activation number

When i activated windows xp, a microsoft rep gave me this big number to fill in the blanks. i want to format my drive and reinstall windows xp but i dont want to call them again. is there somewhere where this number can be found on my puter?

not that i dont like to talk to bills buddies, but i find it anoying to do so every time i install windows xp.

thanks!

 

Have you already formatted the machine?

 

I believe there has been a discussion on the subject matter you are interested in on this forum a few weeks ago. Do a search and I believe you will find an answer. M/S has tightened security to protect their intellectual property, and this may present a barrier or inconvenience if not followed properly.

The big number given by the rep may have been a one-time number to be used exclusively by you and your machine to activate protocol that will enable you to task your objective.

 

Yeah, there's a file in the \WINDOWS\system32 directory named wpa.dbl. Just copy this file to a floppy BEFORE you format....then you can format and reload. As long as the hardware is the same, you can just copy that file back to the same location after your reinstallation and you should be good to go!