically c:\windows\system32) before you kill your old install. So long as your hardware doesnt change you can just stick the file back in the system32 directory after you reinstall windows and it wont prompt you to re-activate.

More information on the technical details of product activation and re-activation requirements:
http://www.microsoft.com/techn.../evaluate/xpactiv.mspx

Cheers,

Erik

 

[Navid]

This copying of the dba file used to work for the original beta version of Win XP and first release.

Since XP1, I have not been able to use it. I have also seen references to it not working on the web by those who experienced same as I did.

 

[spyordie007]

Originally posted by: Navid
This copying of the dba file used to work for the original beta version of Win XP and first release.

Since XP1, I have not been able to use it. I have also seen references to it not working on the web by those who experienced same as I did.

If that's the case bummer; I've never actually had to do it on any of my machines so I wouldnt have seen the change in behavior.