I recently had problems with my computer, and had to replaces my hard drive and memory. I therefore had to install Windows XP again. We have a few computers at home, each of which came with an XP recovery disk. I took one of these (it could have been from another computer - I'm not sure) and installed Windows again. I now have a countdown for my 30 day activation period. My problem is I dont have an internet connection on that computer, and am unable to activate. I researched this online, and the solution seems to be to back up the files wpa.dbl and wpa.bak from my previous sytem and replace them onto the new Windows. However, I only found this out now, and have therefore lost the old files. The old hard drive is corrupt and therefore cant recover them from there. Does anyone know of another solution and can someone provide me with those 2 files? Many thanks.

activate via telephone.

MS have free phone numbers in most countries.

Ditto to the above post. Meanwhile forget about importing wpa.dbl and wpa.bak files - Windows will reject them due to mismatched hash component values registered & encrypted therein and your new HD & RAM.

i_Xp/VistaUser

"activate via telephone."

Wouldn't you still need an internet connection?

"...can someone provide me with those 2 files?"

No.
They are unique to each computer's hardware configuration situation.
Although, if you know someone with exactly the same system, it MIGHT work to get a copy of their files.

Does the computer have a dial-up modem?
(one or two telephone ports?)
If it does, connect a phone line to it, and select Activate from the Programs list. It may take several tries.

I managed to try activating by phone, however, the automated person said there was an error on the generated ID number the computer gave me. Looking through all my CD's I have found 2 different Windows XP CD's that I recieved with two different computers, and realised I installed from the wrong CD onto my computer. Is there a way to still activate this version, or would I have to re-install Windows from the correct CD? It would take alot of time and effort to back up everything and re-install, so a different solution would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

If you want MS to activate your current copy of windows you must first be sure that the CD used is for the Machine on which it is installed. BUT then, you already know that, RIGHT?

http://www.annoyances.org/exec/foru...

Being nice, I'd suspect mere laziness, on your part. Being suspicious, I'm guessing you are just Posting around various Forums, hoping someone will, inadvertantly, help you violate the WinXP EULA.

Reinstall from proper CD, or Bite The Bullet and purchase a leagal Copy/license for WinXP.

If just laziness, please accept advance apology for my suspiciousness. You would NOT be the first to try.

There is nothing to learn from someone who already agrees with you.

You do not normally get a regular Windows CD with a brand name computer system - if anything comes with it you get a Recovery CD. They are not the same thing. A regular Windows CD requires you enter the Product Key yourself during Windows Setup.

If you used a CD meant for a brand name system model, the software installs a Product Key for Windows automatically.

If you think you used the wrong CD, you could try changing the Product Key for Windows XP - to the one on the Windows sticker on the case of the computer you are doing this on.
Search the web for: Keyfinder on another computer, by Jelly Bean Software or similar.
Download it and copy it to a floppy or flash drive, then copy it from there to the computer.
Run Keyfinder...
- copy down the Windows Product Key it finds.
- change the Product Key for Windows found to the one on the case.
Then phone Microsoft and try to Activate again.

If that doesn't help, you can change the key back if you like, but you will probably have to re-install everything using the proper CD.

If you're not sure which one that is, look up the CD part number on the Dell or whatever brand name site to see which model(s) it is for.

Changing the Product key will only be successful if the key is valid and fits the required mathematical alogorhythum - it won't work to just type in anything there.

In addition to the above comments I would ask if you have Internet connections at that location why can't that computer be at least temporarily connected.

As others stated you need to install using the correct CD or restoration CD.

What I suspect is that you never made a restore CD and now that the HDrive has been replaced you can't make one anymore.