Micron
25-04-2006, 11:48 PM
Warning: eXPerience Windows claims no responsibility for the misuse if this article & should be used by System Admins only.
Make a backup copy of Wpa.dbl, a tiny file stored in the %SystemRoot%\System32 folder (C:\Windows\System32). This file contains the hardware "fingerprint" information used to determine whether activation is required. If you need to reinstall Windows XP on a system that has already been activated, you can restore this file and bypass the need for activation—if your hardware hasn’t changed appreciably since the original activation.
Windows also creates a backup copy of this file, called Wpa.bak, at startup.
This backup copy can be a lifesaver if you encounter problems after a hardware upgrade. If Windows refuses to run because your new hardware has triggered the activation code, you may be able to recover using this workaround:
Restore your old hardware, start your computer in Networked Safe Mode, and rename Wpa.bak to Wpa.dbl. If all goes as it should, you’ll be reactivated and able to continue working.
Note: It is valuable to back up the two files WPA.DBL and WPA.BAK from the C:\Windows\System32 folder. Then, should they get damaged, or should you do a ‘Repair’ reinstallation of Win XP, these files can be copied back to restore the prior activation status. However, this only works in those limited circumstances. The contents of these two files is matched to the specific Windows setup; therefore, contrary to what many journalists and members of the user community have written in recent months, restoring these files will not restore your activation status following a reformat and clean install.
The disk drive and partition recorded will be the ones that the system has found first when doing the initial activation: normally the one from which the system booted. So, if you change that disk and reinstall Windows to a new partition, you have lost two of the Yes votes. If, though, you add a new hard disk, copy the original partition onto it with an imaging program, and retain the original hard drive as a secondary data disk, it will still be found by a later check. This is because it searches for all disks, and the vote will be Yes in both categories if it finds the original one, with the partition not reformatted.
Two things are recorded for disks: the number of the disk drive itself, and the Volume Serial Number (VSN) of the partition on it.
The VSN is part of the data in the partition’s first sector, so it is changed when you reformat the drive. It is worth getting the freeware utility Volume ID to restore the original VSN. Before you reformat, run VOL from a Command Prompt, note the VSN (e.g., 1F2E-3C4B) in the second line. Then, after the reformat and new Windows XP installation, defer the new activation until you have run Volume ID to restore the old VSN, and rebooted.
This is not essential — but it saves one of the ‘Yes votes’ against any future hardware change. (If you don’t wish to run this utility, the next best way to obtain the same result would be to delete the old Win XP files from the hard drive before reinstalling, rather than actually reformatting).
Make a backup copy of Wpa.dbl, a tiny file stored in the %SystemRoot%\System32 folder (C:\Windows\System32). This file contains the hardware "fingerprint" information used to determine whether activation is required. If you need to reinstall Windows XP on a system that has already been activated, you can restore this file and bypass the need for activation—if your hardware hasn’t changed appreciably since the original activation.
Windows also creates a backup copy of this file, called Wpa.bak, at startup.
This backup copy can be a lifesaver if you encounter problems after a hardware upgrade. If Windows refuses to run because your new hardware has triggered the activation code, you may be able to recover using this workaround:
Restore your old hardware, start your computer in Networked Safe Mode, and rename Wpa.bak to Wpa.dbl. If all goes as it should, you’ll be reactivated and able to continue working.
Note: It is valuable to back up the two files WPA.DBL and WPA.BAK from the C:\Windows\System32 folder. Then, should they get damaged, or should you do a ‘Repair’ reinstallation of Win XP, these files can be copied back to restore the prior activation status. However, this only works in those limited circumstances. The contents of these two files is matched to the specific Windows setup; therefore, contrary to what many journalists and members of the user community have written in recent months, restoring these files will not restore your activation status following a reformat and clean install.
The disk drive and partition recorded will be the ones that the system has found first when doing the initial activation: normally the one from which the system booted. So, if you change that disk and reinstall Windows to a new partition, you have lost two of the Yes votes. If, though, you add a new hard disk, copy the original partition onto it with an imaging program, and retain the original hard drive as a secondary data disk, it will still be found by a later check. This is because it searches for all disks, and the vote will be Yes in both categories if it finds the original one, with the partition not reformatted.
Two things are recorded for disks: the number of the disk drive itself, and the Volume Serial Number (VSN) of the partition on it.
The VSN is part of the data in the partition’s first sector, so it is changed when you reformat the drive. It is worth getting the freeware utility Volume ID to restore the original VSN. Before you reformat, run VOL from a Command Prompt, note the VSN (e.g., 1F2E-3C4B) in the second line. Then, after the reformat and new Windows XP installation, defer the new activation until you have run Volume ID to restore the old VSN, and rebooted.
This is not essential — but it saves one of the ‘Yes votes’ against any future hardware change. (If you don’t wish to run this utility, the next best way to obtain the same result would be to delete the old Win XP files from the hard drive before reinstalling, rather than actually reformatting).