How to Turn Off Windows Vista/XP Activation

Are you tired of 30-day trials? There are ways to bypass or ignore these messages, depending on the version of Windows you are using, which can help for those times when you can't find your old product key or are installing Windows on a computer that Microsoft won't let you register.

Windows Vista

1 Open the Registry Editor. You will be enabling the SkipRearm function, which when combined with another command will allow you to continually extend your trial period, effectively disabling registration.
Press the Windows key + R to open the "Run" dialog box.
Enter regedit and press Enter. This will open the Registry Editor.

2 Navigate to the correct folder. In the left frame, you can navigate to the different folders in the registry. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE → SOFTWARE → Microsoft → Windows NT → CurrentVersion → SL

3 Double-click the "SkipRearm" entry. This will open a box allowing you to change the value. At default, it will read 00000000. Change the value to00000001 and press OK.
Close the Registry Editor after editing the entry.

4 Open the Command Prompt. You will need to do this as an administrator. To do this, click the Start button and enter cmd into the field. Press Ctrl + Shift + Enter to open it as an administrator.

5 Enter the command to restart the Software Licensing Manager. Entering in this command will reset the timer on your trial, and because you enabled SkipRearm in the previous step, you can perform this action indefinitely. Type the following and press Enter: slmgr -rearm. Close the Command Prompt by typingexit and pressing Enter.

6 Repeat the process every 30 days. You can repeat these steps every 30 days in order to reset your trial timer. You may or may not need to change the registry each time, it varies from system to system


Windows XP

1 Open the Registry Editor. You will need to make a tweak in your registry in order to make the activation messages disappear. Note that this method will only hide the notices, it will not bypass the activation. Windows will still need to be activated after 30 days. in order to truly crack Windows XP, you will need to download a cracking program or pirated key, which will not be discussed here.
Press the Windows key + R to open the "Run" dialog box.
Enter regedit and press Enter. This will open the Registry Editor.

2 Navigate to the correct folder. In the left frame, you can navigate to the different folders in the registry. Navigate to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE → SOFTWARE → Microsoft → Windows NT → CurrentVersion (or "Current Version") → WPAEvents.

3 Double click the OOBETimer entry. This will open a new dialog box where you can change the value.

4 Enter in the new value. Delete what's in the box and enter the following line. Click OK when you're done:
FF D5 71 D6 8B 6A 8D 6F D5 33 93 FD

5 Right-click on WPAEvents. Select Permissions from the menu.

6 Click the "SYSTEM" group. In the "Permissions for SYSTEM" frame, check the "Deny" box for the "Full Control" entry. Click OK when you're done.

Click "Yes" when asked to confirm your action. Exit the Registry Editor.