Jaredn87 Posted March 24, 2009 Report Share Posted March 24, 2009 I bought a Dell computer with windows xp a couple years ago, recently it has been running really slow so I decided to reformat it. I was able to find the cd that dell supplied to reinstall xp. Everything installed fine. It's running fine, but windows is now telling me I need to activate my product. I started following the instructions, but it says the product key is already in use. Since the computer is a couple years old I can't find any paperwork or anything but that reinstall cd (not even the case for the cd). Is there any way to make windows activate since its the computer that windows was previously installed on? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ɹəuəllıʍ ʇɐb Posted March 25, 2009 Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 Welcome to the Windows Forum.If you cannot complete the interactive activation, call Microsoft at the number given during the activation process. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dencandy Posted March 25, 2009 Report Share Posted March 25, 2009 Or try this: your activation key is stored in the registry in encrypted form. In this link from About.com is a description of how to find and un-encrypt it: THIS LINK. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.