Going Legit

[tonymaclennan]

I am currently using a copied version of Windows XP Professional as my Windows XP Home Edition corrupted about a year after I bought my laptop!

I want to install the Windows Updates so am going to buy an original version of XP Pro, but how do I enter the Key without re-installing the OS so it shows as an original and legal copy?

 

[montdj]

Just call microsoft they should help you.

 

[synergy]

Editing the registry
Begin by opening the Registry Editor and navigating to
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\Current Version\WPAEvents

In the right pane, right-click the ODBETimer binary value and select Modify. Change at least one character of this value to either a number from 0 to 9 or to a letter from A to F, then click OK and close the Registry Editor. This renders the current product key invalid and deactivates Windows.

Now, it's time to reactivate Windows using your new product key. Click Start | Run and enter the command:
%systemroot%\system32\oobe\msoobe /a

where %systemroot% is your Windows directory. In many cases, this command will look like:
C:\windows\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /a

At this point, Windows will launch the Product Activation Wizard.

Try this.

 

[fixal0t]

There's also several apps to change the key.
Here's a result from a quick Google search...
hxxp://downloads.cnet.co.uk/0,39100207,39187803s,00.htm

Good Luck