Activating already installed Windows XP Pro SP3 (Retail)

Discussion in 'Windows XP / Older OS' started by stephen84, Mar 21, 2015.

  1. stephen84

    stephen84 MDL Novice

    Mar 21, 2015
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    Hello! I've been trying to figure this out for a few months. Been reading a lot of threads on here and google but I am none the wiser.

    I have installed the retail version of Windows XP SP3, from an official ISO, on a virtual machine inside VMWare Workstation 11. It's currently being kept alive by extending the forced activation timer (which has a hard limit of 120 days).

    Considering everything's already installed, I'm wondering if there's a reliable way to still activate this installation?

    I'm a novice, but my current theory is that maybe I could make VMware run a BIOS with the necessary SLP-string(s), but would this addition be automatically detected by the OS and magically activate it?


    ISO sha1 hash: 1c735b38931bf57fb14ebd9a9ba253ceb443d459
     
  2. LostED

    LostED SVF Patch Lover

    Jul 30, 2009
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    #2 LostED, Mar 21, 2015
    Last edited: Mar 21, 2015
    Stop hovering to collapse... Click to collapse... Hover to expand... Click to expand...
  3. stephen84

    stephen84 MDL Novice

    Mar 21, 2015
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    Thanks. I have read these threads. But I still have no idea what to do. I'd like trying to solve this without having to reinstall from a new/modded ISO.
     
  4. Tito

    Tito Super Mod / Adviser
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  5. stephen84

    stephen84 MDL Novice

    Mar 21, 2015
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    #5 stephen84, Mar 23, 2015
    Last edited: Mar 23, 2015
    (OP)
    So there's no way without resorting to AntiWPA or executing other unknown exes?
     
  6. urie

    urie Moderator
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    May 21, 2007
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    Executing other unknown exes, the oem to vlk bios changer is just a script and you could also mod your vmware bios manually your choice you have been given options. You could also buy xp :p

    Don't really understand the problem once you have downloaded necessary files you can be converted to oem in minutes.
     
  7. stephen84

    stephen84 MDL Novice

    Mar 21, 2015
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    How would one go about modding the vmware bios? Do I just download a bios from the Virtualization thread? And will a key already be implemented with the BIOS or do I need to add that manually? Also, how do I make sure my XP installation recognizes these changes? Sorry, a lot of questions, but I'm confused about this stuff. :p
     
  8. stephen84

    stephen84 MDL Novice

    Mar 21, 2015
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    Ok, so I got it working. This is what I did:
    1. Download and configure an arbitrary vmware bios rom file in the vmx. (add to vmx: bios440.filename = "FILENAME.ROM")
    2. Run the bios detection tool from oembios changer to get the crc32 of supported oembios files.
    3. Download and copy (the compressed) oembios files to the "Compressed Oembios folder".
    4. Finalize oembios changer and make sure it uses the decompression option and that you're logged in as admin.

    This automatically results in an activated and genuine windows xp upon next reboot.