How to Eliminate Genuine Advantage from Windows

The Windows Genuine Advantage software is a utility that Microsoft developed to allow users to know if their copy of the Windows operating system was legitimate. While this is a helpful tool for those checking to make sure they are running legal copies of the OS, it has been known to cause conflicts with other software as well as false negatives. If you're one of the users who have experienced issues with Genuine Advantage, here's how to remove it.

Instructions

Remove WGA from Windows

1. Click on the "Start" button, then "Run". Type in "cmd" and click the "OK" button. This will launch a command line window.

2. Type "CD\" following by the folder that Windows is installed in. Most often that folder will simply be named "Windows", so the full command would be "CD\Windows". Type that in and press Enter. Then type in "CD system32" and press Enter again.

3. Type "rename WgaLogon.dll WgaLogon.old" and press Enter. Then type "rename WgaTray.exe WgaTray.old" and press Enter again. Click the "X" button at the top right corner of the command line window or type in "Exit" and press Enter.

4. Restart your PC, then click "Start", and "Run" and type in "Regsvr32 %Windir%\system32\LegitCheckControl.dll /u". Click the "OK" button and a message window will pop-up telling you that the control has been unregistered. Click "OK" and restart your PC once again.

5. Click "Start", "Run", and type in "cmd" again and click "OK". Type "CD\Windows" (or whatever the folder name is that Windows is installed to) and press Enter. Then type in "cd system32" and press Enter.

6. Type "del wgalogon.old" and press the Enter key, type "del WgaTray.old" and press Enter, and finally type "del LegitCheckControl.dll" and press Enter.

7. Type "regedit" and press Enter. The Windows Registry Editor window will open. Look navigate through the registry folders to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\WindowsNT\ CurrentVersion\Winlogon\Notify\WgaLogon" and delete the entries inside that folder. Then navigate to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows \CurrentVersion\Uninstall\WgaNotify" and delete the entries inside that folder as well.

8. Close the Registry Editor and restart your PC. The Genuine Advantage Software is now removed from Windows.

Tips & Warnings

• Be careful when using the Windows Registry Editor. Altering any values other than the ones specified could leave your PC in an unusable state, requiring a complete re-installation of the Windows operating system.

• Removing the Windows Genuine Advantage software will interfere with installing updates from the Microsoft Update website.

References

• Microsoft: How to disable or uninstall the pilot version of Microsoft Windows Genuine Advantage Notifications for Windows XP