We've had a lot of discussion before about what would happen if you had to
reinstall XP on your marine computer and couldn't connect to Microsoft to
re-activate it. Here is how to do it, but it only works on the exact same
machine with the same hardware configuration. The link to the entire article
is at: http://netsecurity.about.com/od/windowsxp/qt/aaqtwinxp0829.htm

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No matter the reason, there are plenty of users who would rather never go
through the product activation process again. Unfortunately for those users,
they may very well run into a situation where they do. Product activation
monitors the system configuration. If it detects a major hardware change or
even too many minor hardware changes within a set number of days (I believe
it's 180 days before it resets) then it crosses the threshold and requires
reactivation.

Users who reformat their hard drive and perform a clean installation of the
operating system will find that they need to reactivate the product. But, as
long as the new installation is on the same system and there won't be any
hardware changes it is possible to transfer the existing product activation
and skip having to go through the product activation process again. Follow
the steps below to save the activation status information and restore it
once your system is rebuilt:

1.. Double-click My Computer
2.. Double-click on the "C" drive
3.. Go to the C:\Windows\System32 folder (you may have to click on the
link that says "Show The contents of this folder")
4.. Find the files "wpa.dbl" and "wpa.bak" and copy them to a safe
location. You can copy them on a floppy drive or burn it onto a CD or DVD.
5.. After you have reinstalled Windows XP on your reformatted hard drive,
click "No" when asked if you want to go ahead and go through the activation
process
6.. Reboot your computer into SafeMode (you can either press F8 as Windows
is booting up to see the Windows Advanced Options menu and select
SAFEBOOT_OPTION=Minimal or follow the instructions in Starting Windows XP in
SafeMode
7.. Double-click My Computer
8.. Double-click on the "C" drive
9.. Go to the C:\Windows\System32 folder (you may have to click on the
link that says "Show The contents of this folder")
10.. Find the file "wpa.dbl" and "wpa.bak" (if it exists) and rename them
to "wpadbl.new" and "wpabak.new"
11.. Copy your original "wpa.dbl" and "wpa.bak" files from your floppy
disk, CD or DVD into the C:\Windows\System32 folder
12.. Restart your system (if you followed the directions in Starting
Windows XP in SafeMode you may need to go back into MSCONFIG to turn off
booting into SafeMode)
Voila! Your Windows XP operating system is now reinstalled on your
reformatted hard drive and you are all activated without having to actually
go through the product activation process!
Remember though. This won't work for transferring activation information
from one computer to another or if you alter the hardware because the
information contained in your "wpa.dbl" file will not match the
configuration of the computer. This trick is only for reinstalling Windows
XP on the exact same computer after formatting the hard drive.

Keith

If rabbit's feet are so lucky, what happened to the rabbit?

Thanks to Keith for his excellent post.  Computer failure, either software
of hardware, was a real concern for us on AKAMA as we make our way around
the world.  Even though we are a couple of ex-Power Squadron instructors,
steeped in the traditional methods, we have shifted to electronic navigating
nearly entirely.

Our first solution was to have multiple computers.  Each one has different
duties and they are 100% swappable with all the required software already
installed.  In many miles and several years, we only once had to use this
feature...it was worth it.  We were in the middle of the South China Sea, a
thousand miles from nowhere, the navigation computer (a tower computer)
crapped out.  It took only about ten minutes to be up and running with the
laptop we normally use for ham radio and email.

However, we were not satisfied with this and still worried that Mr. Gates
might do us harm that would affect all three computers in the network.  Once
in port we generally download all the critical updates and maybe something
might come along with them that caused grief once out of Wi-fi range.  Our
solution was to get a pirate copy of Win-XP.  Now, even though we have three
legal copies of Win-XP, we have the option of popping in the pirate one and
not needing any reactivation.  We did have one software failure (machine
kept going to the blue screen of death and only a fresh OS load would do);
so we installed the pirate Win-XP.  It worked fine.  We were surprised to
find out, once we got down to New Zealand, that the pirate OS updated itself
once we got into range of Wi-Fi!  So, we never took it off (too lazy...too
much trouble).  However, just last week, a new update came along which
detected the pirate OS and further updates were denied.

With three computers and three LEGAL copies of Windows on board we believe
that nobody would successfully prosecute us for software piracy.

We use all three of our computers daily, even when at sea.  What ever
happened to "Keep It Simple Stupid" <VBG>?

Maurice & Louise-Ann Nunas
M/Y AKAMA, KK-48 Whaleback #2
Near Auckland New Zealand