Changing your Product ID after installation

If you need to change the installation key that you used to install your copy of Windows XP you can do so by following the instructions below.

1) Click On Start
2) Click On Run
3) Type Regedit.exe and Click on ok
4) Go to the following key HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\Current Version\WPAEvents
5) In the right pane, right-click the OOBETimer binary value, and then click Modify.
6) Change at least one digit of this value to deactivate Windows.
7) Close the Registry Editor
8) Restart your Machine
9) Click On Start
10) Click on Run
11) Type %systemroot%\system32\oobe\msoobe.exe /a and click ok
12) Click on Yes, I want to telephone a customer service representative to activate Windows
13) Click Next
14) Click Change Product key
15) Type the new product key in the New key boxes, and then click Update
16) If you are returned to the previous window, click Remind me later, and then restart the computer

Note: Some people have experienced problems with this method. IF so you can download a free utility that will do this called RockXp and you can get it from http://www.softpedia.com/public/cat/13/9/13-9-195.shtml

Ammendment 12/7/04
SP2 does not seem to support the above methods, in order to change your CD key a Repair Installation seems the only way. I will conduct more testing and get back with the results.