When the hard drive containing an XP operating system is put into a new computer it may boot up needing to be activated.
To get at a dos window so the command can be entered you might have to do the following:
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Log-In-to-an-Expired-Windows-XP-42473.shtml
From the Login screen of an expired copy of Windows, click login. You will be prompted with an error message that will inform you of the expired status of your operating system and that will feature an option to activate the product. Clicking YES will make a Let’s Activate Windows window appear.
Now press the Windows Key + the U key to bring up the Narrator dialog box. The Narrator dialog box features a computer icon in the top left corner. Further clicking it will display a drop down menu. Navigate to the bottom option that reads About Narrator. This action will open another box About Narrator. No big surprise here; in fact, this is what we wanted all along.
In the About Narrator windows you can see a link pointing to the Microsoft Website. Clicking the link will launch Internet Explorer. And there you go. As in Windows XP there is an intimate connection between Internet Explorer and Windows Explorer, via the browser window you can navigate on your drives. You just have to know the address, such as C:documents and settingsusernameStart MenuPrograms. A big thanks goes to The Tomorrow Times for making details available.
[And from the comments in that post]
…Vista or 7 users:
C:\windows\system32\slmgr -rearm
or
C:\windows\system32\cscript slmgr.vbs – rearm
Now use that IE window to open a command prompt by typing <C:\WINDOWS\explorer.exe> without the brackets
Now reset the trial by typing (you might have to type quickly)
C:\windows\system 32\rundll32.exe syssetup,SetupOobeBnk
This will reset XP trial, and can be done 4 times (120 days).
Also
there is problem with XP SP3 when switching from Intel to AMD type processor.
Problem was simply solved by doing this command in safe mode DOS prompt :‘sc config intelppm start= disabled’
(Notice the space between ‘=’ and ‘disabled’! It must be there)
Now finally, to permenantly disarm the activation
http://downloads.ziddu.com/downloadfiles/9292717/AntiWPA_x64_x86_SP3_apr09.rar
Or search for AnitWPA_x64_x86_SP3_apr09 you need the apr09 version for this to work. There are other versions but I couldn’t get them to work.
An now you have a chance to remove all old drivers — see article http://systemsolver.com/StatlerBlog/index.php/2012/05/24/view-all-device-drivers-for-removal/
You might also have to add the new drivers before you get a full experience.