How To Bypass Windows 30 day Activation / Product Key Requirements

 by DuFFxP93
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This is my first Instructable!!! I'll show you how to bypass that annoying activation screen that Windows gives you after your 30 days are up. Microsoft requires you to enter a valid Product key within 30 days of installing Windows. It's a little trick to prevent piracy of their software. I'll show you how to get around that and use Windows normally, and access the Desktop and Start Bar just like you normally would, at least until you acquire a valid product key from Microsoft. Note: I Will be using Windows XP Home Edition. Any other XP version should work as well.

Disclaimer:
Whether you use this information to retrieve files after windows locks up or to access your computer without having to purchase a new CD from Windows, I suggest researching the laws concerning these types of activities before attempting them. I do not support piracy but I do believe users should have access to Windows, i.e. their personal files even in the event of an invalid/used product key.
 
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Step 1: Step 1 - Login to your Account and access Explorer

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Step 1:
Turn on your computer and login to your account. You get a message telling you that you need to activate your product, Click Yes and the Activate Windows screen will load. Now press the windows key + U and Microsoft Narrator should pop up. Click OK for the little disclaimer Narrator gives you and behind it will be the Narrator option screen. In the top left of the Narrator option screen, you'll see a little computer icon, click it and a drop-down menu will appear. Click on About Narrator. On the next pop-up, click the link Microsoft Web site. You now have access to Internet Explorer!!! Whether you have an internet connection at the time or not, it doesn't matter, we aren't actually trying to get online.

Now we are going to access your desktop and Start bar. In the address bar, type: C:\WINDOWS\explorer.exe and press enter.

VOILA! You have access to your entire computer just like you normally would! Don't close Narrator though, because windows tends to realize what you're doing and reset back to the Activation screen. It's not bullet-proof, sometimes my computer will reset back to the activation screen, but you can just do the same thing again as many times as you want!
fretzle06 says: Mar 17, 2013. 12:47 PM
it works for awhile but after about 5 minutes, i can't view my desktop all I can see was my blue back ground with the activation windows and Microsoft narrator ...so how's that?
yandi22 says: Jan 17, 2013. 12:53 AM
how to remove 30 days activation key into window xp sp3
malonzo2233 says: Jul 12, 2012. 3:54 PM
My computers back ground became black.
ShutterBugger says: Dec 5, 2010. 8:49 PM
Here is something from E-How.

How to Bypass Windows XP SP2 Activation

Instructions

1. Click the "Start" button. Then click "Run" and type in "regedit" minus the quotes. Click "OK" and the Registry Editor will appear.
2. Scroll through the list of entries and find "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\WPAEvents." Click it once to see what is inside of the entry.
3. Select "OOBETimer" within the entry and change the value to "FF D5 71 D6 8B 6A 8D 6F D5 33 93 FD" minus the quotes. Hit "OK" to confirm the change.
4. Right-click "WPAEvents" and select "Permissions." Then click "System" and "Permissions for System."
5. Click all the boxes under the "Deny" field so that they are all checked. This prevents Windows from re-activating WPA.
6. Click "OK" and then exit Registry Editor. WPA will now be disabled. If it is not, simply repeat steps 1 to 4 to re-disable it, which Windows will not be able to reverse now that you've denied the System privileges to change the values.

Hope this helps... I have not tried this yet.
~Bob~
Nogeeks in reply to ShutterBuggerMay 19, 2012. 7:41 AM
How are you going to click the Start button if you are staring at the activation screen? smh
ShutterBugger in reply to NogeeksMay 21, 2012. 11:01 AM
You could reinstall XP to get back to the 30 day initial trial period. Then try the hack.
here4help in reply to ShutterBuggerMar 31, 2012. 2:03 AM
You may not get away with this process.

It will work perfectly, but do not make the mistake of going online for windows updates; you will end up not being able to log in (see kmjruth's post of March 15, 2011: "I did this and now when I go to login I still get the activation box...if I say yes to activate it tells me windows is already activated and brings me back to the login screen....if I say no it brings me back to the login screen")

It happened to me and I had to reinstall
kmjruth says: Mar 15, 2011. 6:55 PM
I did this and now when I go to login I still get the activation box...if I say yes to activate it tells me windows is already activated and brings me back to the login screen....if I say no it brings me back to the login screen.

PLEASE HELP!!!!

is there anyway to undo this?
jakkadan in reply to kmjruthNov 25, 2011. 11:34 PM
hey there kmjruth,
i have only juzt joined n' u may already have thiz one sorted out but if not...
juz put in the original os disk u uzed 2 inztall the os, in cd-rom drive, restart n' when u get to second 'r'' for repair, clk on the 'r' and windowz wil proceed 2 reinztall the os but it doezn't elimin8 anything, it juz replacez all the filez that the os put on in the 1zt place, that will fix ur activated-not-activated dilemma.
warm regardz
jakkadan
Nogeeks in reply to jakkadanMay 19, 2012. 7:40 AM
Nice try, jakkadan. You can pretend to be hax0r all you want with your too-hip spelingz, but your "solution" will not bypass XP Activationz.
rickyrodva says: Apr 26, 2011. 2:40 PM
This worked great for me and allowed me to install XP as a virtual OS on my mac. Anyone know if after the 30 days I will need to re-install even though the wpa was changed?
jakkadan in reply to rickyrodvaNov 25, 2011. 11:26 PM
hey there, rickyrodva,
u can get wpa bypass n' activation killer exe'z, free too if u search google
warm regardz
jakkadan
cambob97 says: Oct 23, 2011. 5:06 AM
Or buy XP Professional, there are no activation codes.
jakkadan in reply to cambob97Nov 25, 2011. 11:21 PM
hey there cambob97, i think u r miz-informed coz since about 2005 even professional haz 2 b activ8ed b4 30dayz too.
warm regardz
jakkadan
nbraughler says: Sep 7, 2011. 1:40 PM
If you do not have Internet Explorer as your default browser, but instead use something such as, say, FireFox, then this will not work. Instead, press ctrl+o, browse to "C:\WINDOWS\explorer.exe", click open. When prompted, click save. Then, in the downloads screen, double click it. Press ctrl+j, then click it all times afterwards.
kurt38 says: Jan 10, 2011. 2:13 PM
do you delete everything in the OOBET Timer Box and then add
FF D5 71 D6 8B 6A 8D 6F D5 33 93 FD
zapper067 in reply to kurt38Aug 6, 2011. 4:12 AM
It wont work it will go loop after 30 days and then you are seriously 'condemned'.Think twice before using that method.
comp21 in reply to kurt38Jul 12, 2011. 4:39 PM
It does work cuz i tryed that about 2 times
Treknology says: Apr 15, 2011. 1:28 AM
This sort of information is extremely valuable. What happens in 10 years' time when someone is still running XP because there has been no NEED to upgrade (depending on the tasks for which the machine is used) and MS won't authorize a re-installation?

This WPA system is really going to come back and bite them in the @$$.
kurt38 says: Jan 10, 2011. 2:15 PM
do you delete every entry ...so that there is nothing in the oobet box and then add the above code?
Infinitrium says: Dec 29, 2010. 7:32 PM
WOW, this worked! Awesome!
anandagiri says: Aug 19, 2010. 9:45 PM
hi ,i am giri ,i am getting some error while login into my system .....the error is windows protect activation.....then i press ok it is restarting system ...what can i do for that ...?
rcmz says: Aug 19, 2010. 7:28 PM
Hi,you can try this one: http://password-genius.com
mr.break_it says: Oct 11, 2009. 9:38 PM
torrent
gamerguy13 says: Jul 26, 2009. 5:52 AM
I believe that you can do this with almost any windows version
wlisa says: Jun 5, 2009. 5:49 AM
You could do some research and find a distro of GNU/Linux that will work with the machines specs. Ubuntu Linux at www.ubuntu.com is a great, very easy to use, modern operating system and it is free! Then, there is Damn Small Linux that runs on very few resources. Old machines like that can also be used as servers or firewalls. If you get the machines working with a good, working, legal operating system and if you don't need them, you might also consider donating them to people who can't afford to buy a computer and in that you would get the computers out of the junk pile and help someone less fortunate in the process.
n4zou says: Mar 1, 2009. 5:12 PM
Linux Ubuntu 8.10 is not hard to use, just a little different. I tried a duel boot Windows XP and Ubuntu system after a friend gave me a free Ubuntu Live-CD. After a couple of weeks with Ubuntu I came to detest XP. I subsequently removed XP and now only use Linux. Try Linux using Ubuntu and several other distributions until you find one you like.
59672 says: Feb 27, 2009. 6:27 AM
If you think computers with windows are expensive look at macs. Like cyrozap said use Linux. If is harder to use but is free.
cyrozap says: Feb 25, 2009. 11:52 AM
An easier and more legal (not saying that this is illegal) way to do this: run a live CD of Linux. Google it. I suggest Ubuntu. Nice trick, though. Never have had to do it, however.
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