XP Pro CD Key - OEM Ver SP2

[Pegasus]

lo,

Upgraded PC recently, new mobo, cpu and ram. Got a nasty drive read error so i formatted bothe drives, losing a lot of stuff.

So reinstalled XP and the 30day activation came up, said 'please enter your cd key crap' and...*enters CD key*...acording to our records key is invalid bla bla bla.

So i dont really need to know what to do :(

[Fusion]

If it is a legit copy of Windows, I suggest you call MS.

[Pegasus]

Its legal alright, but again thats whats pissing me off, when you pay for a legit version and cant use it without all this other crap :( Tho i cant see why MS dint anticipate that people will need to reinstall there OS. This is what makes me think thers a way round it.

[Porthos]

There is 1 way i know of to work around that but i dont remember 100% anymore which file u need to use.

Well anyway before u format, there is a file that contains your activation info which u should copy to another disk or floppy and when u reinstall windows just have to copy that file back into the windows directory. That way windows will be activated again... but as i said i dont remember the name anymore :(

[Fusion]

Just call MS and explain the situation, I am sure they will resolve the situation promptly.

[Skullsmasher]

Just wondering if my little haxx0r prog did ya any good? :p

Anyway u should be able to do the changes online without calling MS me think..

[Predator21]

This program [URL removed] lets you change your CD key without formating each time - hope it helps.

[Kali81]

This happens to me more than i care to remember. just call them, they ask for the first line or your address and a couple of digits from your cd key. oh but thats after you try and use the automated system - just stay on the phone and it puts you through to an operator.