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How to login to an expired Windows

Microsoft has a neat little way to prevent software piracy of their Windows operating system. "Windows Genuine Advantage"[edit: I stand corrected, it has nothing to do with WGA] with its "Product Activation" requirement. Essentially, even with a valid product key, you still need to activate your Windows to ensure that only one computer is using that specific product key. If you can't activate your Windows, there being many reasons for this, you are left with a 30 day grace period to change your product key to one that is fully valid or get in contact with Microsoft and plea your case.

Once your grace period is up, Windows refuses to let you login anymore. You cannot access your files. You cannot go on the Internet. You cannot do anything, except the thrill of trying to activate Windows.


Well, luckily for me I do not have to worry about this issues, as my Windows is valid and activated. However, for those who do not and have been so unfortunate enough to have their Windows expire on them, I present to you a bit of relief. How to gain access to your files on an expired Windows, with even enough functionality to surf the web, talk on MSN Messenger, and load up most of your applications. It doesn't give you full functionality of Windows, but it will be enough to get the job done until you can find the time to activate your Windows. Best of all though, it's all very simple and easy to do!!!

First, turn on your computer and wait until you get to the Windows login screen.

Next, click to login as usual. You should get an error from Windows telling you that your Windows has expired and is asking whether you would like to activate Windows now. Click Yes.


A "Let's activate Windows" window will appear. Let's minimize it. DO NOT close it.



Now, hold down the Windows Key on your keyboard while you also press the "U" key. This will open up the Narrator program to help assist those with poor vision. It is this program that will help us login to our Windows.

Click the little computer icon in the top left hand side of the Narrator window. A drop down menu should appear. The last option in this menu is named "About Narrator...". Click it. This should open up another window called "About Narrator".

In this window, there should be the text "Microsoft Web site". Click it, as it is a link and will open up your Internet Explorer, taking you to the Microsoft Accessibility website. Howrah! Internet access!

As if Internet was not enough, in the address bar of Internet Explorer, type "c:\". This should display all your hard drive contents on drive "C". From there you can load navigate your way around your computer, loading specific programs, and most whatever else.

Some common directories as to where you can find personal files and programs are:

C:\program files\
C:\documents and settings\username\Desktop\
C:\documents and settings\username\Documents\
C:\documents and settings\username\Start Menu\Programs\

On a side note, certain programs cannot be opened while Windows is still not activated. You will also not have a Task Bar at the bottom of your screen, as trying to open it will just result in it shutting itself down a few moments later. MSN Messenger works though, as well as most other non-Windows-based components.


Disclaimer: I do not applaud piracy, but I do feel people should have access to their personal files, regardless of whether Windows has expired or not. This tutorial should not be used to bypass Windows Activation, nor does it restore full Windows functionality, but I provide it to those who are in desperate need of accessing files that are suddenly lost to them through the Microsoft Genuine Advantage activation system.

[Update: some say it works even better with Vista, as the explorer.exe does not close shortly after you try to open it as it does in XP. Unconfirmed.]

Comments

Unknown said…
Perfect. Wow.

So say can you press Windows Key+ R fo rhte run box?
Anonymous said…
Or you could just go into safe mode with a DOS prompt; type explorer.exe and have a full safe mode machine running allowing you to bypass the activation with a hack ;).
Anonymous said…
Install any Linux distro and it will read all of your "important" personal Windows files.

Copy them over to your Linux system and then forget about the rest.
Anonymous said…
This. is. just. sheer. genius!

I'm always looking for unanticipated ways around things like this, just for the heck of it. You've made my day.
Anonymous said…
or you can boot into safe mode with command prompt, go to c:\windows\ and type 'explorer'.
Joe Mulloy said…
Windows Geniunie Advantage is a new thing. It has nothing to do with Windows XP activation. WGA is something that is in Vista and can be downloaded for XP. On XP you need WGA to validate your copy of widows in order to install certian updates, including IE 7, Windows Media Player 11 and some new powertoys.

What your talking about is Product Activation.
Anonymous said…
Cant you just go to File > Open > C:\Windows\explorer.exe in internet explorer?
Anonymous said…
You can't get to Safe Mode or Safe Mode With Command Prompt once your copy of Windows has expired. It will only go to the Activation screen.

This trick, however, works great! Kudos!
Anonymous said…
Yank the HD, slap it in a USB case and plug said case into another machine to get old files.

Bootable Linux CD is realy the best way though, course Windows users who find this article useful are petrified of Linux and call it Line-ex to impress people at work.
Anonymous said…
Of course I pronounce linux, lee-nooks.
Unknown said…
Sheesh guys, give the guy a beak - its a great little tutorial - I bet someone will run across this some day and scream for joy realizing their files are not locked away forever in Microsofts evil clutches.

Good job bro
Anonymous said…
Quit being a jew and by the freakin' software

http://www.nimbusters.com
Steve said…
thanks everyone. i do appreciate the comments, good or bad. im surprised this article has gone over as well as it has though. sorry for any errors in it, but i hope it does help someone out eventually.

haha. if you really want to say thanks. note the donate button on the side. :D

thanks,
-steve
Anonymous said…
Switch to Linux!
Erofee said…
anonymous: quit being a racist.
Anonymous said…
Cant you just go to File > Open > C:\Windows\explorer.exe in internet explorer?

learn to read, dumbass.

You will also not have a Task Bar at the bottom of your screen, as trying to open it will just result in it shutting itself down a few moments later.
Anonymous said…
Congratulations on finding this out. Good job. This could be useful. But, how about switching to Linux as another option ?
Anonymous said…
The 'ananymous' who said:
"Quit being a jew and by the freakin' software"

I hope you weren't being a BIGOT and just spell badly, and that what you wanted to say was:

"Quit being the few that buy the freakin' software".
Anonymous said…
But, how about switching to Linux as another option ?

Because, unfortunately, most common folk have no knowledge of Linux, and do not want to face another learning curve regardless whether it's high or not. Most choose to stick to what they've grown accustomed to.
Anonymous said…
THANK YOU!
I literally just ran into this problem today and this tip worked perfectly!
Anonymous said…
So which is to say, you get to use a browser to find the next Vista WGA activation/hack for the O/S...
Oh well, perpetual demoware is better than nothing, but then again so is Linux!
If only the marketplace would demand more software be written in both Linux and Windows O/S, but no commercial profit to be gained to write for a free o/s, eh?
Anonymous said…
hey...
boot it with linux from cd/dvd/usb and you can get all your files with linux's power..

just throw it and switch to linux
Anonymous said…
who said anything about linux? bunch of freakin fan boys...thats the digg effect for you
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said…
Brendan: Learn the difference between race and religion.
Anonymous said…
I don't know what You don't like in this software ... or maybe You have heard, that "greatest hackers" use Unix and Linux and You decided to rot on Microsoft. I have never see Operating system, which does not have any problems. The same matters about the software products. If everything was perfect there would not be new product versions. I can't understand people who rot on some software product ... If You don't like it don't use it or write one yourself and prove us how stable You can make it!!!
Anonymous said…
Linux is awesome, and very powerful. I don't know how practical it is to recommend the average user switching to it. But those who are bashing it, either #1 haven't used it there fore they are not allowed to bash something they haven't used or #2, they have used and didn't put forth enough effort to learn it.

BTW, nice job to the poster of this article.
Anonymous said…
Anybody try just setting the CMOS clock back a year?
Anonymous said…
What user context does this run under? Does it give you full administrator privileges? If so, you've just discovered a huge local system security hole--equivalent to clicking "cancel" on Windows 95/98.
Anonymous said…
the os you USE is not letting you in, you dont know linux off hand or have any distros, yea ... lets use linux because it will make everything so much easier at the moment
Anonymous said…
Try Knoppix.
Anonymous said…
You may want to consider using Linux. With Vista coming, Microsoft wanting another $140, and them becoming much more strict on upgrades (change out hardware and you have to buy a new copy of Vista!), I've decided not to put up with that tyrrany. I can do everything I need so far in Linux except Quicken and games.
Aaron said…
See the absolute saddest part of this ALL is that Microsoft will probably have a hotfix for this exact "bypass" procedure.

Not to mention, they won't allow you to access your own personal files. This comes into play as a privacy concern for me. AS it is NOT Microsoft's responsibility nor right to hold my files for randsom.

EULA OR NOT! It's extortion.
Anonymous said…
I did this myself one time when my windows expired to soon because I did some mess with the date and time properties. But i went by another way, where windows was also proposing to visit the windows site or somethin.
Anonymous said…
This is a great workaround, I don't think it has anything to do with piracy at all. My case in point is a machine that I bought second hand with XP installed, but the guy I bought it off had reinstalled, but not activated the OS. This trick would at least have allowed my daughter some functionality until I chased down microsoft and "pleaded my case".
Thumbs up.
PS I did boot it with Leenucks (however you want to pronounce it) but my teenage daughter just isn't that.
Anonymous said…
If you are worried about file access in event of ANY opperating system failing to load for whatever reason then go to http://www.nu2.nu/pebuilder/ and spend a couple hours tobuild your own bootable XP baised CD. Toss it in a drawer and forget it. Someday you'll be glad you did.
Anonymous said…
Seems like in order to sell Vista, they need to lock down XP. Maybe it's time to move on and get a Mac or Linux as others suggested?
Frosty said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Frosty said…
I used to subscribe to the formula of upgrading to the latest windows on my work machines everytime they came out with something new. but this product registration bit is a form of illegal tyranny in my book and I no longer use windows

Mac is the way to go. It does everything I need and no longer do I have to put up with someone else telling me what I can or cannot do or when I will do it with my machine.
Anonymous said…
THIS TACTIC IS STUPID, THERE IS AN EASIER AND BETTER WAY!

I know this works on Vista. If the system won;t let you log on because your key is expired, simply choose, "Activate with a new key from Microsoft".
That will launch a web browser. Then type in c:\windows\explorer.exe and hit enter. Windows will fully load up (explorer is the shell, the interface)! You will get the task bar, desktop, everything. Just don't close the activation window, or else the system will reboot.

Here is another tactic you can try once you are in Windows to get rid of the activation box without rebooting...
I haven't tried this, but after you are into windows, go to services.ms c and TURN OFF the windows activation service. Then go to task manager and kill the activation window PID.

P.S.:TUX is the man


MS is SOO stupid. If you want to download updates from MS website, go to the validation screen. Once there, turn of Scripting and Active X controls, and pick validate windows. It will take you to the update screen where you can update you computer.
I HONESTLY think the developers at MS let these tricks work on purpose,. I mean, NO COMPANY could be THIS stupid
Anonymous said…
Personally I use both Linux AND Windows. I'm weird like that.

Anyway, my advice (if you just want to get to your files and nothing more) is to get a hold of one of the Linux Live CDs (e.g. Ubuntu, Knoppix) and use it to copy the files you want to another drive (e.g. an external drive). There are websites all over detailing how to do this. Just do a Google Search.
Unknown said…
After you have don this you can run sysprep and get your machine run without any problems fore 30 days!!!
Anonymous said…
So, how does someone without Windows keys on their keyboard (being a curmudgeon, I use IBM Model M clicker keyboards) do this?

One other note: While the Task Bar may not be available, if the system is booted up far enough to run Task Manager (using Ctrl+Alt+Del), there should be a File...Run command option available from the Task Manager. You could run Explorer.exe or other commands from there.
Anonymous said…
How did an article that is unrelated to Operating System choice become a barrage of Linux fanboys touting the merits of their superior OS?

I am sure that in the Linux forums, if you got a response to a Linux article or problem of:

"Well, just switch to Windows"

you would regard this as unintelligent and not adding anything to the conversation. Stop trolling if you don't have an intelligent comment.

I applaud the author of this tip for pointing out a clever way to solve a problem that some Windows users may run across.
Anonymous said…
Not to tout Linux or any of the other alternatives but FUCK MICROSHIT WINDOWS. I use it. I hack it when I can, it sucks most of the time. You are in love with it? Get help.
Anonymous said…
I think that Ctrl-Esc is the equivilant of the Windows key.
Anonymous said…
Thank you so much. Instead of using the narrator all I did was go to the window were it visit windows website. Searched for a crack on my laptop and downloaded it burnt on a cd transfered it to my pc and installed the activation crack and now it works . I completely forgot about using the directories in IE if it werent for this blog I would have reformated my pc.
Anonymous said…
Don't forget about the alternative shells out there! :)

Desktop shell replacements

In case you want to run an explorer.exe like shell.

I'm thinking maybe this could be ran as a logon script?
Anonymous said…
Or once you've installed linux you could just go and play on the highway during rush hour. cause that's its the same. the person that runs ya over is the person that bought a copy of windows xp and activated it after installing it like its supposed to be done. jew1
Anonymous said…
just make the jump to linux ( mines PCLinux Os ), I`m no nerd, I`m not in the industry, I can`t program, and I don`t know what a script thing is or does. But I can use Linux, especially the one above because its so easy.
Wait to all you M$ fans start using vista and start playing and copying your favorite music and videos. From what I`ve read, you ( and all the "millions of public users" ) are in for a big BIG surprise...
Anonymous said…
Some of programms don't open by twice clicking on exe icon, such as RevConnect. Those programms can be opened by pushing "Run as..."
Anonymous said…
To the poster who suggested setting the CMOS clock back, that doesn't work, somehow MS knows it's been in the future already ;)
Anonymous said…
Devil is filthy, not Jesus, don't blaspheme!
Anonymous said…
To all you linux users, the reason we use windows is because it's simple (except from when it goes wrong). What we should have done is tell Microsoft to fuck off in 95 and stick to 3.1 or 3.11. That would have solved the stability and the activation problems.

On the day of the release of vista, I got a chance to use it and honestly I find it crap. It appears to have taken the worst of windows (it's good old stability!!!), the complicatedness of linux and the interface from OSX. The price is outrageous, and ontop, you have to buy office at about the same price (there go the month's wages to our good old friend BILL).

Linux is pointlessly complicated and I can't see people using it much (it took me a week to install a driver when I had the instruction booklet).

PS: It's a great article. :)
Anonymous said…
I've used Linux and Windows for years. Both suck, Windows sucks less
Anonymous said…
THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU
WPA_Kill.exe
Anonymous said…
dis article rocks! fuck all d othr dumb asses. peace
Anonymous said…
You can run the programs that normally won't run in this mode by renaming them. For example CMD.EXE will automatically terminate after about 1 minute. However renaming to CMDX.EXE will allow it to run indefinitely. Renaming explorer also works, but then running EXPLORERX (or whatever) won't result in the taskbar. To enable that you need to tweak the registry
HKLM/SOFTWARE/MICROSOFT/WINDOWS NT/CURRENTVERSION/WINLOGON/SHELL.
Anonymous said…
Or you can ring MS on +448000188354 to get your product activated!
Anonymous said…
LOL, i was desperate to find a solution, thanks a lot, you made my day dude :)
Anonymous said…
http://theexplodingboy.wordpress.com/
Anonymous said…
After installing Xp only less than a week ago you can imagine my horror when the Activate Windows now prompt appeared at windows startup. Last time I used my PC I had been messing around with setting the date a couple of years back in order to register an old graphics program.

I just finished installing all development software and copying all my data to new system so a reinstall of XP is not an option until I can copy my data to an external drive.

Looks like I will be using Knopix to hopefully copy data to external drive and then reinstalling XP or waiting on the phone for days.
Anonymous said…
This is not a forum to discuss if Linux is better than Windows, it is to help those with an expired Windows password. Great info from Steve, I learned a few things from you. You may have to start in safe mode or Steve’s suggestion may work
a) Magical Jelly Bean Version 1.41 allows you to change the windows key
b) Windows XP Product Activation Hack! WinXP.Activation.V1.1English.rar (661 KB). You will asked to insert a Windows XP disk to copy the required files from.
c) Interesting article about window keys and how to manipulate them. http://www.experts-exchange.com/OS/Miscellaneous/Q_21851820.html
OK, since I live inside a volcano on top of a mountain in a third world country and can’t post attachments what I have decided to do is to e-mail these programs to a bogus Hotmail account which you can then access / forward / copy or save the programs from. The account is [email protected] and the password is zxcvbnm.
The text file contains several thousand somewhat legitimate XP SP2 serials / keys, try to use the one of these serials in conjunction with the magical jelly bean finder.
If you found my input useful let me know, I’m trying to sort out a friends computer half way around the world.
Now there’s some USEFUL info, unlike “change to Linux” - Bahhhhhh
Anonymous said…
One other solution which might work will be to reinstall windows using the repair option which comes up after the End User Agreement screen. If you do not have a Win XP SP2 disk, borrow one and use one of the 3000 plus almost legitimate serials that I left as an attachment on the bogus [email protected] account (password zxcvbnm). To reinstall windows, start the computer and you will be given an option to boot from CD by pressing any key. If this message does not come up you need to enter setup (F2 on some computers, DEL on others and F10 on Compaq) and set the boot sequence so it boots from the CD first. Once you boot from the CD it is straight forward, ignore the Repair Console option and choose the Repair Option that comes up after end user Agreement. If you get a screen that talks about file systems FAT - NTFS do not go ant farther, BAIL!!!
Once Windows has reinstalled you will be given the option to Turn Off Automatic Updates, TURN THEM OFF!!! You will be asked if you want to register – answer NO!!!
Good Luck
Anonymous said…
HA! Using a MS hotmail as a platform to pirate MS Software is pure GENIUS. I'm not buying more than 1 copy of windows for all the computers only I use. Linux sucks. Get a Mac. And pirate windows when you need fancy spreadsheets.
Anonymous said…
UPDATE UPDATE UPDATE.

This is for those of you with an expired Windows XP SP2.

If you ever read the article, you may have noticed that holding down the Windows and 'U' keys together doesn't work with XP2, so it seems that you can't use the Internet Explorer trick. Don't panic, it's possible to do it, but in a different way.

Yesterday night, my Windows XP SP2 expired, so I was unable to log in. There are two things that can be done:

1) Reboot the computer and start Windows in safe mode with command prompt. By this time, you should have the cracks or whatever you're going to use to crack Windows available, since in in safe mode with command prompt you don't have network access, so no Internet will be available. If you need Internet access you can start with method #2 and then try safe mode again.

Once in safe mode, you only see the command prompt. Type "explorer" and press Enter. Now you have desktop, taskbar, system tray and anything you like, so you can browse to a Windows Activation hack tool or whatever. If you need a crack, I've just attached one to one new email at the hotmail account [email protected] account (password zxcvbnm)

2) The first thing I tried was the well-known Windows + 'U' trick, but it didn't work. I tried anything similar (Windows + 'E' and s on) but nothing worked. I was desperate, until I tried with Windows + 'U' + Ctrl + Alt + Del (5 keys, incredible). Surprinsingly enough, it worked and directly opened an Internet Explorer Window. Since Windows had booted normally, I had Internet access, which is a plus.

Now comes the harder and tricky part. According to the old Windows + 'U' trick, you could just browse to 'c:\windows' and run explorer.exe to keep working on your expired Windows or open any other application. Well, this doesn't work either, since now Windows says you don't have enough permissions or something like that (my Windows is in Spanish, so I don't know the English error message). But, as always with Microsoft software, there's a workaround. If you right click on the application you want to run and choose 'Run as' you can tell Windows to run it as Administrator, entering the Aministrator's password, and voila!, the application starts without complaining about permissions of whatever.

As far as I have tried, this doesn't work with explorer.exe or taskman.exe, so it seems like it doesn't work system utilities, but for me it worked with Notepad, Wordpad, WinRAR, OpenOffice and even Outlook Express and eMule. The only annoying thing is that you must know where every executable you may need is installed. Now, since you'll also have usb support, you can plug in an usb memory stick with a cracking utility and remove the activation.

Try the crack I mentioned in point 1). Works like a charm
Anonymous said…
Thak you john... more than 2 days to fix the problem and with your help i fixed that in seconds. Thank you again
Anonymous said…
hmm, this could be handy because my vista will apparantely expire tomorrow, ah well I still have OS X (what? you say), as for Linux I installed Fedora 6 but the damn thing always freezes during startup, plus there are no drivers for half of my hardware
Anonymous said…
Funny... for the last few weeks Vista has kept telling me it was going to expire, today every hour it has reminded me to back everything up, it got to zero hours a couple of hours ago so I rebooted and it's still working....hehehehe
Anonymous said…
These comments have been invaluable to me as is this whole site. I thank you for your comment.
Anonymous said…
To those of you saying BUY IT NIMROD: Nice way to assume we all want this because we are stealing windows. I am an IT Manager and I have a user that is out of the office and his LEGAL Vista expired on him. He isn't the techiest guy and is having the hardest time reactivating his Vista. This should, at least, buy him a few days until he is back in the office and I can fix this for him.

Thanks.
Anonymous said…
Quite simple once you think of it... but neat. Nice info Steve!
Anonymous said…
Thanks a lot! I has a problem to activate legal copy over internet just by stupid reason - I need to change network settings for access to internet, but no way to do it, windows is locked, safemode+net too. 10 seconds full access that I have using this trick was enough to change ip config, and next 10 second windows was activated. I wasted 4 hours for finding solution, and at the end is so easy...
THANKS!!!!
Anonymous said…
Hey
it won't actually let me log on at all it just asks whether or not I wish to activate Window and when I click yes it automatically logs me straight back out :/

Help please?
Anonymous said…
Thank you sooooo much! I was crying that my quickbooks file was trapped in there inside a parallels for Mac VM.
Anonymous said…
Im trying this now and so far im in with firefox open, but thats not really that much use if i want to copy all my files to disks.

But heres a few tips ive found, open an image in your browser or select some text, right click and click send to, or something similar, this gets you into outlook express and word if you have these, from here you can get into VB, i also found if you browse the pictures from say clipart, you can right click and click explore on things like my documents, this also fully restores the system, however it logs you out after about a minute.

So heres the ultimate solution for getting past this.

Boot your pc, twat F8 or del on some pcs, whatever your key is to get into the BIOS, then set the date back.

BOOYAH! Ive used this method for about a year, works like a charm, until now and its finally caught up with me.

Now its just a case of finding the right date again, or hacking my way in the system.

Fun.
Anonymous said…
Thanks, you saved me a reformat.. I used Antiwpa to lose the annoying activation.
Anonymous said…
BINGO! I love the internet community. I hate it when a company becomes a monopoly. Check this out and what the internet community is capable of - radical transparency. http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/15.04/wired40_ceo.html

Also need to expose emachines. They have a dirty little secret that when the hard drive is reformatted, partitioned, or replaced - you cannot reload XP with the restore disk (and apparently with anything).

MSB
Albuquerque
Anonymous said…
Or You Could Just Get A MAC, so much better than windows.
Anonymous said…
Some of this may require you do a bit of research.

Boot to command prompt and replace (rename the old one for saftey) C:\windwos\system32\winlogon.exe with a good copy (you will have to find one.)
Add a reg key by creating a text file, adding the following lines and renaming it whatever.reg:
[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\WPAEvents]
"OOBETimer"=hex:7f,63,3e,be,ec,25,8e,19,be,a7,92,c6

Use the following command, pointing it towards your created file.

Reg import whatever.reg

reboot
Anonymous said…
THANK YOU SO MUCH!! I brought my computer secondhand over the net and he had put windows on it but I wasn't sure if it was copied or not. Thank god this helped me (without any corruption) to get a years worth of work back!
Anonymous said…
hey guys can anyone email me the windows xp product activation hack program. I tried logging in to the hotmail account but it did not let me in. My email is [email protected] plz help me out!!!!!!!!!!
Anonymous said…
Thanks for interesting post!
Anonymous said…
Can't thank you enough. Getting me through until I can find out why when I attempt to activate I'm getting an "already activated" message. This is on a re-install of XP Pro. Any ideas on this would be appreciated.
Unknown said…
Thank you so much! I have literally been bawling my eyes out for the past 4 hours because I couldn't get into my computer and get my paper, which is due tomorrow! I just bought my comp used and this was my first time using XP- and I didn't know what the activation thing was so I just kept Xing out of it. Until it expired yesterday and I couldnt get into my computer! But when I tried to activate it, it said I don't have a valid product. I tried talking to them on the phone and told them what happened and that I bought it used but they just said basically too bad. I'm a broke college student too and there's no way I'm shelling out the cash for another XP disk!! Thanks for the life-saving trick!
Anonymous said…
Picturing someone bawling their eyes out for 4 hours literally - lol.

Good post.

I'm yet to try any of the fixes, but you get a standing ovation from me and the little people standing next to me.

Why does Bill want all this money for windows anyway,

didn't he steal windows himself, in the first place?

How's a thief gonna be upset with fellow thieves?

C'mon Bill,

You steal, I steal, why can't we be friends:)

- Art27
Anonymous said…
Hi guys can anyone email me the windows xp product activation hack program. I tried logging in to the hotmail account but it did not let me in. My email is giedrala25yahoo.co.uk please help.
Anonymous said…
Good job ... very helpful ... it saved my life once:)
Anonymous said…
This is glorious. After doing a repair install today, I installed service pack 2 before I even setup my internet connection. Windows said I had 3 days to activate, then when I rebooted, it gave me the activate now error message. This trick let me hack around the system to setup my connection so it could activate. Thank you.
Unknown said…
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said…
Hey y'all. I cant get into the hotmail account to get the hack program. Can someone send it to me ? My email is [email protected]. Thx in advance
Anonymous said…
This was AWESOME. My problem was that my network settings were messed up so I couldn't register over the internet and the phone route just wasted 30 minutes of my life with no success.

I was able to get the network up and running and all is well!

-Brooke
Anonymous said…
I'm working on this PC with XP that after having run fine for over a year, now suddenly needs to be actived...

Problem is that windows activation does not start - so XP logs out immediately again.
Will go for the solution to put the drive in another PC.
Anonymous said…
Hi Everyone...I recently bought a laptop from a friend of a friend and my daughter accidentally deleted something so I ran a system restore. The power went out in the middle of the restore so then I had to do a repair. My hubby finished the repair for me but in doing so he did not run the setup for internet..he just skipped it..so now its asking to activate windows and I can't configure my wireless connection at all. I haven't bought a router yet and tried to connect it through my dsl but no luck..I'm new at this stuff so any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Anonymous said…
Works on Windows Vista Business
Anonymous said…
I tried this trick on windows vista business and run timestop. It works perfectly! Now, my friend's computer is working again without reinstalling vista. Thanks for this tip.
Anonymous said…
A better way to do this is to just say you want to activate windows over the internet, after that if your product key is incorrect they will give you a link to their website for help. click on the link and BAM you've got a windows internet explorer window opened. from there you can access your desktop and do anything you want.
Anonymous said…
One of the simple ways to validate windows is also available in a registry file..i think it should be available online. I works all time i have reinstalled Windows with diff keys.I am getting updates from Microsoft after that by mail.

:)
Anonymous said…
works on Windows server 2003 as well :)
Anonymous said…
I used Linux for a while (Ubuntu, and Fedora 8). While they are very fast, and have similar programs (if not better) to replace most of the ones I used before (Ardour, OpenOffice, GAIM, etc), it has inferior hardware support, and there are lots of little annoying bugs, particulally in Fedora 8. For example, when I try to install Synaptics, it complains about packages missing. Why can't yum just download them, or can't they be included in the distro/software.
Also, although Linux doesnt crash as much, when it does, it doesnt recover as well.
I suspended my system, and it wouldnt resume (Linux doesnt seem to like my APM, whereas windows and my home-made DSP operating system both work fine wih it), and when I rebooted, GNOME wouldn't work. I can use KDE effectively, but I prefer GNOME.
I also keep getting access denied messages, when I try to mount or write to my FAT partitions, with no hint in the documentation as to resolving these (besides using 'root' as a user account).
As for removing the WGA and activation stuff from XP, theres a few DLLs you can replace with dummies, and a few registry entries to delete, then you can just log-on normally, as if it had been activated.
I found this, as I tried to activate, and couldn't get through to the MS servers (tried via broadband and dialup), so I ran a linux boot CD with NTFS support and a text web-browser, got instructions for WGA removal off the net, and applied them.
Works a treat.

Incidentally, I'm soon to be moving over to a mac though - its got the performance and robustness of Linux (both based on Unix), but with extensive beta testing too - so less annoying little bugs and inconveniances.
Anonymous said…
I was able to activate my Windows XP using this trick.

I used File - Open in Internet Explorer.

Booted up my domain controller, made a public share with a WPA Crack in it and then browsed to it on the to-be-activated Windows XP machine. Then I ran it and it worked perfectly.

Thanks for finding this out!
Anonymous said…
Thanks Muchly Man...awesome...u r the man..!
Anonymous said…
c:/windows/system32/explorer

you can do everyting now

run wpa kill!!!
Anonymous said…
Hmm, I just eXPerienced this weird (I think) eXPerience. Let's make it short.

I used my previously activated XP HOME OEM product key (about 5 months old) for a fresh installation in my new laptop. I couldn't get activated the new machine with this key, of course. So i let it as is for the whole 30 days, and just expected, the THING locked my access to the system, just this morning.

And then it came to my mind, what if I try to put in a new product key, and activate it? So I googled around and found a bunch of product keys. Let's cook!

I didn't need any software to change my key, because the last time I tried to activate using the old key and failed, it prompted me to enter a new product key.

So I clicked YES on the "would you like to activate now" (or whatever it said, I didn't bother record it) dialog box, and expecting the same "your product key has reached the limit bla bla bla" (whatever) as I eXPerienced 30 days ago. And the result was a shock!

"your product have been successfully activated" (or whatever) !!!!!

And now I have two fully functional win XP home, with exactly the same product key!!! While I wrote this, I'm updating my windows (89 updates!!) without any WGA hassle.

Someone tell me please how can this be possible???
Anonymous said…
Hey guys. This article seems really handy.
Its just im in a bot of a bind. Im using an IBM T40, which doesn't have a Windows key - meaning I can't use the combination Win + U for Narrator.

Are there any other ways of bringing up applications when windows is in this state?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.
Anonymous said…
you can do it much more easy
in the activation screen you can click also a link :P
Anonymous said…
Whats even better, if you use firefox instead of IE, and click on the link, firefox will launch.

You can then access all what firefox can, i.e. "download" something from your desktop - a popup appears with a "show desktop" icon. Click on this icon and you have the whole of your desktop available.

By the way, I do not accept that after I bought it, Microsoft wants me to "activate" something I paid for already. Does MS pay for my invested time for this needless hassle?
Anonymous said…
you guys could just use a hack to activate windows before it goes out it could be done trust me
Anonymous said…
I need some advice.....

I havea harddrive and installed Windows xp home edtition on it... and the grace period ran out is there any way I can get a activation code off the net or skip it?...or do I have to call Microsoft?

It's not hooked up to the net...and I might not even put it on the net period.
Anonymous said…
This article saved my life. I had a Windows 2003 on a Virtual PC that had wrong network settings (a static internal IP address assigned). And the activation grace period expired. I was unable to active the OS because of the wrong network settings.
Thanks to this article I was able to gain access to the Control Panel and remove the static addresses that were blocking the access to the activation center.
Anonymous said…
This is useful too:
_http://www.4shared.com/file/30347365/15c08411/WGA_17591.html
Anonymous said…
TRY THIS LINK ...TESTED AND 100% WORKING FOR ME AND MINE FRND


http://satin2jain.blogspot.com/2008/03/windows-vista-xp-genuine-activation-aio.html
Anonymous said…
If you right-click when your in C: and click search on any of the folders, the task bar opens up, for only 30 seconds, and you can access your desktop and all your files. PS After your 30-45 second glory period it closes all the programs that aren't currently restored (not minimized)
Anonymous said…
Haha. The windows key - u thing isn't even necessary. If you have an invalid cd key, just click activate online. Say no to the registration. It will then tell you that you are not able to activate, and will give you a link in much the same manner as the above mentioned method. I'm leaving this comment in an unactive windows =O
Anonymous said…
I just tried this trick on XP Home Edition, and the link is not active... nothing happens.
Anonymous said…
I'm trying to use parallels transporter to copy my old pc onto my new mac and it worked fine until... when i went to log in it says i need to activate, so i say yes, the desktop background appears and then the activate window shows up with a picture of keys and then nothing at all, nothing to click or type and if you close it it logs you out, so

but i figured out another way in thought i'd share:

shut down, restart, hit F5 to get the boot menu, then F8 for boot options, choose safemode with command prompt,

it will start a cmd prompt, you can't type explorer.exe here, but if you ctrl alt del you get the task mgr then in the file menu choose run and type explorer.exe and you're into the computer in safe mode and can access files etc...

my issue is that you can't activate windows while in safemode, and i can't get into the activation screen the normal way, so i'm still screwed but for those of you trying to get into the machine to salvage your files what i did works
Anonymous said…
Great post. A friend of mine ran into the problem, and I could help him (as a computer profesinal that I am), so now I know one more trick..

And you Linux fans.. you keep on reminding us to switch to Linux.. as if that is going to switch us to a better life, or less problems while working.
I used linux, enough to connect a printer, install graphic driver (that took me only 2 days woooho), printing takes you a few hours to set up, if you wish to set up printing in another room, take another week to find the drivers and arrange the Samba server to operate with windows security. Try installing a USB GSM HSDPA device on your laptop equipped with Linux, like that on a Asus EEE PC, you can throw it away because no way you will ever find drivers for that..
You can install open office on linux, thats great. Now, what happend when someone sends you a .docx or .xlsx file, from the newest office applications.. What, you send back a message saying, sorry send it again so it is compatible with our office system (well that might work anyway).

And again there are specific programs that I use on windows, and those programs are the one bringing me paychecks, that is why I prefer windows. I dont have the time installing graphic card drivers on 200 different computers, but I now how to do it if I wish to spend a lot of time, it does give you a lot more freedom and there is a lot of software, and I will support linux where I can, but from my point of view it's another thing to waste time on before getting results you aim for.

So stop trashing and rambling about switching to a "better" OS, whatever works for you, and whatever brings the results and money is the best choice. Every OS has its advantages and drawbacks, the one that get you the results is the right one. Anything else you have to say about it is just plain old bullshitting and you didnt bring any insights into the topic. And you should be castrated..

The regards go the author of this text as he enabled us to learn a new trick that could come in handy in some situations, and it did now..
Anonymous said…
Thanks you really are a life saver. :D
Anonymous said…
this isn't tested on more than my computer but thanks to your help i was able to navigate to a file browser eventually and cause an error WHERE YOU CAN ACCESS THE DESKTOP AND EVERYTHING JUST AS YOUR LOGGED ON for a short period of time. taskbar and all.

Because i went into the help section and tested all my internet connections their active. windows just wont let me register over the lan. so im just gonna go old school and use the modem.

K first, use his procedure.
then click help on narrator.
in help go to options and click internet options.
go to content tab and click certificates.
go to import.
Next.
Browse.
go up one level, and then right click my documents.
click expand and there should be an error. :) move quickly. it will fix itself.
Anonymous said…
sigh. Its a good article for a quick fix to copy files. I agree with your reasoning of allowing people to get their files after not activating, however, this would generally only be people that pirated the software and can not activate, stuff them. and of course, why is it linux users have nothing better to do than promote it duirng windows conversations/articles. Also where does the 'linnux' pronunciation from from, wasnt it named after Linus Torvalds? not Linnus. and before anyway says it pronounced like it ends in unix, no, no its not. If that was how it was meant, that is how it would be spelled.
Anonymous said…
At the moment I'm using this narrator thing to access a web browser.

I use the open file option and go to my cddrive, right click it and hit open then it gives me an error message which in returns gives me a few seconds of desktop.

My situation goes like this, I use a dell dimensions 8200 from 02, replaced the HD a month ago and didn't have the OS disks anymore. So I used a Emachines backup OS disc someone in my house had. Install went fine, yet I still got the 30 day activation period thing and when I went to try to activate it never worked.

So I tried that registry fix a few days before it expired which just got rid of the counter and didn't do anything overall. I'm still technically locked out of windows, with the exception of the work around I mentioned. Though now when I go to hit "yes" on activate now...I get the pop up that says windows is already activated yet when I hit ok it brings me to the log in screen.

My questions are..

1. is there a way to delete, remove, disable the activation process overall.

2.Is it true I can't reinstall a OS on this after I used an Emachines backup OS disc?

Any help would rule, I don't mind doing things through the narrator but it's annoying.

halp plz.
Anonymous said…
Thank you so much! I've been needing to get a few files off of my laptop, but I didn't do it before my Windows locked up on me. Now I can finally get them. Thanks again!
Anonymous said…
thanks for this blog.. hahaha. it saves us in work... thanks a lot and nice post.
big.bald.dave said…
Dude, awesome work - saved me half a day. :D
Anonymous said…
men just dont know how to thank you.
kudos dude I could get all my info. and therefore reinstall xp and keep going just fine.


keep up the good work
What I don't understand about Microsoft is how such complicated, and I really do mean complicated multi-avenue attacks and viruses are written, almost before the new software is even on the shelf! Makes you wonder just who is writing these viruses and Trojans when you have to have an extremely intimate knowledge of the Microsoft code in order to write the attacks! Do they let just anyone have the code to play ("Beta") with and try to "Break it"...what are they really doing? In 2007 alone, Microsoft has released 5 Cumulative Security Updates and 4 Vulnerability Updates making multiple updates JUST for Internet Explorer. To those of us not privy to the code, we just wonder now, don't we? Now little Nazi Boy Jewish Hater, do not get down on me here, just yet! I am not going to tout Linux, as I have been a sys admin on the SPARC platform for Sun Solaris Servers using Sun’s proprietary Unix SunOS and BSD’s SVR4 or “System 5” since SunOS 4.1.2 (called Solaris 2 internally, or SunOS 5.x externally, for some reason!) in 1990-1991 when it was first was released. BTW: It came with support for multiprocessor - SPARCserver 600MP systems and our servers had (4) - 450mHz Processors (FAST!!!) and It also was the first CD-ROM-only release). I also took Sun Microsystems training in Sun Solaris 8 (actually SunOS 5.8 (x86)) System Admin Boot Camp and Advanced System Administration Solaris 9 (actually SunOS 5.9 – don’t believe me? Do a uname -a at cmd prompt and you will see the OS as a 5.9 for your Solaris 9 OS) Operating Environment in 2000. But alas… in 2005 Sun released the source code for Solaris 10 (SunOS 5.10) so it is now “Open Sourced”, JUST LIKE LINUX YOU LUMMOX (Now you can get mad you Nazi!) and you don’t have to “Guess” what holes are hidden. There are not really any, with the cavieat that it is installed correctly with ports turned off and other such natural things you do!!! All versions of Unix/Linux are potentially at risk from improper and default configurations, and Brute-force attacks against remote services such as SSH, FTP, and telnet are still the most common form of attack to compromise servers facing the Internet, Unix, Linux, MacOS OR Microsoft! But, even Brute force can be thwarted very easily with good password enforcement. Remember, It is important to remember that brute forcing passwords can be a used as a technique to compromise even a fully patched and properly configured system – Unix, Linux, MacOS or Microsoft.
[email protected]
Anonymous said…
Hi,I was lucky to have 2 partition drives. One with my data and another with my OS on it.

I have some important files there and I can't seem to transfer them to my partition.

Any suggestions?
Anonymous said…
Agree with Tony. This can be very useful even for those who have a legitimate copy of XP. I, for example, am VNC'ing into my Windows machine from work, and so I don't have the damn product key in front of me. However, I still need to access the machine. Thanks, Steve, for the method.

- Steve
Anonymous said…
poor.. very poor, man, this is only the half-way into it..

The main-thang is.. USE (almost) fully windows on an expired pc, with taskbar, with start-up-button, with your common desktop, BUT WITHOUT TASKMANAGER (but I bet theres also a way to keep it runnin).

So, finally, in this case yoouu WILL need something else (a file of course) which will prevent windows-security-checkup-something to log you out if you once logged in with this trick.

So that file you need, you could create on a pc which should have almost the same hardware like your pc where you want to use that file for your expired windows.. but in the even best case you did this as a wise man, if you ever had successfully activated your windows once!)

That Files name is: "wpa.dbl" and maybe your friend has a working windows which is already activated, get a try to use that that file (which could be found in x:\windows\system32-folder) and use it on your own system-folder.

OF COURSE, you can try my trick without that succesfully-activated-windows-wpa.dbl (from another pc which is almost with the same hardware-setup like yours, or a wpa.dbl-stored-file) but then you ve got maybe 2 minutes until your system will drop you out..

So if you are finally in that iexplorer-window and once you got your wpa-file you chose over your browser that location of that successfully-activated "wpa.dbl"-file (maybe from an usb-stick) and copy it right into your windows\sytem32-folder, and of course overwright that existing bitch-file xD

So if you already had done that.. you are able to get your Windows-Desktop and your Taskbar back, finally .. that good old Windows look that you are known from before your pc "expired" xD

So go to your browser and open that directory "c:\windows\system32 (or wherever you installed it)" and search for that file cmd.exe (you know.. that important little file) xD

if that dos-shell comes up, type in it :"explorer.exe" of course, thats all

your windows is almost recovered in that you already known before that hackmack. BUT still dont close that "windows-activation-window" minimize that.. and if you dont have a proper wpa.dbl-file I bet you get kicked some minutes later.

But if you have that file, and windows is a bitch, you may have to set it up sooner than you would think. then it could rescue your work on your pc..

Whatever.. have a try!

sincerely
Der-Meister-aller-Klassen
Anonymous said…
Steve...

With your tutorial you made it possible for me to get some files for a task that literally meant me my matric certificate! Dewd, if you didn't post this, I would've failed. Thanks. :D
Anonymous said…
Hey people... with all this said bout microsoft making you pay for your software and activation processes with 30 day trials and blah blah blah... microsoft is "set" upon stolen software as bill gattes "stole" his idea /(software) from a friend.... ironic...
Anonymous said…
Yes verrry nice I yelled Son of a B++tch!! hah great!
Anonymous said…
Great.
Very helpfull.
Thanks.
Anonymous said…
OK here is ALL of what you can do:

Option 1: The Linux Transfer.

- THis is basically just booting of a live cd of linux and viewing your HDD that way. google "how to boot linux live cd"


Option 2: The safe boot.

-Turn off your pc. Turn it on, and when on the boot screen (little blue bar scrolling across on XP) cut the POWER to your computer. (taking out the battery for laptops, turning of the surge-proctecter for Desktops) Now just restart and select "boot into safe mode"

option 3: Mod the BIOS on startup. (i will not explain this because if you are good enough to do this, you would already know how)


Hope this helps!
Rodney said…
Frikkin genius, thanks!
haha169 said…
OR, you can just get a linux distro and recover all your files from there. Even better, Linux will not expire on you - like happened with my Windows XP even though I have a legit copy that worked for 8 years.

Thank god I switched to Ubuntu.
Anonymous said…
What do I do when I have activated my windows and I still get locked ou of windows? I have activaed it when it had 5days left and it still kept on counting down on the start page inside windows everything is fine and when i tell it to activate windows it tells me windows has already been activated. Can anyone please help me. It is a original copy with a valid licensed key.
Anonymous said…
Thank YOU SO F**king Much!!!!!!! :)-',-< You are da man!!!!!!!
Anonymous said…
I would buy windows if it was 50 instead of 200.
Ubuntu is free and they will send you a cd!
Anonymous said…
many said buy the software. DUDE i bouth a PC with the software supposably installed. FROM A STORE. lol. now I am just by passing the damn windows activation bs. Store close down, had to reformat harddrive do to trojans. Got rid of that and now I am stuck with a Windows Xp cd key sticker on my pc thats worth jack crap. I dont wanna go spend more money on this bs. My pc worked great before the reformat, why cant microsoft just except that damn key again and let me reactivate. Your post is great BTW, but I need something to just F... off microsoft's BS. FO real.
Anonymous said…
and BTW LEEENEX linux or what ever u wanna call it, should be ILLEGAL. WHY? why the hell not. its wanna be windows incomplete.
Anonymous said…
I dont get this to work now. i dont know if mickrofot done some thing or whot but when i press windows key and U i see some think plupp upp for 0.02 sec but i do not get the nerriator or somke thing. and to click forword to get the webpage dont work to bekose my nic driver is not working propely so it says i nide internet acsess so i am stuck in a loop
Unknown said…
I dont get this to work now. i dont know if mickrofot done some thing or whot but when i press windows key and U i see some think plupp upp for 0.02 sec but i do not get the nerriator or somke thing. and to click forword to get the webpage dont work to bekose my nic driver is not working propely so it says i nide internet acsess so i am stuck in a loop
Arc. Caesar Oti said…
Helped me today it did. So many comments for a simple problem. Just adding to the talk already here, hehe
Anonymous said…
Absolutely perfect! Thank you!!!!!

I followed the various steps as described to get on-line. After getting onto the MS web site listed above, I managed to go to my C drive, then control panel and uninstall sp3. The uninstall took quite a while - be patient. Once finished, the ctr got stuck and I needed to re-booted. And voila! My ctr was funtional again with sp2 still installed. What a blessing! THE MOST PERFECT SOLUTION!!!!
Anonymous said…
Same problem (message # 32777).

Tried this - no change.

Problem was date & time out by a large amount.

Could have fixed in BiOS but seeing as I was already in IE I browsed to c:\windows\system32

Then ran the cmd file

Typed in date in dos box and then entered correct date
Typed in time in dos box and then entered correct time

Leaving cmd window open I then retried and it allowed me to proceed with the activation.
nononraingam said…
Thanks This really works with XP Home, Pro and Vista Home and Premium.. Great work..Friend.. This helps me a lot of time and money. Go ahead.... Good luck...
Anonymous said…
Thank you! Just needed to get my files off an reload after ordering recovery cds from HP. I never imagined it would lock me out and not let me copy my files off.
Kiran Maharjan said…
It's great, It really help me out, thanks.
Kevin Jackson said…
Thanks so much! I thought I was toast.
Anonymous said…
great tutorial.....

thank you
Thomas said…
Wow!
Since my IP was set to a fixed value when I got locked out I couldnt activate Windows. Now I was able to change IP with your trick and can now activate windows via the web. GREAT THANKS!!!
Anonymous said…
HOW TO OVERRIDE WINDOWS GENUINE NOTIFICATION

Go to

My Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\WinLogon\Notify

delete all files that have the label "WINLOGON"... restart

My Computer => C:\Windows\System32\dllcache.....
delete WGAtray.exe...if it can't be deleted, send it to My Document.Restart
NOBLE said…
TYPE:-c:\windows\explorer.exe in the browser.
Download the explorer.exe & open it.
You will get every thing as before for about 30 secs.
within that time open system restore & restore toa point before the activation had expired.System will logoff.
Then restart your system.
During restarting change the date to one befor e it expired.
Then log on in to your previous system.


Dont forgot to activate the windows using crack AntiWPA.
Download its torrent fromhttp://torrents.thepiratebay.org/3468960/Windows_XP_Activation_Crack.3468960.TPB.torrent .
Anonymous said…
It is so cool!! Thanks.
Anonymous said…
epic win ^^
Anonymous said…
anonymous said: "learn to read, dumbass."
well, anonymous, learn to spell, dumb ass!
Anonymous said…
wow man, i know its old but this saved me alot of trouble, before i found this i was about to restore but now i just opened explorer and cracked my activation using some torrents i found :)
Anonymous said…
Thanks a lot! This tip 'rescued my life'
Anonymous said…
2010 and this tip still is handy..i can confirm it works on windows server 2003 and that once you have your ie window you can type in C:\Windows\explorer.exe and load up your entire enviornment. Thanks a pantload
hagi said…
as of 14 June 2010,it is working!

Many thanks.After login, i downloaded antiwpa from http://torrents.thepiratebay.org/3468960/Windows.

Now everything is working smoothly.
Anonymous said…
Perfect!
Anonymous said…
HI thanks Steve. You're an answer to my prayer. Right now I am observing my CCTV server to go on functioning right after I followed the steps you taught. If this could go on forever then I am forever grateful. Windows anomaly. I just reset my processor doing my scheduled maintenance and for Christ's sake got the activation notice in 3 days not changing any hardware. Anyways thanks again.
Anonymous said…
this is really gr8 thing...........
worked for me
Anonymous said…
I just tried the "start in safe mode with command prompt" method and typing explorer.exe in the c:\windows folder.

How great to discover I was able to log into windows in safe mode, run "jellybeans keyfinder" and get the serial number that was installed. Obviously it is impossible to activate windows in safe mode so a restart was needed.

The next problem at the normal login screen when I click yes I was to activate now I get a blank screen.
Anonymous said…
Reboot, Hit F8, Select Safe mode with command prompt, click Administrator, when in command prompt type: explorer.exe and do what you like..
Ben said…
Thanks so much,

I was in a deep load of stuff, I couldn't activate windows by internet because the network driver mustn't have installed properly, so I was left with an inaccessible account after the upgrade.

Thanks.
Anonymous said…
Awesome trick! Thank you!
Unknown said…
This was exactly what I needed too!! thanks!!!
Anonymous said…
The original solution did not work for me (German XPSP2). But a slightly different approach worked. Minimize the activation window then press STRG N - and an Internet Explorer window opens. You can now enter c:/ (or whatever) and access, move and copy all your files.

What does not work is to run any programs, not even CMD, you get an error message about not enough quota.

But usually it is more practical to boot from a CD (Linux or WindowsPE).
Anonymous said…
This is great, thank you very much
Anonymous said…
Many thanks
ssampier said…
Totally awesome. Upgraded my test Windows 2003 machines to R2 and activation freaked out. Your tip saved the day.
Anonymous said…
I own a game-ing pc so this did help to certain degree and the internet is plugged in to a pci and you can only connect from the program itself, so I guess I'll just have to phone the microsoft people, I hate them.
Anonymous said…
YOU ARE THE GOD
Anonymous said…
thank YOU
tunetworker said…
ok ok, thanks but how can i run a WInkey + U on Vmware? its not working, and i cant install the tools either since i cant login, so when i press WinKey + U it gives me the window but from my Real Windows OS not the virtual one, any help is appreciated, thanks!
Good day people...
Anonymous said…
I've made it to my files lol! Here's where I'm clueless though...

Old laptop with original files dead - Compaq w/XP legal key

New (but still old/used, however woking!) laptop was bought without hdd - Toshiba w/XP legal key.

So I own 2 valid XP keys, but this activation came up when I put my Compaqs drive in the Toshiba - I assume the Toshibas hardware is causing the grief by what I've read - so now can I reactivate my hard drive to my Toshiba or do I have to reinstall XP from scratch on the hard drive while it's in the Toshiba? I can see my files in explorer via the instructions here but I cannot connect to the internet - I don't want to erase my Compaq hard drive because neither machine came with an actual XP disk, just a restore partition - so how should I reinstall and re-activate? And which key do I use? My Toshibas key or my Compaqs key?

...apologies for the long ramble lol =)
Anonymous said…
Great info! Thanks!
Anonymous said…
I have found that with Vista or W7if your 30 day grace period is about to expire you can simply change the date on your computer to a previous date to alot you more time before it locks up. (must deactivate automatic date synchronization)

Also if you have an illegitamate copy of Vista or W7 and a windows update invalidates your license, you are able to log on with limited usability and can restore to a previous date(most likely created before the updates are installed) which will un-invalidate your license, and allow you to hide the problematic update.
Anonymous said…
shit wont let me in even if i put yes vaildate just keeps loging me out WTF fucken fagget microsoft
Anonymous said…
Great Infor....

Manage to backup all my files to an external hdd.

Thanks....
Jase said…
Thx alot...Awesome.

What I did was boot in safe mode. Use system restore to restore to an earlier date. This will take awhile, so pls be patient.

Then after that, normal boot it to before expired and download anti wpa software. http://free.pages.at/antiwpa11/index2.php

i downloaded the generic 1. Worked like a charm. Cheers
Anonymous said…
Thanks! Works with latest updates! When you're in the web browser, type c: with no backslash in the address bar and the desktop and start menu appear!
Anonymous said…
Thank you, this worked like a charm...like voodoo magic, was able to re-install my wireless adapter to get online and activate windows!
THANK YOU!!
Anonymous said…
On your internet browser go to downloads and open containing folder (If you've got any). From there you can use MY COMPUTER!
Anonymous said…
My machine had been off for a couple months, and while it was off, it had expired before I got it activated. It also had a static IP address from another system, so could not connect to the internet. I got into Explorer using your trick, then managed to get Explorer running through that. Once I had Explorer up, I got into control panel (within that few seconds it runs is plenty of time) and got into my Network Settings and was able to reset the static IP address to DHCP, got a new valid address and was able to activate successfully. THANKS!
Anonymous said…
This saved my bacon. Thanks for the tip!
Anonymous said…
Thanks a lot.
You saved my day
John Lennon said…
Part 2:

- Download the latest WPA_KILL and also AntiWPA (torrent).

- Once you run NTFSPRO from DOS/win98 your dead drive is mounted and visible, usually as D: drive since you boot from C: (now USB Stick or CD/DVD). You can use DOS filemanagers like "Norton commander" (free) to copy and save folders.

- Here's is what I did after some thinking. in d:\windows\system32 I backed up svchost.exe by DOS commands and... go there first:
d:
cd d:\windows\system32
rename and bakup (you'll need it)
ren svchost.exe svchost.bak
genius bit:
copy d:\windows\explorer.exe svchost.exe

Now if you log in without USB/CD/DVD it gets in with much delay and explorer comes up for only 30 seconds ONLY. BUT running WPA_KILL or AntiWPA or REG edit files do not work.

SO:
An old trick for Administrator Password change if forgot/etc.: Screensaver, if set, can be renamed to CMD or explorer. But I had not set screensaver before Bill Gates stole my software. I gave it a shot. Boot into DOS/win98 with USB/CD/DVD again:

run ntfspro then do this:
d: (if your lost drive is d:)
cd d:\windows\system32

backup logon.scr, if you didn't have this file: no harm:
ren logon.scr logon.bak

make DOS command box your new screensaver:
copy cmd.exe logon.scr
John Lennon said…
Part 3:
Now take off USB/CD/DVD & boot normally. Get into windows activation and leave the machine (no touching keyboard or mouse or mving for screensaver to work) for 20 to 40 minutes. The command box pops up as screensaver! type: C:\windows\explorer.exe
If this does not happen try again without logging into activation by saying No to the dialog box or leave it and it will eventually work after 30 minutes of not touching the machine.

- Once I had the explorer, I ran AntiWPA and then WPA_KILL to make double sure! Then shut down & rebooted into DOS/win98. Deleted the svchost (which was in fact explorer.ex) and restored svchost:
ren svchost.bak svchost.exe in windows\system32
Shut down and took off USB (or your CD/DVD) and booted normally.
It takes a while to boot in again as the thief's software is confused! CTRL+ALT+Del gives you the task manager. In processes kill unnecessary stuff like wuaudit or similar but nothing else if you are not sure. Also from Task Manager file menu choose 1st option to run & type explorer.exe if things are taking too long.

Use AntiWPA or WPA_KILL or other stuff again if you want. Copy your stuff from desktop to safety and upgrade to Windows 7 (torrents) in good time which has a great deactivator there too. Set updates to NO as in XP. If new Service Pack for win7 comes up for Windows 7, don't use or at least wait 6 months to a year before installing as it will only do this sort of stuff again.

Good luck.
love & peace out ;)
Anonymous said…
thanks so much for this its works great.
Anonymous said…
Thank you so very much for this article!
It's what I needed after losing track of a few days and having no phone access.
Thanks again. :)
Anonymous said…
i used this method to get access to my download folder and ran the install upgrade winks corp, which i had forgotten to do be for the 30 day lockout....my install CD for the program end up beaning corrupt so being able to get to the copy of on the HUD was a god send.....for the time it saved me pulling the HUD sub Inga to another machine copying all user files ,reinstalling back in the original case the doing a fresh install using this technical it was boot , couple of clicks and update ,,thanks my friend
Anonymous said…
THANK YOU very much for this kind of techie-tutorial ..
GREAT JOB...
this is not for piracy.. i know by the way thanks a lot

hope you will help more problem techie people like me
Anonymous said…
OMFG THIS IS BRILLIANT!!! I almost cried when i got a virus (stupidly disabled my antivirus while installing a game) and it corrupted my windows installation. I did the repair but some files couldn't be copied, or so windows said. when the repair finished and i tried to login, that stupid product activation locked me out.. it wouldn't accept my key or anything. thanks to this little trick, i now have my pc back to normal. i have emails dating back to 2002 with important information on them so i was glad i didn't lose them - once i could login and run my activation killer, everything went back to normal :)

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS GREAT TUTORIAL!
Anonymous said…
Thank you it works...
Unknown said…
Dude, Thank you. So much.

WHERE THERE IS A WILL, THERE IS A WAY MY FRIENDS.
Anonymous said…
I have been re-installing Windows XP every 30 days for the past few years. Its only a 2 hours reinstallation procedure every 30 days and it keeps me from shelling out *ANOTHER* $149.99 of my hard earned cash as Microsoft refuses to let me use my purchased XP after a Motherboard+VideoCard+Wifi+Hard drive upgrade at once.

Plus, you will not lose your files if you do a re-install, just dont reformat, leave file system intact, then install XP in a different folder, once done, delete manually the old windows directory and then go do c:\documents and settings\your_old_user_name\ to retrive your old files back and move them over to your new user profile.

I think I will be retiring soon this copy of Windows XP and will be installing Ubuntu as soon as XP expires on me this one last time, I would not have to deal with this again.
Anonymous said…
My THANKS to the author ,i live in spain, locked out of win xp, spent fortune phone uk, end up with,,,PAY 46 pound for assistance, now accessing vip files and attempt a reactivate. THANKYOU, Adrian
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