How to Avoid Reactivating Windows XP After a Hardware Change

The Windows Product Activation or WPA program can be a real pain but you can educate yourself and avoid needless reactivations due to hardware upgrades. It’s all perfectly legal and it’s the smart users who educate themselves to avoid heartache down the road. Microsoft is only trying to protect themselves from software pirates but the honest/innocent folks are the ones who suffer the most. Read my article to learn how to avoid needless reactivations.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

Things You’ll Need:

• Windows XP or Vista

1. If you’re building a new PC and plan to install a fresh copy of windows on it, here are some great tips to avoid reactivation headaches down the road when you do upgrades.
   Before activating windows for the 1st time:
   #1. Disable the on board LAN and install a low cost 10/100 or gigabit LAN Card
   #2. Disable on board video and install a very nice video card (512MB ATI or NVIDIA) and keep it in the system for the life of the Windows license.
   #3. Pick a large hard drive and keep it for the life of your windows license. Even if you add more hard drives or buy a bigger one, keep this hard drive.
   #4. Pick a simple DVD-ROM or DVD-RW and keep it in the system for the life of Windows
   #5. Install a large amount of RAM before you activate. If you can not do this, write down the RAM count at the time of activation. You can return to this amount of RAM at the time of upgrades to keep your RAM VOTE a YES VOTE.
   The 5 tips above will keep you in the green with 7+ Yes votes and allow you to swap any other part (including the motherboard) as often as you want with little to no chance of ever having to activate windows again.
2. So you already activated windows and you are running an onboard LAN and VIDEO.
   What can you do?
   #1. Keep your hard drive
   #2. Keep your install of Windows on the hard drive. Don’t format it. It has codes and a Volume Serial Number that will be lost if you format it. Even if you install to a different drive or do a dual boot, you can keep the original windows install and save your computer some YES votes that could avoid reactivation.
   #3. Keep your Optical drive. Even if you have to replace it or upgrade it, keep it in the machine on a primary IDE port while activating. Add any new drives as slaves while keeping the old on a primary IDE channel.
3. If all else fails, and you have to reactivate, don’t panic. Many times the reactivation on line will pass right through. If it does not pass, still no need to panic. It only means the WPA system thinks you are using the same serial number on 2 computers. Windows will give you a phone number to call. This phone number is an automated phone system that will require a lot of numbers to be written down and entered into the activation system. It’s a hassle but Microsoft should help you get back on line unless you are running a pirated serial number.
4. Print the list in this step. It shows how the WPA program works and could save you headaches later. You are trying to get 7 YES votes. With 7 YES votes, you should not be prompted to reactivate.
   WPA checks ten categories of hardware:
   1. - Video card. (gets one vote)
   2. - SCSI adapter (gets one vote)
   3. - The IDE adapter (the motherboard's IDE hard drive controller) (gets one vote)
   4. - Network adapter (NIC) and its MAC Address (gets 3 votes)
   5. - RAM - amount and range (i.e., 128 to 256MB, 256 to 512MB, etc.) (gets one vote)
   6. - The processor's type - the make and model of processor(s) (gets one vote)
   7. - The processor's serial number (gets one vote)
   8. - The hard drive (gets one vote)
   9. - The hard drive's Volume Serial Number (VSN) (gets one vote)
   10. - The make and model(s) of CD/DVD drive(s) installed. (gets one vote)
5. Things that don’t matter
   
   BIOS, AUDIO CARD, MODEM, TV-cards, USB cards, etc.
6. Another Configuration that protects you:
   If you keep the same motherboard, RAM, processor, and NIC, you have enough Yes votes to enable you to make any other changes without having to reactivate. If you change the device in any particular category, you have lost its Yes vote, but that category of device can't lose a Yes vote more than once, so it can be changed as much as you like without a penalty thereafter. For instance, after initially changing the video card, you could install a new video card every month for as long as you like without being penalized in the vote count. However, if you boot the system in which a device that has been disabled, the device won't be found during the check that takes place every time the computer is started.

Tips & Warnings

• Avoiding reactivations has value since Microsoft tracks how often a serial number is activated. The counter resets every 120 days