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A friend of mine recently ran into an interesting case where he found out that the  Windows XP installed on his computer is not a genuine copy. This was a shocker as he had purchased his copy of Windows XP from a authorized distributor. Later he also figured out that the Windows XP key on the box and the one installed on his computer do not match. This kind of relieved him by assuring that the copy installed on the machine or the key used to activate the version was not the genuine one and his money is still not lost.

Often when you are stuck in situations like these, most of the so called “gurus” recommend that you format your machine and re-install Windows XP with the new key. In my opinion, thats just lame and tiring and time consuming step. All you need to do is change the Windows XP Product key and replace the fake key with the genuine key. This article describes step by step instructions for modifying the Windows XP Product Key.

It must be noted that this article requires changes to the Windows Registry and therefore you are advised to  take a backup of the registry before making any changes.

1.) Open registry editor by typing Regedit at the Run.

2.) Navigate to the Registry key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. Next navigate to Software.

3.) Under Software, navigate to

Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\WPAEvents

4.) When you have navigated to the above mentioned key, on the right, lookout for ODBETimer. Right click on ODBETimer and select Modify. Here for the value, just change a minimum of one character by deleting or modifying the value. The change in value renders the existing product key invalid and also deactivates Windows.

5.) Next, Click on Start –> Run and enter the below mentioned command. Replace <windows_directory> with the Windows installation directory for your system. Usually for default installations this is C:\Windows

<windows_directory>\system32\oobe\msoobe /a

6.) After this Windows will present to you an Activation screen. The one you would have also seen during the installation. Here, select the Option which says ” Yes. I want to telephone a customer service representative to activate Windows” and click on the button marked Next.

7.) In the next step, select “Change Product Key” and enter the product key in the boxes mentioned on the screen and then click Update. If you are returned to the previous window, click Remind me later, and then restart the computer.

Once the above mentioned steps are through, reboot the system. Once the system is rebooted, you’ll be prompted to reactivate your copy of Windows through the normal activation process.

Also Read: [Windows 7] Product Activation Keys for Windows 7 Release Candidate

[How-To] Find Product Keys of any Software Installed on your PC

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