De-activating XP sp2 to change product key (WGA issues)

T

tiebird321

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jun 6, 2004
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I have a nice IBM thinkcenter I bought from a local (off lease)
it came with XP pro on it, I setup the computer for my wife with the usual software she wanted and left town for x-mas with my side of the family about a week ago.

She attempted to do windows updates and it failed WGA....:confused:

It looks like when the guy I bought it from reloaded XP he used a corp disc or soemthing to do it:mad:

I cant find anything on google that I could ever get her to follow to de-activate XP (sp2) so she can change the product key to the one on the COA on the side of the machine.

I already checked the COA with MS and its a legit code, but they just say to reinstall which in my mind is BS:(

my fisrt though was to have her change the hardware around until it forced her to re-activate
but having;
changed network cards, changed sound cards, changed video cards and changed out the dvd drive for a cd burner, changed the amount of system memory
it still refuses to de-activate windows:rolleyes:

thoughts?
 
If it was loaded with a corporate (volume license) version there is no activation. Volume license versions of XP don't require activation so moving hardware around won't help. Running sysprep on that machine may get you to where you can enter a new product code. It may reject your new code though. If its retail it may work, if it's an OEM code don't count on it. This is more complicated than sysprep but I think I would try this first. http://support.microsoft.com/kb/328874
 
I've used magic jellybean before, and it worked wonderfully.
 
If you have the VLK edition installed, you can't just switch it to use an OEM key. If it had an OEM install that was just cracked somehow then maybe you could do it.
 
If it has a volume license key edition installed and the volume license key has been invalidated by MS, you need to reinstall with the correct version (probably the OEM version) matching the license key on the unit for the key attached to the unit to work.
 
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